A day after Ducati North America inked a five-year extension with the Warhorse HSBK Ducati Racing team to continue as its factory-supported team in the MotoAmerica Superbike Championship, Josh Herrin further enforced that they made the right decision with a victory at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
Herrin and his Ducati Panigale V4 R withstood 20 laps of pressure from five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion Cameron Beaubier and EasyHealthPlans.com/TopPro Racing’s Sean Dylan Kelly to win his third Steel Commander Superbike race of the season at the perfect time as it gives Herrin a 15-point lead heading into the break before the series resumes at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in August.
Herrin took over the lead from Beaubier on the third lap and he led every lap after that, defending all of Beaubier’s probes. Kelly also had a go at Herrin, but that didn’t stick, either.
At the finish line the margin of victory was .244 of a second with Beaubier on Herrin’s rear wheel and just ahead of Kelly, who unsuccessfully tried a late-braking move on Beaubier in the final corner.
Wrench Motorcycles’ Bobby Fong was also in the mix, finishing fourth and less than a second behind Herrin.
Attack Performance/Progressive/Yamaha Racing’s Jake Gagne was fifth with a slight improvement in his arm-pump problem. The three-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion was some seven seconds behind Fong and some two seconds ahead of Herrin’s Warhorse HSBK Ducati teammate Loris Baz.
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Xavi Forés barely beat Tytlers Cycle Racing’s JD Beach to the finish line for seventh with Superbike Cup winner Danilo Lewis ninth on the Team Brazil BMW M 1000 RR. FLO4LAW’s Benjamin Smith rounded out the top 10.
Notable non-finishers included Attack Performance/Progressive/Yamaha Racing’s Cameron Petersen who suffered another mechanical failure just when he’d clawed himself back into the championship fight. Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Brandon Paasch also failed to finish after crashing out of the race early.
Superbike Race 2
- Josh Herrin (Ducati)
- Cameron Beaubier (BMW)
- Sean Dylan Kelly (BMW)
- Bobby Fong (Yamaha)
- Jake Gagne (Yamaha)
- Loris Baz (Ducati)
- Xavi Forés (Suzuki)
- JD Beach (BMW)
- Danilo Lewis (BMW)
- Benjamin Smith (Yamaha)
Josh Herrin – Winner
“Yeah, super stressful. Who knows how it would have ended up, but with Sean (Dylan Kelly) being there it kind of helped me a little bit because it got Cam a little bit distracted, or probably got his heart rate racing a little bit. He couldn’t just calm down and think about where he wanted to get me because he has to think about who’s behind him also. So, it probably helped me a little bit. I could hear him every lap kind of just testing – I would assume testing where he was going to be able to get me. I tried my hardest on the last lap to protect the lines but also not make the mistake of overprotecting and losing drives. I obviously don’t know what happened behind me, but obviously it worked out. I’m just super happy to get this because it’s huge for the championship. We’ve clawed our way back from a long ways. The team really deserves this. We talked about it yesterday. It’s been 30 years since Ducati has won a championship. That just got me super motivated, especially because (Eraldo) Ferracci is here. I don’t even know how that guy is still going as strong as he is. It’s insane. It’s a huge motivation for me to try to get this win this year for him. Yesterday was like a reset. Like I just got this championship reset. We’re back at square one and I just got to take advantage of it. We have three rounds to go, which seems insane. Just a huge thank you to the entire team. It was just an amazing weekend. I’m really happy.”
Cameron Beaubier – Second Place
“I didn’t quite have the pace I did yesterday at the beginning. We went with the five front today because the three yesterday was moving around a little bit. I felt like that was the better option today. I didn’t quite have the bite I wanted to on the edge of the tire. Regardless, I had a good bike. I just couldn’t pass this guy (Josh Herrin) anywhere. He was super good on the brakes. He was getting out of the last corner really good. One spot I felt really good was going down into two, but I was never close enough to do anything. So, there for a little bit, I was biding my time thinking of where I could get him as the laps went down. He was setting a good pace at the front. Then Sean came by me, and then I had to try to figure out a way around him. Once I got back on Herrin’s wheel, I couldn’t do anything without taking a big lunge and maybe taking us both out. I’m stoked, even though the win was right there. I’m stoked with how I rode this weekend, how my heel felt. I definitely need to go get my butt back in shape. But congrats to these guys. Sean (Dylan Kelly) was riding incredible. Josh was riding incredible all weekend, setting the pace. It’s going to be a tight fight the rest of the year.”
Sean Dylan Kelly – Third Place
“Much better day. I was pretty frustrated with myself after that jump start yesterday. First time I’ve ever jumped a start. I just got eaten up at the start. First lap was really far back. It was a really good day yesterday. Just understanding that I do have the pace to be up front, but you still got to make it happen. I was really focused today on just hitting the marks and getting everything together. I made not the best start, but I made some passes up really early on. Just wanted to be there. I didn’t really want to get stuck with the problems here and there with how I was feeling. I just wanted to be there. I’m really pumped with how I felt on the bike. Finally feel like I’m starting to connect truly how I want to with this BMW. Obviously still so much to learn, but I’m just super pumped, first of all, that I’m up here on the podium with these two guys who obviously have so much experience. I’ve been looking up to these guys for a long time, so to be up here is definitely a dream come true, especially at Laguna. I think it’s obviously just the beginning for me, so I want to keep on building on this. Just thank my whole TopPro Racing team. Thank my sponsors, Only Fans, Palm Beach Police and Fire Foundation. Just my whole crew, my family, everyone that’s out here. I’m super pumped to bring this podium to them.”
