Day One In The Return To Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Filled With Drama.
It’s not often that the two riders in the championship fight get overlooked from their first-and-second place finishes, but that’s what happened in the Supersport race on Saturday afternoon at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Why? Two words: Larry Pegram.
Always a fan favorite at his local racetrack and a popular figure in the paddock, 51-year-old Pegram couldn’t pass up the opportunity to race at his home track 10 years after the series stopped coming to Mid-Ohio. But Pegram didn’t decide to drive the hour from his home in Hebron, Ohio, just for a trip down memory lane. He came to race.
And race he did. Pegram stormed off from the start and jumped into the lead with his full-rain tires in the iffy conditions. From there he held tough until PJ Jacobsen came past on his slick-shod Rahal Ducati Moto Panigale V2. And then came championship leader Mathew Scholtz on the Strack Racing Yamaha YZF-R6. But that was it. No other racers came past and Pegram had a podium finish for the first time since 2014 when he earned a Superbike podium at New Jersey Motorsports Park.
At the finish of a long day that featured mixed weather conditions and delays, Jacobsen had his sixth win of the season and his third in a row to claw back five valuable points on second-place finisher Scholtz.
Then came Pegram on his EasyHealthPlans.com/TopPro Racing Suzuki GSX-R750, some eight seconds after Scholtz who in turn was 25.4 seconds behind Jacobsen.
Pegram’s teammate Maxi Gerardo was fourth with Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Teagg Hobbs rounding out the top five.
In the first start of the Supersport race, both PJ Jacobsen and Mathew Scholtz crashed in oil, bringing out the red flag and a complete restart hours later. Photo by Brian J. Nelson
“It’s been a pretty long day,” Jacobsen. “We’ve run into everyone’s dinnertime here, pretty much. It was a very long day, and it was unfortunate that me and (Mathew) Scholtz crashed in that corner, but I definitely think there was oil down or something that happened because it was very strange. I think we could have had a really good battle in the dry race. I think tomorrow, hopefully, if it’s like that we’ll have a great battle like that tomorrow. I think in the race today, I made a pretty smart move, just going back from BSB days and trying to have experience. It looked like it was just going to be for slicks for sure by the end of the race. Then when Larry (Pegram) got out front, I was kind of laughing for a second because I was like, ‘There goes Pegram. He’s out front, but I’m going to reel him back in.’ Ended up catching him. I had a pretty big gap I guess behind me. So, I just kept on getting in a rhythm and it was good. I felt pretty comfortable. Happy with my team and stuff, because they deserve it so much. Kayla (Yaakov), Cory (Alexander), and my side, they were all on my bike fixing t to make it work for this race. They really deserve it all.”
Troy Herfoss (17) wheelies his way across the finish line after winning the Mission King Of The Baggers race on Saturday at Mid-Ohio. Photo by Brian J. Nelson
Mission King Of The Baggers – Herfoss Over Wyman
The Mission King Of The Baggers Championship is a uniquely American series that pits Indian Motorcycle and Harley-Davidson – two storied and iconic U.S.-based motorcycle manufacturers – against each other. It is a fierce rivalry that is very real between both manufacturers, the teams, and the riders. S&S/Indian Motorcycle’s Troy Herfoss and Harley-Davidson Factory Racing’s Kyle Wyman are cordial enough to each other, but when the faceshields go down and the lights go out on the starting grid, the two riders will fight with everything they have to beat each other.
In Saturday’s King Of The Baggers race one at Mid-Ohio, Wyman and Herfoss battled it out in a nine-lap shootout that saw Herfoss take the checkered flag by just a little more than a second over Wyman after Wyman made a strong challenge for the lead, but Herfoss was able to overtake Wyman again and make it stick.
Finishing third and another second adrift of Wyman was RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson’s Rocco Landers, who got the better of his teammate Hayden Gillim to round out the podium.
Herfoss’ win narrowed championship-leader Wyman’s advantage to just nine points with only five races left in the season.
“That was our best (race win) yet,” Herfoss said. “We’ve been second fiddle this weekend and the last few rounds to Kyle (Wyman). It felt real nice to be able to get out and lead the race at my own pace. He always has a go. So, he shot down underneath me, and I got back in front of him. Thank you to everyone that’s involved. S&S Cycle, Dunlop, Progressive Insurance. There’s so many great people helping us. Let’s give them another one tomorrow.”
Mikayla Moore (1) won race one of the Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. class to earn her second straight championship. Photo by Brian J. Nelson
Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. – Moore No Less
Mikayla Moore wrapped up her second Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. Championship with another runaway victory in the first of two races at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The win was her fifth of the season and she earned the title a race early with what was her 12th career win in the class.
Moore topped Kira Knebel, who raced to her second podium of the year, by 14.5 seconds with Holly Varey earning her first-career podium in the class. Varey was in a battle to the bitter end and was just a few tenths ahead of Aubrey Credaroli, who in turn was less than a second ahead of fifth-placed Miranda Cain.
“It feels wonderful because I knew coming to this race, looking at the lap times, I knew it was probably going to be a close battle,” Moore said. “Kira (Knebel) was pretty close to me and so were the other ladies. I knew I just had to put my head down and just start charging away from the beginning. So, to be able to do it and to show how fast this Royal Enfield could go all season means a lot to me. Huge thanks to the Royal Enfield team, Dunlop tires, Arai helmets, Bison. Just everyone that helps put this program together. I’m super happy to be crowned number two.”
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