MILLVILLE, N.J. – If Jake Gagne manages to get out of bed Sunday and make it to the grid for the first of two HONOS Superbike races at New Jersey Motorsports Park, he will be crowned as the MotoAmerica Superbike Champion.
In HONOS Superbike race one on Saturday afternoon, Gagne and his Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha again made a mockery of the rest of the field as he led all 20 laps in winning his 14th straight race by 7.6 seconds. After 15 races, Gagne leads the championship point standings by a whopping 98 points. If he scores two points in race one on Sunday, he will start race two as the 2021 MotoAmerica Superbike Champion – his second MotoAmerica title to go with his 2015 Superstock 1000 title.
Only a brave man would bet against Gagne winning his 15th and 16th straight races tomorrow and the Californian doesn’t seem to be willing to let someone else win.
“I wish I could,” Gagne said. “I just have to do my job. This bike is this good. I’ve got to ride it as hard as I can every lap. We made some good improvements throughout the weekend, throughout yesterday and this morning, and so got a little bit more comfortable. We were happy with our race pace. We knew kind of what we could do. It was a little slicker even than I thought this afternoon. I’m sure with the heat it got into the track, got into the tires. It was a little slicker than I thought, for sure. But I’m happy. I got off to a good start. I saw Mat (Scholtz) coming around the outside of me in one right there. I know these guys are going to try to stick it up in there, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow. We’ve got two long races, so I’m sure it will be a battle. We’ll just keep clicking away at it. I’ve got nothing to do but ride the thing as hard as I can every lap, and whatever happens, happens.”
Second place on Saturday went to Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz, the South African taking the runner-up spot for the fifth time on the season as he solidifies his stranglehold on second in the championship.
Toni Elias had his third outing on the Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha and he put it on the podium for the second time, the Spaniard ending up third, some four seconds adrift of Scholtz and just .132 of a second ahead of M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Bobby Fong.
Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati New York’s Loris Baz finished fifth and some 10 seconds behind Fong after topping the third Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha ridden by the returning Josh Herrin by just .051 of a second.
M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Cameron Petersen was seventh, well clear of One Cure Ducati’s Kyle Wyman who was less than a second ahead of Superbike Cup winner Jake Lewis and his Altus Motorsports Suzuki GSX-R1000. FLY Racing ADR Motorsports’ Bradley Ward rounded out the top 10.