Random notes, comments, statistics, musings, and bits of trivia from MotoAmerica Superbikes at New Jersey:
Once More With Feeling
Josh Herrin and a lot of other people think, instead of Herrin winning the 2013 AMA Pro Racing SuperBike Championship, it was more a case of his teammate Josh Hayes losing it. A series of questionable jumpstart violations levied on Hayes that season negated several race wins where he crossed the finish line first, but the time penalties he was given moved him back in the finishing order. As a result, Hayes’ young, upstart teammate Herrin, in only his second year of SuperBike competition, won the 2013 title by 15 points over Hayes.
That was then, and this is now. There are no asterisks or “yeah, buts” about Herrin’s 2024 Steel Commander Superbike Championship. The man absolutely deserves his due. He conducted a dominant Superbike campaign that saw him win six races, reach the podium 13 times, and there was only one race all season long in which he didn’t score points. He beat Championship runner-up and five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion Cameron Beaubier by 55 points. That’s the equivalent points advantage of more than two race wins.
Speaking of that 2013 AMA Pro Racing SuperBike Championship, which was 11 years ago, on Saturday at New Jersey Motorsports Park, Herrin set a record for the longest span of time between Superbike titles. With his 2024 title-clinching Steel Commander Superbike race win on Saturday, he tied MotoAmerica President Wayne Rainey with his 16th Superbike victory. Also notable is that he is now just one Superbike win behind Nicky Hayden.
Turn It Up To “11”
So, 2013 was the year that Josh Herrin won his last AMA Superbike Championship, and it was also a big year for his Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati teammate Loris Baz. Baz won Sunday’s Steel Commander Superbike race two at New Jersey, and the last time the Frenchman won a Superbike race was at Silverstone in, you guessed it, 2013. The 11-year drought is officially over for both Herrin and Baz.
The Magnificent Seven
Gone are the days when Josh Hayes or Cameron Beaubier or Jake Gagne won almost all the Superbike races. In 2024, MotoAmerica’s 10th season, there was more parity in the series’ premier class of road racing than ever before. A total of seven different riders won races this season, and that obviously speaks volumes about a well-balanced race series, not to mention an exciting one.
Heart Wrenching
It was so sad to hear that Wrench Motorcycles will no longer be competing in the MotoAmerica Superbike Championship. They were truly the “Little Race Team That Could,” and did. Their rider Bobby Fong reached the podium eight times this past season, and he also notched two race wins when he did the double at Brainerd International Raceway. Those successes contributed mightily to Yamaha Motor Corporation, U.S.A., winning the 2024 MotoAmerica Manufacturer’s Championship. The Wrench Motorcycles crew members are a great bunch of people, and some of the technical innovations the team came up with were the stuff of pure genius. Their innovative swingarm and fuel cell were just a couple of the many things that contributed to Fong’s and the team’s success. It remains to be seen where Fong, David Anthony, Robbie Petersen, and the rest of the band of brothers and sisters will end up, but we will keep a keen eye on things during the off-season.
One Lap To Rule Them All
We came into New Jersey Motorsports Park bristling with anticipation that a bunch of lap records would be set on the newly repaved Thunderbolt Raceway. Well, Mother Nature had other plans, and the off-and-on rain conspired against fast laps. But, despite the weather, the Mission King Of The Baggers Championship had a new lap record set. In Saturday’s race two, S&S/Indian Motorcycle‘s Troy Herfoss did a 1:23.686 on lap 6 of the 9-lap contest for a new KOTB lap record and also a new race lap record in the class. As for the other four race classes, we will just have to wait till next year and hope that dry weather yields more record-breaking laps.
Beast Mode
There’s no other way to put it. Hayden Gillim is an absolute Beast. First of all, there was Stock 1000 Qualifying 1, which was conducted on a damp track on Friday afternoon. With time running out in the session, Gillim noticed that a dry line—a very narrow dry line—was forming on the racetrack. And, with Qualifying 2 scheduled for the next morning with more rain in the forecast, Gillim decided the time was now to lay down a fast lap. He called for slicks to be put on his Real Steel Motorsports Honda CBR1000RR-R SP, and not a single crew member thought it was a good idea, including his crew chief Mark Junge and Gillim’s own grandfather.
Gillim left the pits with his Honda literbike shod in Dunlop slicks, got in an outlap, then put the hammer down and proceeded to earn the provisional pole by more than a second and a half just before the checkered flag was flown on the session. Gillim’s grandfather had to replace the batteries in his pacemaker after the session. And, as Gillim predicted, Saturday morning’s Qualifying 2 session did not yield any faster lap times, so Gillim’s lap from Friday’s Qualifying 1 stood, and he secured pole position for the final two races of the 2024 Stock 1000 Championship.
As if that wasn’t Beastly enough of Gillim, he kicked it up another notch in Saturday’s Stock 1000 race one. On the penultimate lap and with Gillim in the lead, he ran a little wide in turn 12. Hitting the rumble strips and the rainwater pooled in those strips, the back-end of his Honda started to come around, followed by an epic tankslapper that would have caused a lesser Beast to crash. Gillim, however, motored on.
The moment enabled OrangeCat Racing Jayson Uribe to overtake Gillim, but on the final lap, Beast-mode Gillim made almost the same move while overtaking Uribe going into turn 12. Again, he ran slightly wide and kicked up some more rainwater pooled in the rumble strips. This time, however, Gillim’s Honda knew who was boss and didn’t protest. Gillim took the checkered flag, and moved even closer to clinching the season title, which he did on Sunday after Stock 1000 race two.
“Hayden was a Beast on this Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP, even with his injured hand, and it really highlighted the performance of this package,” commented Junge. “On the next to the last lap in Saturday’s race, he had a major tankslapper coming onto the front straight that measured at 2.8 G’s and had 18 oscillations on the data. Gillim recovered and made a winning pass in the final corner. He is an amazing rider.”
Faster Than A Speeding Thunderbolt
Despite the rain at New Jersey Motorsports Park, the MotoAmerica riders still managed to record some very fast trap speeds. Five race classes competed at NJMP, and below are the riders who achieved the highest trap speeds in their respective classes. Once again, Tytlers Cycle Racing‘s JD Beach topped them all aboard his BMW M 1000 RR Superbike:
Steel Commander Superbike:
JD Beach: 175.4 miles per hour (Race 1, Lap 2 of 8)
Stock 1000:
Jayson Uribe: 169.4 miles per hour (Race 2, Lap 4 of 14)
Mission King Of The Baggers:
Troy Herfoss 157.6 miles per hour (Race 1, Lap 9 of 9)
Supersport:
Blake Davis: 157.1 miles per hour (Race 2, Lap 5 of 19)
Junior Cup:
Ryan Wolfe: 124.6 miles per hour (Race 2, Lap 2 of 13)
Ella Dreher: 124.6 miles per hour (Race 2, Lap 3 of 13)
The Sticker Of Fate
Australian Troy Corser won the 1994 AMA Superbike Championship on a Fast By Ferracci Ducati 888, and the bright-red machine was on site at New Jersey Motorsports Park to watch its “little brother,” the Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati Panigale V4 R, power Josh Herrin to victory and the 2024 MotoAmerica Steel Commander Superbike Championship.
If you believe in fate, or numerology, or karma, then here’s one for you. The tech inspection sticker that the AMA put on Corser’s Ducati 30 years ago was still in place on the left side of the bike’s trellis frame, right under the fuel tank. And that tech sticker’s number? 2024.
On The Mend
Best wishes go out to a couple of Supersport riders who will soon undertake medical procedures to rectify their racing injuries. Rahal Ducati Moto‘s Kayla Yaakov will have surgery to repair a torn ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) in her left knee, which she suffered a few years ago in Junior Cup. And Altus Motorsports‘ Jaret Nassaney will have surgery to repair his fractured clavicle and separated shoulder that he suffered as the result of a crash over the weekend at NJMP. Get well soon, Kayla and Jaret.
Never Underestimate The Power Of The Swarts
And, finally, we say good-bye and good luck to David Swarts, who finished up 24 years with Roadracing World on Sunday night at New Jersey Motorsports Park. Swarts is going to work as a Marketing and Communications Manager for well-known racer and entrepreneur Larry Pegram. The job is a hybrid position where Swarts will assist Pegram and his daughter Riley as they pursue their dream as car racers on their father-and-daughter IMSA team. Also, Pegram is Owner and CEO of Pure Ohio Wellness, one of Ohio’s fastest-growing businesses, and Swarts will assist him in that endeavor, as well.
