2022 MotoAmerica - Round 8 - Pittsburgh

MotoAmerica returns to action at Pittsburgh International Race Complex this weekend. Danilo Petrucci is looking to hold his championship lead, after reclaiming it from Jake Gagne, who chucked it down the road in spectacular style during Race 2 at Brainerd. Rocco Landers will try to hold the momentum in Supersport on the heels of his double at Brainerd. Anthony Mazziotto knocked Jody Barry from his seemingly impenetrable post at the top of the Twins Cup points. We'll see if Jody can stop is steady decline since winning 4 in a row earlier in the season.

Superbike Standings:
253 - Danilo Petrucci - Warhorse HSBK Ducati
240 - Jake Gagne - Fresh N Lean Attack Yamaha
215 - Cameron Peterson - Fresh N Lean Attack Yamaha
183 - Mathew Scholtz - Westby Racing Yamaha
133 - Hector Barbera - Tytlers BMW
119 - PJ Jabobsen - Tytlers BMW

Supersport Standings:
264 - Josh Herrin - Warhorse HSBK Ducati
188 - Rocco Landers - Landers Racing Yamaha
160 - Tyler Scott - Vision Wheel M4 Suzuki
114 - Kevin Olmedo - N2 Bobblehead Yamaha
99 - Ben Smith - Northeast Cycle Yamaha

Twins Cup Standings:
156 - Anthony Mazziotto - Warhorse HSBK Aprilia
155 - Jody Barry - Veloce Racing Aprilia
128 - Blake Davis - N2 Bobblehead Yamaha
115 - Hayden Schultz - Cycle Tech Yamaha
109 - Caleb De Keyrel - Veloce Racing Aprilia
99 - Cory Ventura - MP13 Racing Yamaha

Superbike Grid

Supersport Grid

Twins Cup Grid

Superbike Race 1 Results
Superbike Race 1 was the typical fare MotoAmerica fans expect. Gagne dropped the hammer from the start with Peterson and Petrucci in tow, but Race 1 offered a bit of a twist, as Cam Peterson was actually able to hang with Gagne for three laps before Jake pulled his customary 1 second gap. Usually Jake makes that gap on the opening lap with cold tires and a full fuel load. On lap 5, Danilo made his move on Peterson in Turn 3, and charted a course for Gagne. The race was red flagged on Lap 7, which was significant primarily because it closed the gap between Jake Gagne and the field, and it also put Mathew Scholtz back in contention, after he was nerfed by Richie Escalante, who got pinched on the inside of Turn 1, misjudged his speed, but somehow managed not to skittle the entire field as he ran straight through the apex. The restart was an 8 lap affair that looked similar to the first. Gagne led with Petrucci in 2nd and Peterson in 3rd. Scholtz secured 5th place behind PJ Jacobsen, on the Tytlers BMW. Unfortunately, the restart was red flagged. The final restart was 5 lap, and, thankfully, it ran to its conclusion. Gagne brought it home with a comfortable margin. Danilo was second, surviving an attack from Mathew Scholtz, who nabbed Peterson on the final lap to win the battle of South Africa and finish in 3rd place.




Supersport Race 1 Results
Supersport Race 1 continued the trend set at Brainerd. Pitt is a flowing track with long radius turns that seems tailor-made for Yamahas. Rocco Landers made a nice start, and eased by Josh Herrin to take the lead. Landers never looked back, and stretched the lead to the finish line, winning his 3rd race in a row. Ben Smith was in surprisingly good form. He diced with Tyler Scott for 3rd during the first handful of laps, before Scott got by. The pair of them then set off to catch Herrin, which they achieved with 5 laps to go. Herrin upped his pace slightly. Scott went with him. Smith started to fade. Josh found enough pace to defend 2nd place, with Scott finishing 3rd. Smith brought his R6 home in 4th, while Josh Hayes finished in 5th, after struggling to find the right setup for the N2 Bobblehead R6, normally ridden by Kevin Olmedo.




Twins Cup Race 1 Results
Twins Cup continued its reign as the most entertaining and most highly participated class in 2022 MotoAmerica competition. Blake Davis took the holeshot on his Yamaha R7, with Kaleb de Keyrel in tow on his RS660. Hayden Schultz was third, with Ben Gloddy in 4th place, and Dominic Doyle in 5th. Barry and Mazziotto struggled to find a setup that worked. Barry opened the race in 7th, with Mazziotto in 10th. Crazy, since those guys are leading the championship. The lead 5 broke away from the rest of the field by forming a draft pack. They chopped and changed positions the entire way, but Davis led virtually every lap until De Keyrel got by with 2 laps remaining, after Davis got blocked by lap traffic. It looked like DeKeyrel was finally going to get a win in 2022, but the reigning Twins Cup champion was passed by Davis at the line as he pulled out of the slipstream. Hayden Schultz finished 3rd by a few thousands over Ben Gloddy, who was seeking his first podium of 2022. Dominic Doyle finished 5th after staying in touch with the lead pack the entire way. Mazziotto somehow managed to finish 6th. It looked like he methodically earned positions with solid riding, but the cameras were firmly focused on the lead quintet most of the race. Jody Barry finished 10th. He looks genuinely lost. Perhaps Dunlop's new compounds are not really to his liking?

gbphantom said:

I know he's adapting to a new bike, tires, and track, but Danilo seems to have nothing for Gagne since the first couple of rounds. I actually have to say I'm surprised. I was excited to see him add a bit of spice to the moderately bland series. No real fireworks outside of Gagne trying to push the issue too early on, and binning it.

Click to expand...

If MotoAmerica were running Pirellis, the competitive landscape might look a bit different, as all of the teams could use the factory WSBK chassis components and electronics. Since MotoAmerica uses Dunlop tires, the teams must develop the chassis to work with Dunlops, and the electronics must be adapted.

COTA is a horsepower track. Ducati thrive there. The remainder of the calendar is complex cornering with short straights. MotoAmerica is practically tailor-made for Yamaha, the way it was once tailor-made for the torquey, long-stroke GSX-R1000 engines.

It's a difficult situation for AMA. Dunlop has been a long time technical partner, and they've helped the series navigate tough times. They also have a motorcycle tire factory in the United States, where they make race tires for the North American market. However, there is little doubt that adapting WSBK parts for MotoAmerica competition is a major drag on team resources. Yamaha have done their homework. It will be nearly impossible to exploit an advantage over the Attack bikes. Ducati can basically hope to pull even.

Hopefully the FIM and Dorna can sort out the tire situation. WSBK once had a "tire war" of sorts, similar to FIM Endurance World Championship. If they can bring back those regulations, and maintain some parity, the teams can run what they want, regardless of what series they are competing.

Superbike Race 2 Results
Thankfully, Race 2 did not feature any red flag drama. Gagne got the holeshot from pole (surprise!). Cam followed him in 2nd place. Barbera made a lightning start, and managed to sneak ahead of Petrucci, but Hector missed the apex of the chicane, and incurred a 5 second penalty. Mathew Scholtz had a disappointing start in 6th, and spent the opening laps clawing himself past Jacobsen and Barbera to get back into contention. By lap 7, Gagne had opened a 4 second gap, and Danilo was finally able to reach Cam Peterson and make a pass. Three laps later, Scholtz would finally put a move on Peterson after following him closely for a lap or two. By this time, Jake was long gone, about 6 seconds clear. Danilo put his head down, but barely made a dent in the gap before he received a surprise visit from Scholtz who passed Petrucci with 5 laps to go, and pulled a gap. Gagne came home in first, followed by Scholtz and Petrucci. Peterson held on to a disappointing 4th place, but PJ Jacobsen won a fierce battle with Richie Escalante, to give BMW another top-5 finish.




Supersport Race 2 Results
Supersport offered a surprise for Race 2. Most pundits predicted that Rocco Landers would do a disappearing act, but it was Josh Herrin, who switched up his tire selection, and disappeared. He took the holeshot and never looked back. Landers managed to fight his way into second place at the end of lap 1, but it was already too late. Herrin had pulled 1 second on the field, and he was steaming towards the horizon. Josh Hayes made a nice start, but struggled to get Kevin Olmedo's R6 on the pace. Josh lost several places as Mesa, Smith and Scott powered through. Hayes would drop as low as 8th before righting the ship at half distance. Ben Smith and Stefano Mesa put on a good show as they battled for 3rd place in the opening half of the race, but both riders would eventually be dispatched by Ty Scott. He demoted both Smith and Mesa on Lap 10 to claim 3rd place. Herrin crossed the line in 1st, Landers 2nd, Ty Scott 3rd, Mesa 4th, and Ben Smith in 5th. Hayes got racey with about 4 to go, and he mugged Ventura and Power to salvage 6th place.




Twins Cup Race 2 Results
Twins Cup put on another hectic display of motorsport. It was entertaining, but also marred by red flags that shortened the race. Kaleb De Keyrel got the holeshot on his RS660, with Hayden Schultz and Ben Gloddy in tow. Pole-sitter and Race 1 victor, Blake Davis, got a terrible start as his transmission appeared to miss gears off of the line. Luckily for him, it wouldn't matter because the race was red flagged on Lap 2 when a competitor crashed on the apex of Turn 9 (?), and couldn't move his bike. The restart looked similar to the opening race, but Davis managed to get the holeshot this time, followed by De Keyrel and Schultz. Unfortunately, it went wrong for Schultz on Lap 1 as he missed the chicane, and received a 5 second penalty. On Lap 2 Cory Ventura moved into 4th place (on track), and De Keyrel took the lead from Davis. For the next 4 laps, the field frenetically changed positions, chopping and changing at nearly every corner. At the start of Lap 6, the order was Schultz, Ventura, Davis, Doyle, Wyman, De Keyrel, and Gloddy. A red-flag was displayed shortly thereafter, and with weather threatening, MotoAmerica called the race. With the 5 second penalty, Schultz was busted down to 8th, and Ventura took his 3rd victory in 4 races.