Three Title Battles Are Separated By Just Nine Points, Two Others Less Than 15 Points Apart As Series Heads To Minnesota.
All five of the MotoAmerica support classes that will be on display at Brainerd International Raceway, June 14-16, feature tight championship battles with the top two in all five separated by less than 15 points.
The biggest margin is 14 points in the Stock 1000 Championship with Hayden Gillim leading Bryce Prince by two touchdowns. The Supersport series is led by PJ Jacobsen by 12 over Mathew Scholtz and the remaining three classes racing at Brainerd all feature just nine-point margins with Rocco Landers leading Alessandro Di Mario by nine in BellissiMoto Twins Cup, Mathew Chapin ahead of Logan Cunnison by nine in Junior Cup and Troy Herfoss arrives in Minnesota with slim nine-point cushion over Kyle Wyman.
Mission King Of The Baggers – Herfoss vs. Wyman
Two riders have won the eight Mission King Of The Baggers races so far in 2024 and those two are well clear of the rest as the championship chase looks to be a mano a mano fight between S&S/Indian Motorcycle’s Troy Herfoss and Harley-Davidson Factory Racing’s Kyle Wyman.
Herfoss leads by nine points heading into the two races at Brainerd with the series stopping again at a racetrack that the Australian has never seen. So far, however, it hasn’t been a problem as the three-time Australian Superbike Champion has proven to be a quick study with four wins and four second-place finishes to start his rookie season. Herfoss will be doing double duty this weekend at Brainerd as he will ride a Tylers Cycle Racing BMW in the Steel Commander Superbike races as a fill-in rider for the injured Cameron Beaubier.
Wyman, on the other hand, has three top-five finishes in the three previous races held at BIR, including a runner-up finish in 2022.
Herfoss’ teammate Tyler O’Hara is third in the 2024 championship but sits 69 points behind the points leader. Wyman’s teammate James Rispoli is fourth, a further 19 points behind, and RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson’s defending King Of The Baggers Champion Hayden Gillim is fifth and seven points behind Rispoli.
BellissiMoto Twins Cup – Landers On Top
RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki’s Rocco Landers had every reason to leave Road America a happy young man. Landers not only won the second of two BellissiMoto Twins Cup races, but he also showed that he can race in the rain after finishing second in the downpour that was race one.
Oh, yes, and he’s also now leading the championship point standings over the up-and-coming Alessandro Di Mario and his Rodio Racing – Powered by Robem Engineering Aprilia RS 660 by nine points, 135-126.
Giaccmoto Yamaha Racing’s Dominic Doyle, one of five riders to win a race so far in 2024, is third in the title chase, 25 points behind Landers.
Di Mario’s teammate Gus Rodio got off to a flying start in the 2024 championship with two wins, a second and a third to start the season. Since then, it’s gone a bit south for the New Jersian with two non-finishes at Road America pushing him back to fourth in the championship and 26 points behind Landers. Rodio will be looking to rebound at Brainerd.
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Rossi Moor had his best weekend of the season at Road America, and it moved him to fifth in the championship. He’s just two points ahead of TopPro Racing’s Avery Dreher, who like Landers, Di Mario, Doyle and Rodio is a 2024 race winner.
Junior Cup – Chapin By Nine
The third championship that features just a nine-point gap from first to second is Junior Cup where Matthew Chapin leads Logan Cunnison by nine points after six races.
Speed Demon Racing’s Chapin has won three of the six races so far and that has him nine points ahead of BARTCON Racing’s Cunnison, who has two race wins to his credit. The difference between the two goes back to Road Atlanta when Chapin splashed his way to seventh in the rain while Cunnison was a non-finisher.
New York Safety Track Racing Yandel Medina was sailing along nicely and led the championship heading into Road America, but he struggled to 10th and ninth-place finishes in the two races and it’s dropped him to third in the title chase and 15 points behind Chapin.
BARTCON Racing’s Eli Block has two podium finishes and sits fourth in the championship, four points ahead of BPM’s Isaac Woodworth.
Supersport – A Superbike Battle In Supersport
PJ Jacobsen and Mathew Scholtz have both won MotoAmerica Superbike races and both consider themselves Superbike racers. As they should. But the fact that they are now doing battle at the front of the Supersport Championship is a bonus for the class and for the younger, like Blake Davis and Tyler Scott, who have the opportunity to learn from two of the best.
Separated by just 12 points, it seems inevitable that Jacobsen and Scholtz will take the championship battle to the bitter end. The question is if those behind them in the title chase can start to gain ground and make it more than a two-rider battle.
Between them, Jacobsen & Scholtz (sounds like a law firm) have won five of the six races and the closest to them is N2 Racing/BobbleHeadMoto’s Blake Davis, the youngster with a runner-up finish to Jacobsen in the series opener at Road Atlanta as his early season highlight. Davis is 65 points behind Jacobsen.
Veteran Jake Lewis is fourth heading to Brainerd with the Kentuckian landing on the podium twice so far in 2024. Lewis is tied for fourth with TopPro Racing’s Maxi Gerardo and is just one point ahead of Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott.
Scott is hot off his first victory of the year at Road America when he beat out Scholtz and Jacobsen in a photo finish. Scott is 61 points behind with two big crashes putting him out of two point-scoring opportunities.
Stock 1000 – 39 Is Fine
Thirty-nine riders will attempt to qualify for the two Stock 1000 races at Brainerd International Raceway and Real Steel Motorsports Hayden Gillim is atop the championship with two wins in two starts in 2024.
Gillim was picture-perfect in the late-starting Stock 1000 Championship opener at Barber Motorsports Park with two runaway victories on his Honda CBR1000RR-R SP. Those two wins put him 14 points clear of BPR Racing’s Bryce Prince, with the Californian returning to a full season and beginning his year with two podium finishes on his Yamaha YZF-R1M.
Third in the title chase heading to Brainerd is AMD Motorsport RK Racing’s Richard Kerr with the Irishman eighth and fourth in the two races in Alabama. Kerr is tied with Orange Cat Racing’s Jayson Uribe, another returning to run a full season of Stock 1000 racing.
Just a point behind Kerr and Uribe is GMR/Jones Honda’s Gabriel Da Silva who was second to Gillim in race one at Barber, but suffered a mechanical that took him out of race two. He is 30 points adrift of Gillim, the defending class champion.
Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates, BPR Racing’s Wyatt Farris and FLO4LAW Racing’s Benjamin Smith are covered by just four points with three riders tied for ninth – Visit Indiana/Tom Wood Powersports’ Nolan Lamkin, Orange Cat Racing’s Travis Wyman and BPR Racing’s Deion Campbell.
Pre-Race Brainerd Support Notes…
Hayden Gillim and Bobby Fong won the two Mission King Of The Baggers races last year at Brainerd International Raceway. Gillim beat Fong to win race one with Fong reversing the order in race two. James Rispoli was third in race one with Tyler O’Hara filling the podium in race two.
In Supersport action a year ago, Josh Hayes and Tyler Scott split wins with Hayes topping Rocco Landers and Scott in race one with Scott winning a day later over Hayes and Landers.
Hayden Gillim did the double in 2023 in the Stock 1000 class at BIR with the Kentuckian winning both races over Minnesota native Kaleb De Keyrel. Travis Wyman was third in race one with Benjamin Smith taking that spot in race two.
The two wins in the Junior Cup class a season ago at BIR went to Rossi Moor and Levi Badie with those two flipping the order in race two with Badie first and Moor second. Hayden Bicknese and Jayden Fernandez rounded out the podium in the two races.
The BellissiMoto Twins Cup didn’t compete at Brainerd International Raceway last year, but the twins will run two races this weekend.
With his first career Supersport win coming in race one at Barber Motorsports Park, Mathew Scholtz became the 20th rider to win a MotoAmerica Supersport race. The all-time MotoAmerica Supersport win leader is JD Beach with 32 career victories in the class. Two riders, Garrett Gerloff and Sean Dylan Kelly, are tied for second with 19 career wins in the class.
With every victory he scores in the BellissiMoto Twins Cup class, Rocco Landers pulls farther way on the all-time win list for the class. Landers has won 17 Twins Cup races – seven more than Kaleb De Keyrel.
With his two wins to open the Stock 1000 season at Barber Motorsports Park, Hayden Gillim took over as the all-time win leader in the class with 13 victories. He passed Corey Alexander, who sits on 12 wins but now races in the Supersport class.
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