It’s a bit early to say that someone will step up to challenge Monster Energy Attack Performance Yamaha’s Cameron Beaubier this weekend at Pittsburgh International Race Complex, but at least there are a few within striking distance after the first day of practice and qualifying.
Beaubier topped the timesheets with his 1:40.861, which put him .418 of a second ahead of Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz and .448 of a second clear of his teammate Jake Gagne. The rest were close, but only to each other as those top three were the only ones within a second of the four-time and defending MotoAmerica Superbike Champion.
Scheibe Racing BMW’s Josh Herrin was putting in maximum effort with a few off-track excursions to end up fourth fastest, marginally ahead of One Cure/KWR Ducati’s Kyle Wyman and M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Bobby Fong and Toni Elias with .362 of a second separating fourth (Herrin) through seventh (Elias).
FLY Racing ADR Motorsports’ David Anthony, Celtic HSBK Racing’s Jake Lewis (in his first ride on the team’s Ducati Panigale V4 R) and Anthony’s teammate Bradley Ward rounded out the top 10.
Beaubier is the Superbike lap record holder at PittRace with his 1:39.472 set in Superpole last year.
M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Sean Dylan Kelly led Supersport Q1, just .191 of a second ahead of HONOS Kawasaki’s Richie Escalante, the winner of five of the first six races. Third place was a surprise with Northeast Cycle Outlet Racing’s Benjamin Smith third fastest in his home race.
Dominic Doyle rode the BARTCON Racing Kawasaki Ninja 400 to the fastest lap of the day in the Liqui Moly Junior Cup class, the South African besting series rival Rocco Landers by .606 of a second. Benjamin Gloddy ended day one in third.
The opening day of Stock 1000 action was led by Altus Motorsports’ Cameron Petersen by a whisker .072 of a second over Travis Wyman Racing’s Travis Wyman. Championship leader Corey Alexander was third fastest on the Ride HVMC Racing Kawasaki.
Rocco Landers led the Twins Cup Q1 session, which ended the opening day at PittRace. Landers was .860 of a second clear of points leader Kaleb De Keyrel and .913 ahead of Cooper McDonald.
Superbike Q1
- Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha) 1:40.861
- Mathew Scholtz (Yamaha) 1:41.279
- Jake Gagne (Yamaha) 1:41.309
- Josh Herrin (BMW) 1:42.004
- Kyle Wyman (Ducati) 1:42.145
- Bobby Fong (Suzuki) 1:42.336
- Toni Elias (Suzuki) 1:42.366
- David Anthony (Suzuki) 1:43.538
- Jake Lewis (Ducati) 1:43.948
- Bradley Ward (Kawasaki) 1:44.259
Supersport Q1
- Sean Dylan Kelly (Suzuki) 1:44.436
- Richie Escalante (Kawasaki) 1:44.627
- Benjamin Smith (Yamaha) 1:45.571
- Lucas Silva (Suzuki) 1:45.785
- Brandon Paasch (Yamaha) 1:45.794
- Jason Aguilar (Yamaha) 1:45.882
- Kevin Olmedo (Suzuki) 1:46.477
- Max Angles (Yamaha) 1:47.449
- Nolan Lamkin (Yamaha) 1:47.641
- Xavier Zayat (Yamaha) 1:47.800
Liqui Moly Junior Cup Q1
- Dominic Doyle (Kawasaki) 1:55.002
- Rocco Landers (Kawasaki) 1:55.608
- Benjamin Gloddy (Kawasaki) 1:56.194
- Samuel Lochoff (Kawasaki) 1:56.349
- Gus Rodio (Kawasaki) 1:57.308
- Blake Davis (Kawasaki) 1:57.391
- Cody Wyman (Yamaha) 1:57.745
- Isaiah Burleson (Kawasaki) 1:1:57.869
- David Kohlstaedt (Kawasaki) 1:58.178
- Joseph LiMandri Jr. (Kawasaki) 1:58.667
Stock 1000
- Cameron Petersen (Suzuki) 1:43.824
- Travis Wyman (BMW) 1:43.896
- Corey Alexander (Kawasaki) 1:44.141
- Stefano Mesa (Kawasaki) 1:44.740
- Alex Dumas (Suzuki) 1:44.904
- Michael Gilbert (Kawasaki) 1:45.214
- Ashton Yates (Honda) 1:46.295
- Calvin Crosslin (Yamaha) 1:46.295
- Hunter Dunham (Yamaha) 1:48.636
- Corey Heflin (Yamaha) 1:49.258
Twins Cup Q1
- Rocco Landers (Suzuki) 1:50.149
- Kaleb De Keyrel (Yamaha) 1:51.009
- Cooper McDonald (Yamaha) 1:51.062
- Hayden Schultz (Yamaha) 1:51.225
- Toby Khamsouk (Suzuki) 1:51.288
- Teagg Hobbs (Suzuki) 1:51.580
- Jason Madama (Yamaha) 1:52.095
- Joseph Blasius (Suzuki) 1:52.281
- Trevor Standish (Suzuki) 1:53.602
- Jackson Blackmon (Suzuki) 1:54.280
