Random notes, comments, statistics, musings, and bits of trivia from the MotoAmerica Superbike Speedfest at Monterey:
Machine Gun Kelly
EasyHealthPlans.com/TopPro Racing‘s Sean Dylan Kelly is having quite a rookie season so far in the Steel Commander Superbike Championship. The 22-year-old was fourth in race one on Saturday, and then, he notched his third podium result of the season when he finished third on Sunday.
Afterwards, I asked the 2021 MotoAmerica Supersport Champion and Moto2 competitor over the past two years about coming to grips with racing in MotoAmerica’s premier class and aboard a brand-new-for-him motorcycle equipped with a full suite of sophisticated electronic interventions and control strategies.
“Obviously this whole season has been a huge learning curve, just getting used to the Superbike, the power, the electronics,” Kelly said. “It’s such a different ballgame. I think I’ve adapted fairly well, being there from the beginning, but I still show up to tracks and it’s starting from ground zero. Even though I know these tracks, it’s so different on the Superbike. We don’t have the data. We don’t have anything. So, that’s why you see sometimes my FP1’s are pretty far back, but I’m trying my best to climb my way through and be there. I found something with the electronics. I understood something a lot better after Ridge, which was a tough weekend but I finished off strong. It showed a lot. So, I’m getting used to it. Obviously everything is a learning curve for me. It’s the first season. I think it’s expected. Really enjoying the Superbike. I honestly do love the BMW. So, I’m just trying to understand it more and more and hopefully keep being up front and hopefully be fighting for a win soon.”
Nothing Laps Forever
With most newly paved racetracks, a year or two of “seasoning” has to take place before they yield faster lap times. Rubber embedded in the asphalt aggregate provides increased grip, and the expectation was that the cars and motorcycles that circulated on WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca’s fresh surface over the past year would lead to new lap records this year.
Instead, the riders and teams discovered that, a year after the track was completely repaved, the race surface was surprisingly bumpy, and there was also inconsistent grip because of sealer patches applied in some places, as well as grooved pavement in other places where high spots were ground down. Overhead drone shots as seen on MotoAmerica’s race broadcasts showed a surface with a lot more “character” than you normally see on pavement that is only one year old.
As a result, not many lap records were set. However, one of the records that was broken was a big surprise. For the past six years, Josh Herrin‘s overall MotoAmerica lap record has stood the test of time and fast motorcycles. Each year, when we came to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, we’d marvel at what Herrin did way back in 2018 when he was on the Attack Performance Yamaha and competed in both MotoAmerica Superbike and the FIM Superbike World Championship. The combination of extra track time; some very special, ultra-sticky Dunlop “Q” tires; and Herrin’s skill and determination led to the eye-popping fastest lap of 1:22.908 that he set during that year’s Superpole session.
Well, after six years, Herrin’s ultra-fast lap time finally fell. During Steel Commander Superbike final qualifying session this past Saturday, Tytlers Cycle Racing‘s Cameron Beaubier did a fastest lap of 1:22.556, eclipsing Herrin’s record lap by nearly half a second.
Also, in the Mission King Of The Baggers Championship, Harley-Davidson Factory Racing‘s Kyle Wyman set two new records. During Saturday’s final qualifying, Wyman’s lap of 1:28.182 was the fastest ever recorded in MotoAmerica’s uniquely American Big Twin Harley versus Indian race class at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Then, during Sunday’s King Of The Baggers race two, Wyman did a 1:28.207, which was a new race lap record for the class.
Not to be outdone by his big brother Kyle, Cody Wyman set a new lap record and race lap record of 1:28.771 in the Mission Super Hooligan National Championship aboard his KWR/Harley-Davidson Pan America during Sunday’s race two.
Bronx Cheer
Speaking of the Mission Super Hooligan National Championship and KWR/Harley-Davidson, Cody Wyman and his teammate Hayden Schultz both finished on the podium in Saturday’s Super Hooligan race one at Ridge Motorsports Park, and then, Schultz finished third in last Saturday’s Super Hooligan race one at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. A secret to that team’s success this season can be traced to the swingarms both Cody Wyman and Schultz use on their Harley-Davidson Pan Americas.
In order to shorten the wheelbase on the Pan Ams—motorcycles that were designed and built as dual-purpose ADV bikes—KWR utilizes modified swingarms derived from the Harley-Davidson Bronx, a “streetfighter” motorcycle that The Motor Company designed and developed, but ultimately never produced. H-D offered the swingarms created for the Bronx to both KWR/Harley-Davidson and Saddlemen/Harley-Davidson for testing and possible race use. Only KWR’s riders Cody Wyman and Schultz opted to use them. Schultz said the swingarms help their Pan Americas turn better due to the resulting shorter wheelbase but it also makes the bikes “a little bit twitchy” at times. All in all, though, Wyman and Schultz are having good success with the bikes, partially as a result of the “parts-bin ingenuity.”
Save The Best For Last
Five race classes competed at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca last weekend, and Sunday’s second races were when the highest trap speeds were recorded in every single class. Here is the list of the classes, the riders, the trap speeds, the sessions, and on what lap each rider went fastest:
Superbike:
Cameron Beaubier: 163.5 miles per hour (Race 2, Lap 6 of 20)
Stock 1000:
Hayden Gillim: 161.1 miles per hour (Race 2, Lap 10 of 14)
Mission King Of The Baggers:
James Rispoli: 151.5 miles per hour (Race 2, Lap 2 of 9)
Supersport:
Blake Davis: 151.2 miles per hour (Race 2, Lap 3 of 19)
PJ Jacobsen: 151.2 miles per hour (Race 2, Lap 13 of 19)
Mission Super Hooligan National Championship:
Cody Wyman: 147.8 miles per hour (Race 2, Lap 7 of 8)
The Best Of The West
Sunday was a special day for Saddlemen/Harley-Davidson‘s Cory West. Not only because he overcame the disappointment of having a victory snatched from him in Saturday’s Mission Super Hooligan National Championship when he won Sunday’s Super Hooligan race, but it was a chance for West to reflect on a memory from when he was just 10 years old.
“My dad brought me here in 1995 for World Superbike as a 10-year-old kid,” West recalled. “And, I got to ride around the track with him on the fan lap. I never would have ever thought that I would become a racer and get to race here at Laguna Seca, let alone win one. This is just a dream come true. This is awesome.”
Parker Right Here
S&S/Indian Motorcycle rider Tyler O’Hara had a surreal moment on the podium after he won Sunday’s Mission Super Hooligan National Championship race. The winner’s trophy was presented to him by nine-time AMA Grand National Champion Scott Parker, who is one of O’Hara’s all-time racing heroes. In fact, Tyler O’Hara named his first-born son “Parker” after Scott Parker.
Quote Of The Weekend
Mission King Of The Baggers rookie Rocco Landers reached the podium in both of the weekend’s races at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Landers’ results have gotten better and better as the season has progressed, and he was asked what the secret is to his increasing success. “It’s a combination of hard work and sending it,” said Landers. Such sage wisdom from the 19-year-old RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson prodigy.
