Mathew Scholtz and his Westby Racing Yamaha YZF-R1 are in the midst of their best-ever season of MotoAmerica Superbike racing as the series heads to this weekend’s round at Barber Motorsports Park. The South African’s lap times are faster than a season ago, and he’s in a fight for second in the championship point standings with Monster Energy Attack Performance Yamaha’s Jake Gagne.
Meanwhile, both Scholtz and Gagne are trying to catch four-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion Cameron Beaubier and at least stop the surging champion-elect’s current streak of eight wins in a row and 11 of the 12 races held thus far in 2020.
Scholtz ranks Barber as one of his best tracks in the series, and he’s looking forward to getting there this weekend with the as-always goal of beating the Attack Performance teammates – Beaubier and Gagne.
“There are certain tracks that are better-suited to you and how you ride,” Scholtz said. “I’ve been riding this championship for four years now, so I know which ones I go to where I’m strong and which ones I struggle at. Barber is definitely one of the better ones for me.
“I just feel that every time we go out, we do get better because I did miss a lot of preseason testing. I know, heading into Barber, that I wasn’t there for the two-day test because I’d broken my collarbone two days prior while riding motocross. I know they may have one up on me in Friday’s practice, but we kind of have the bike dialed in well, and I’m just looking forward to getting out on track and trying to close the gap up to Cam (Beaubier) and just try to finish in front of Jake (Gagne) and catch up to him and pass him for second in the championship. That’s our main goal right now.”
Although beating Gagne is the season-long goal, knocking Beaubier from the top step on the podium is the big prize.
“I don’t think you’d be a pro racer if you actually came to finish second, but sometimes you have to look at how things are and take what you can,” Scholtz said. “But our goal is definitely to finish first. I have a lot of brilliant guys working with me in the Westby Racing team, and I know Tryg (Westby, his team owner) wants a couple of Superbike wins, and I’m really looking forward to giving them to him one day.”
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