As he did on Saturday in the Pacific Northwest, Jake Gagne won the Superbike race this Sunday. It was his seventh consecutive victory in the Superbike category in scorching heat on a fiery Sunday, with temperatures exceeding 45°C, which was extremely difficult for the machines and their riders. The Fresh N' Lean Attack Performance Yamaha rider only beat teammate Josh Herrin by just 4,4 and 5,6 seconds, respectively, in the two races at Ridge Motorsports Park.
Jake Gagne once again had the best start and took the lead from the first corner on his teammate Josh Herrin. Once the track was clear for him, he took a few steps ahead and was able to maintain it until the finish.
“I didn’t manage to get an excellent start,” commented Jake Gagne. “I wasn't as good as yesterday. I saw his wheel – Josh Herrin’s – coming outside of me. It was good to see a wheel and fight a little bit, because it was a bit of a lonely race yesterday. I knew these boys would improve today. We made some changes today, to make the bike a little easier to ride. With the heat, the race is complicated, you have to manage to adjust the bike so as not to use these tires too much. I enjoyed the warmth there. It was probably one of the hottest races I can remember, but I feel really good on the twisty circuits. Once again, hats off to Team Fresh N' Lean Attack Yamaha. The teams work hard and it doesn’t matter if we win or not, we’re going to keep working harder.”
Josh Herrin gave it his all and finished second for the second time in a row, the 2013 AMA Superbike champion giving much of the credit for his confidence boost to his new coach Josh Hayes.
Loris Baz had some difficulty riding a difficult Ducati Panigale V4 R in the heat around the 3,97km circuit. He finished on the podium for the third time this season. “We were faster than we have ever been with this machine since Thursday,” did he declare. “I felt so comfortable on the bike, but we still have to work. It's obvious. I really thought I could be faster in the race, especially yesterday. I had good feeling on the right side, but we had problems with the tire, the left side was so hot that I almost highsided 10 times. I just tried to hold on to fourth place yesterday. Today I started not too bad, but I was hoping to be able to come back at the end because we had a very good pace all weekend. I drove all weekend with 10, 15, 20 laps, even 25 laps of front tires and I was able to do lap times in 40. It was simply impossible in the race. I just had no feeling. I think the adjustment window for this machine is very thin. This is the first time we have run in this heat. We're just too slow right now compared to Jake Gagne and Josh Herrin today. I'm lucky that Cam Petersen retired [Editor's note: he was slowed by a problem but still finished sixth] and I was able to finish on the podium. We will continue to work hard with the team. The bike was tough today, my arms hurt halfway through the race, but I never gave up. We try again at Laguna Seca in the next round. »
In the Championship, Loris Baz is 6th with 82 points, and is 93 points behind Jake Gagne. Next meeting on the legendary Laguna Seca track, in California, in 2 weeks!
Results from Superbike Race 2 at Ridge Motorsports Park:
Credit Ranking: MotoAmerica
