If last year Austin had hosted the first round of the championship Superbike MotoAmerica, parallel to the MotoGP Grand Prix of the Americas, with the great unknown of the presence of Danilo Petrucci making his debut on the Panigale V4-R of the Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati New York team supported by the Ducati factory, this year the Texan round presented a completely different face, with the irremovable and essential reigning champion Jake Gagne for the third time already crowned, as well as the package of the other headliner, Cameron Beaubier (Tytlers Cycle Racing), following his injury at the Pittsburgh International Race Complex and the title being awarded to the Yamaha official.
From then on, all suspense having generally left the North American continent, we could expect a single rider from the Californian in blue, and this was almost the case, the man with the predestined name immediately showing himself the fastest in the two sessions on Friday, before obtaining pole position on Saturday then winning the first race of the weekend on the same day.
Qualification 2:
Key moments from Race-1 below (or watch the full race here:
A race victory acquired in front of the Mexican Richie Escalante (Vision Wheel M4 Ecstar Suzuki) and JD Beach, the teammate of Jake Gagne at Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha Racing replacing Cameron Petersen who opted out of the rest of the series to have surgery and treatment for a broken wrist, while Josh Herrin (Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati New York) was a victim of its mechanics in race 1 after providing good opposition to the three-time champion.
Jake Gagne : “We've talked about it enough, but it's nice not to have to think about the championship. It was the number one priority of the year. That was the primary objective. Getting there feels good. We can just go for a run. Obviously some of these guys have had bad luck. I feel like I've been lucky all year. But whatever, I'll take this. It was certainly a tough and hot race. The first round was pretty wild. Herrin and I played yo-yo for a bit, which was fun. I think even in the first corner, he was on the inside, I released the brake, he released the brake, and we kind of played that game for a little while. It's a shame, I think he had a motorcycle problem. I just lowered my head. I saw on the big board that Richie (Escalante) and JD (Beach) were there second and third after a few laps or halfway through the race. Congratulations to both of these guys, they really deserved it. I know Richie has been in this Superbike match for a while now. The guy is very talented. And JD, he's fine. Congratulations to JD! It's a big day for the team and Richie. It's just cool to be up here on the podium with these guys. »
We therefore expected an encore repetita on Sunday, especially since Jake Gagne was once again the fastest in the warm up, but he finally had to bow to a Josh Herrin eager for revenge against fate at the end of a shortened race and restarted after a red flag….
Key moments from Race-2 below (or watch the full race here:
Josh Herrin (Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC-#2): “I can't thank the guys at Ducati USA and my team enough for believing in me, taking a chance last year winning the Supersport title, and then coming back to Superbike. I said before coming to CoTA that if we have a track where we had some riding time on this bike before we arrived, we would be there and that was the case this weekend. Thank you to everyone, my family, my team, everyone involved, for giving me this opportunity. »
Jake Gagne (Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha Racing): “The race was more difficult for me today. I struggled to keep up with the leader and ended up on the podium. Overall, it was a great weekend in intense heat. We have a little break now and we'll be back in New Jersey trying to get some more wins. »
With a 121-point lead in the championship over Josh Herrin, Jake Gagne can, however, head calmly towards the last meeting of the season, in New Jersey…
