Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Josh Herrin arrives this weekend at the Circuit of The Americas with a 52-point lead in the 2024 MotoAmerica Steel Commander Superbike Championship. If he leaves Texas on Sunday afternoon with a similar point lead, he will be crowned as the Superbike Champion for the second time in his career and for the first time in 11 years.
But with that being said, there is plenty of racing still to be raced at COTA with 75 points up for grabs from the time the lights go green for race one on Saturday until the checkered flag comes out at the end of race three on Sunday afternoon.
And there are still all kinds of hungry racers behind him that will be determined to at least make Herrin wait until the unpredictable, anything-can-happen New Jersey Motorsports Park round and the season finale.
Let’s back up a little bit.
Herrin has gotten where he is by pouring it on when it matters most. The championship isn’t won in the early rounds at Road Atlanta, Barber or even Road America. Those are three ingredients, but the bread is baked in the last half of the season and that’s where Herrin has put a dagger in the hearts of his competition.
In the past nine races, Herrin has won five times and stood on the podium three other times. His only real miscue came in race one at Ridge Motorsports Park when he chose to use slicks on a wet racetrack. He wasn’t alone in making that poor decision and he paid for it, scoring just five points in the race.
Since then, Herrin has been virtually unstoppable with four wins in the past five races, including three in a row heading into COTA – a racetrack he’s won on before and a racetrack that suits the Ducati.
Two men are tied for second in the championship heading to Texas and one of them won’t be racing. Wrench Motorcycles’ Bobby Fong and Attack Performance/Progressive/ Yamaha Racing’s Jake Gagne are tied – 52 points behind Herrin – but Gagne won’t be racing at COTA as he’s opted to sit out the rest of the season in an attempt to get his arm-pump problem sorted out for the 2025 season. Gagne has finished every single race in 2024 and he’s the only rider in the top 10 who can make that claim. But his health issues haven’t gotten any better so sitting out for a re-charged 2025 is probably the best option.
Fong had a strong middle part of the season, including two wins at Brainerd International Raceway, but his results have slipped of late, and he hasn’t stood on the podium since race two at Ridge Motorsports Park. Fong’s a fighter, however, and he won’t quit until the championship is over. He’s also a rider who has done well ln the past at COTA.
The man Herrin probably fears the most is the one who has climbed his way up to fourth after missing events and failing to score in five straight races while recuperating from a broken heel. That rider is Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Cameron Beaubier.
The five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion is 60 points behind Herrin and that may be too much to ask. Beaubier has four podium finishes (including a victory) in the past four races, proving that his foot injury is behind him. Expect him to fight until the end and he will be able to let the fast BMW M 1000 RR feel its oats at COTA.
Cameron Petersen sits fifth in the title chase, nine points behind Beaubier and 69 in arrears of Herrin. Petersen has had an up-and-down season thus far and a few crashes at the most recent Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course round left him a bit beaten. A few weeks off likely did wonders for the Attack Racing/Progressive/Yamaha Racing-backed South African. Also, Petersen does have three victories in the 2024 season so he knows how to win.
Petersen will be joined at COTA by Xavi Forés with the Spaniard set to replace Gagne for both the Texas round and the season-ending New Jersey round. Forés is “Mr. Have Leathers Will Travel” in 2024 as he previously filled in on the Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki team for Richie Escalante. This is Forés’ second go with the Attack team as he raced for them in the Daytona 200 in March.
It would be hard to argue against Sean Dylan Kelly being the “fastest rider yet to win a MotoAmerica Superbike race” as the rookie has taken the series by storm with four podium finishes in his debut season. Kelly’s confidence continues to grow, helped by his close second-place finish to Herrin in the most recent race at Mid-Ohio. It will be interesting to see if the EasyHealthPlans.com/TopPro Racing rider can come through with a victory in any of the remaining five races.
Loris Baz sits seventh in the championship after throwing away what appeared to be a certain 20 points in race one at Mid-Ohio when he crashed while circulating behind his teammate Herrin. Baz is 12 points behind Kelly and 31 points ahead of Beaubier’s teammate JD Beach.
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Brandon Paasch and Real Steel Motorsports’ Hayden Gillim complete the top 10 heading into COTA’s three races.
Paasch’s teammate Escalante was back in action at Mid-Ohio. Unfortunately, he crashed out of race one and finished seventh in race two as he fights to get back to his normal self.
Pre-Circuit of The America Notes…
What a difference a year makes. Jake Gagne and Josh Herrin split wins this time last year at Circuit of The Americas with Gagne topping Richie Escalante and JD Beach to win race one while Herrin beat PJ Jacobsen and Bobby Fong to win race two. Gagne arrived in Texas after wrapping up his third successive championship in the previous round at Pittsburgh International Race Complex. Gagne has opted to sit out the remaining five races of the season as he tries to fix his season-long arm-pump problem.
Gagne earned pole position for the two races at COTA with a best lap of 2:08.169 to best Herrin and Escalante, with the Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki rider earning his first front-row starting position. Gagne’s best lap set a new Superbike record at the 3.4-mile, 20-turn Circuit of The Americas, breaking Roger Hayden’s 2:08.184 from 2017.
Of the 14 MotoAmerica Superbike races held at COTA, non-Americans have won nine of them. The all-time win leader at COTA is Toni Elias, the now-retired Spaniard winning six races in Texas. The riders with the second most victories at COTA are Danilo Petrucci, with the Italian winning both races in 2022, and Josh Herrin, who won a race in 2019 and won race two last year. The third foreigner to win at COTA is Mathew Scholtz with the South African winning race one in 2018 for Westby Racing.
Suzuki is the manufacturer with the most MotoAmerica Superbike wins at COTA with seven. Yamaha has four victories in Austin with Josh Herrin giving Ducati its third win in Texas last year.
Cameron Beaubier arrives in Texas as the winningest active Superbike racer with the five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion second on the all-time win list behind Australian Mat Mladin with 63 Superbike victories. Mladin retired with 82 Superbike wins. Beaubier has four wins in 2024 and comes to COTA in dire need of three victories to keep his championship hopes alive.
The second highest active racer on the all-time Superbike win list is Jake Gagne with his 41 victories. With five victories thus far in 2024, Josh Herrin has moved into a tie with Eric Bostrom and Freddie Spencer for 11th on the all-time AMA Superbike win list with 15 victories.
