MotoAmerica: Gagne Vs. Petrucci title battle heads to PittRace – Roadracing World Magazine

It’s game on in the MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike Championship as Pete’s race beckons

Similar to Danilo Petrucci (Ducati) Vs. Jake Gagnier (Yamaha) Battle To The End

IRVINE, CA (August 17, 2022) – While last year’s MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike Championship was predictable, the 2022 series is predictable only in its unpredictability as the series heads to the Pittsburgh International Race Complex for the Superbikes At Pittsburgh presented by LaRoche Aviation Services round, August 19-21.

Last year, Jake Gagnier won 17 races, including 16 in a row. The only hiccup in his championship season was an engine failure in the opener at Road Atlanta and a crash and return to 12th place in the pouring rain at Barber Motorsports Park after he had already clinched the title. When you watched a MotoAmerica race, you assumed Gagnier would win, and 85 percent of the time he did. Such is the predictability.

Fast forward to 2022.

Gagnier and his Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha Racing YZF-R1 won eight of the 14 races, or 57 percent. He crashed out of the lead in two races and suffered a mechanical problem that knocked him out of the first race of the year for the second consecutive year. Gagnier appeared to be on his way to a second race at Brainerd International Raceway with five straight wins and the championship lead for the first time all season. With his crash at the second speedway in Minnesota, all of that disappeared. Winning streak and points lead. Goodbye predictability.

Hello Mr. Petrucci.

Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC’s Danilo Petrucci led the points until the 13th race of the year, when he lost by three points to Gagnier after the latter won the first race at Brainerd. With Gagnier having a high-speed crash that left his Yamaha looking like it had gone through a tree machine in the second race, Petrucci was there to take his fourth win of the year and first since April. And the leadership in points returned to the Italian. Predictable? Hardly.

That brings us to the Superbikes At Pittsburgh round presented by LaRoche Aviation Services, which will be held at the Pittsburgh International Raceway this coming weekend, August 19-21. The result: 13 points now separate them at the top of the standings with Petrucci v Gagne, Ducati v Yamaha, with six Medallia Superbike races still to go.

Petrucci and Gagnier had opposite seasons. Although Gagnier dominated the races he won and earned the pole position in all but one race, his main blemish was two crashes (Road Atlanta and Brainerd). Petrucci, on the other hand, except for his series opener at COTA, has yet to show the speed to beat Gagnier in a head-to-head battle, but he has been in nearly every race and picked up the pieces whenever Gagnier left them on the table.

So far, Petrucci hasn’t made any late-race mistakes, which is impressive considering he barely knows the tracks. His only non-point result was a DNF at Road Atlanta when Ducati let him down. Otherwise, he scored a pile of points at every round with four wins and eight podium finishes in 14 races. That means the former MotoGP star has stood on the podium in 85 percent of the races so far.

​​​​​​​Despite having the best year of his career with his new team and as a teammate of Gagnier, Cameron Petersen is on the sidelines when it comes to his championship chances. Mathematically, he’s still in the hunt, but scoring Petrucci’s 38 points and Gagna’s 25 is conceivable, but unlikely.

Petersen has been on seven consecutive podiums of late, a streak that began with his win in questionable conditions at Road America. While Petersen trails Petrucci by 38 points, he has moved ahead of second-placed South African Matthew Scholz.

While Petersen is at a good level, Scholz is the opposite. With six podiums (including a win) in the first seven races, Scholz’s season has started strongly. But after that win, also at Road America, his season took a bit of a nosedive and he went the last seven races without a podium. All this allowed him to be 70 points behind Petrucci and 32 points behind Petersen in the fight for third place.

Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Hector Barbera is fifth in the championship standings, as he has been all season, 14 points ahead of teammate PJ Jacobsen, who made it to the podium for the second time this year at Brainerd.

Suzuki’s Vision Wheel M4 Richie Escalante, in his first Superbike season, was gaining speed before the Brainerd round, but a crash and accompanying concussion robbed him of points in both races. He is seventh, 15 points behind Jacobsen and 13 ahead of team-mate Jake Lewis, who returned from injury to finish ninth and seventh in two races at BIR.

Aftercare Hayes Scheibe Racing’s Ashton Yates is ninth, three points behind Lewis and 11 points ahead of Disrupt Racing’s Hayden Gillim, who rounds out the top 10 ahead of Pete Reiss.

The two MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike races at Pitt Race will take place at 3:10 PM (Eastern) on Saturday and Sunday.

Pitt Race Superbike Notes…

It seems like only yesterday that MotoAmerica will host a round at the Pittsburgh International Raceway for the sixth consecutive year following its track debut in 2017. Built in 2002, the 2.78-mile, 19-turn track has become a favorite among drivers, teams and fans alike.

Six riders have won the 10 MotoAmerica Superbike races held at Pitt Race: Cameron Babier (3), Tony Elias (2), Jake Gunn (2), Roger Hayden (1), Josh Herrin (1) and Garrett Gerloff (1) ).

Cameron Babier, now competing in the Moto2 World Championship, still holds the lap record at the Pitt Race and the Californian set the lap record during Superpole in 2019 with a 1:39.472. Babier also holds the race lap record with a time of 1:40.550 while winning the second race in 2020.

Jake Gunn earned the pole position in last year’s two Medallia Superbike races with a 1:39.921 in Qualifying 2. Westby Racing’s Matthew Scholz and Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC’s Loris Baz joined Gagnier on the front row.

Gagnier edged out temporary teammate Tony Elias and Westby’s Scholz in the first race last year, a day before beating Scholz and M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Bobby Fong in the second race.

So far in 2022, four riders have won Medallia Superbike races. Jake Gagnier leads the way with eight wins, Danilo Petrucci has four, and Cameron Petersen and Matthew Scholz have one each. Meanwhile, eight riders have reached the podium in 2022: Petrucci, Gagnier, Peterson, Scholz, Hector Barbera, PJ Jacobsen, Jake Lewis and Kyle Wyman.

Jake Gagnier’s win in the first race at Brainerd International Raceway three weeks ago was the 25th of his AMA Superbike career. Gagnier is seventh on the all-time AMA Superbike win list, three wins behind former AMA and World Superbike champion Ben Spies.

About MotoAmerica

MotoAmerica is a North American road racing series established in 2014 that is home to the AMA Superbike Championship. MotoAmerica is an affiliate of KRAVE Group LLC, a partnership that includes three-time 500cc World Champion, two-time AMA Superbike Champion and AMA Hall of Famer Wayne Rainey, former racer and former Roberts Team Principal Chuck Oxland, head of motorsports marketing. Terry Karges and businessman Richard Varner. For more information on MotoAmerica, visit www.MotoAmerica.com. Also follow MotoAmerica on Twitter , Facebook and Instagram .