If you thought the points race in the 2024 MotoAmerica Steel Commander Superbike Championship was close coming into the WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca round, turns out you were wrong. Now it’s close.
How does three points separating the top three sound? That’s what we have with Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Josh Herrin now atop the championship by one point over Attack Performance/Progressive/Yamaha Racing’s Jake Gagne, who in turn is just one point ahead of his teammate Cameron Petersen.
So, who among those three won Saturday’s first of two Steel Commander Superbike races at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca? None of them.
The win went to five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion Cameron Beaubier, the rider who is trying to claw back the most points on the lead group in the championship after missing several rounds with a broken heel.
On Saturday, Beaubier was dominant and claw back he did. Going into today’s race, Beaubier trailed Wrench Motorcycles’ Bobby Fong by 55 points. Following his fourth win of the season today, Beaubier now trails Herrin by 41 points.
Beaubier beat Herrin to the line by 1.1 seconds, though the margin was much bigger before the slow down and celebration in the final few corners.
Herrin had his hands full with Petersen for most of the race, but the South African had jumped the start and incurred a five-second penalty. Thus, Herrin was never in any real danger of losing the spot. The second place was Herrin’s sixth podium of the season, and it moved him into the points lead, albeit by just a point.
Petersen rode hard and it was enough to give him third place, despite the five-second penalty. At the finish he was seven seconds behind Herrin and some three seconds clear of EasyHealthPlans.com/TopPro Racing’s Sean Dylan Kelly with the Floridian also fighting through after incurring a five-second jump start penalty.
Somehow Gagne and his arm-pump issues managed a top-five finish as the three-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion continues to garner points despite his physical condition. He is planning on getting surgery following the Laguna Seca weekend. Through all of this, Gagne is just a point behind Herrin in the title battle.
Herrin’s teammate Loris Baz was sixth, less than a second behind Gagne and well clear of Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Xavi Forés, who barely beat his teammate Brandon Paasch to the finish line.
Team Brazil’s Danilo Lewis was ninth and the winner of the Superbike Cup, a class within a class for Stock 1000 spec bikes. Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates rounded out the top 10 and was second in the Superbike Cup.
Notables not finishing the race were Tytlers Cycle Racing’s JD Beach and Wrench Motorcycles’ Fong with both riders crashing out in separate incidents. Fong suffered the most as he lost the lead in the championship and now trails Herrin by 11 points.
Earlier in the day, Beaubier earned pole position with a new lap record in Q2 of 1:22.556 to break Herrin’s record from 2018.
Herrin leads the title chase with 169, followed by Gagne with 168 and Petersen with 167 points. Fong is fourth with 158, 26 more than Baz. Beaubier is sixth with 128 points, eight ahead of Kelly.
Superbike Race 1
- Cameron Beaubier (BMW)
- Josh Herrin (Ducati)
- Cameron Petersen (Yamaha)
- Sean Dylan Kelly (BMW)
- Jake Gagne (Yamaha)
- Loris Baz (Ducati)
- Xavi Forés (Suzuki)
- Brandon Paasch (Suzuki)
- Danilo Lewis (BMW)
- Ashton Yates (Honda)
Quotes
Cameron Beaubier – Winner
“To be honest, I’m pretty tired. The last month has been a roller coaster, from breaking my heel and flying straight down to Dr. Brian to get it fixed, then watching these guys race at Brainerd and just knowing how good we started the season and how good I was feeling on the bike and how hard the team has been working to just see it thrown away in front of me. It was pretty tough. Like I said before, I saw the points going into Ridge and I felt like if I could just go get a couple points there, we could be in contention towards the end of the year, just with how the way everything is shaking out. But yesterday felt amazing – just to ride the bike like I know how to ride it. I can ride at 100 percent, I can push. I feel good. Yeah, I’m definitely struggling a little bit with my fitness because I haven’t done anything in the past month. I’ve ridden the bicycle a couple times and been to the gym a couple times, but definitely not my normal program. It feels amazing to get this today.”
Josh Herrin – Second Place
“I saw him (Cameron Petersen) and SDK (Sean Dylan Kelly) creep at the beginning, but I just saw plus whatever it was on the board. For some reason I thought I saw plus 2.5, which wouldn’t have made sense because he had a five-second penalty. I don’t know. I was just in my head like, ‘what’s going on?’ I had a feeling that that’s what it was from, but I was trying to shake my head at him to just let me focus on what I got to do in front of me instead of what’s behind me. I knew he was there no matter what. It’s not like I’m going to slow down. I raced here last year with a broken ankle, so I know it’s a difficult track for your ankle and obviously just your foot in general. So, I just kept pushing as hard as I could, just in case something happened at the end and he (Beaubier) started fading a little bit, that I was there. I didn’t want to worry about what my gap was to the guy behind me. But he never got it and it just stayed plus five. But I figured, about halfway through I’m like, that must be what it’s for. Like I said, every time Cam (Petersen) went by me, I just would fight right back just in case I could make some way on Beaubier at the front, but he was just riding too good today, so it wasn’t possible. Just hoping that tomorrow can be a little bit better.”
Cameron Petersen – Third Place “Yeah, I knew straightaway. As the lights went out, I knew I jump-started. I saw my number up on the yellow board. I kind of figured what was going on. Josh (Herrin) did have some really good pace at the end there. I was kind of struggling to hold onto the back of him. I had a few big moments right there and then because I knew even if I did make the pass, it wouldn’t have changed anything. I just kind of decided to settle down a little bit. At the same time, I kind of chilled for a couple laps. Then I remembered, I still got to beat the guys by five seconds behind me. So, I put my head down again. But they held the lights for a long, long time and SDK (Sean Dylan Kelly) just crept next to me and I kind of went off of his movement. But, stoked to be back up on the podium. Hopefully, we don’t do the same stupid mistake tomorrow.”
