Day One At WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca Belongs To Gagne

Jake Gagne was the fastest of the fast in HONOS Superbike action on Friday at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. *Photo by Brian J. Nelson.*

Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha’s Jake Gagne had a normal Jake Gagne day on Friday at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Go fast, earn provisional pole, get ready for tomorrow’s first of two HONOS Superbike races in the MotoAmerica GEICO Motorcycle Superbike Speedfest at Monterey.

Gagne lapped at 1:24.371 in Qualifying 1 and that put him .338 of a second ahead of Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati New York’s Loris Baz, the Frenchman turning his best lap of 1:24.709 after a low-side crash in the Corkscrew.

“We had a good day today,” Gagne said. “In the first session we took the bike off the truck, and it was actually one of the toughest first sessions we’ve had. I wasn’t too happy with the bike with just a couple of little tweaks, the electronics mostly. We managed to run both tires and I liked the green tire better. We made some changes in between sessions and made the bike feel a lot better right away in the second session. So, we went out and did a 13-or 14-lap run to get a good feel for the tires, and we had a really good run out here. Obviously, we are just trying to do the work for the race. We’re just seeing how these Dunlops are going to be in the second half of the race because that’s when we want to be strong.”

M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Cameron Petersen ended a sunny and warm afternoon on the Monterey Peninsula third fastest by virtue of his 1:24.831 on his 17^th lap and that put the South African ahead of countryman Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz by just .002 of a second. Scholtz suffered two crashes in the session.

Gagne’s teammate Josh Herrin completed the day in fifth place with his 1:25.139, which put him ahead of Scheibe Racing BMW’s Hector Barbera, M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Bobby Fong and the returning Toni Elias on Kyle Wyman’s Panera Bread Ducati rounding out the top eight.

M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Sean Dylan Kelly topped his rival Richie Escalante, on the HONOS HVMC Racing Kawasaki, by just .130 of a second in Supersport Q1. North East Cycle Outlet Racing’s Benjamin Smith, CV28 Racing’s Cory Ventura and Altus Motorsports’ Kevin Olmedo rounded out the top five.

Scott Powersports/KTM’s Tyler Scott was the fastest of the SportbikeTrackGear.com Junior Cup racers as he led his championship rival Ben Gloddy by 1.4 seconds. Max Van ended the day third fastest, 1.7 seconds behind Scott.

BPR Tuning’s Bryce Prince made his first day back in the MotoAmerica Series count as he led the way in Stock 1000 Q1, besting Ridge Motorsports Park/DiBrino Racing’s Andy DiBrino and Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates.

Mission Foods S&S Cycle Indian Challenger’s Tyler O’Hara and his 1:33.058 led the Mission King Of The Baggers Q1, besting H-D Screamin’ Eagle’s Travis Wyman, DTF Performance/Hoban Brothers Racing’s Michael Barnes and championship points leader Kyle Wyman and his H-D Screamin’ Eagle Road Glide.

Righteous Racing’s Jody Barry led Twins Cup Q1 over Robem Engineering teammates Toby Khamsouk and Kaleb De Keyrel.

Superbike Q1