BRASELTON, Ga. — The MotoAmerica Superbikes at Road Atlanta kicked off with plenty of sunshine and temperatures in the mid-80s as six classes of racing took to the track for practice and qualifying.
The Quad Lock Superbike class wrapped up their timed practice today at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta with the top 21 riders moving on to tomorrow’s Qualifying. The action on track will surely continue to heat up as the top six riders are separated by less than a second.
Cameron Beaubier set the fastest lap of the session aboard his Warhorse HSBK Ducati Flo4Law Panigale V4 R. The six-time MotoAmerica Superbike champion wasted no time dialing in his setup aboard his brand-new machine and, after a few adjustments, he was quickly atop the standings with a 1:24.348 on his sixth lap during the 40-minute session.
Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha Racing’s Bobby Fong put his Yamaha YZF-R1 in second behind the defending champion. Fong crashed early in the qualifying session but returned later to put down a 1:24.525, just .177 of a second behind Beaubier.
Mathew Scholtz is off to a solid start aboard his Strack Racing Yamaha YZF-R1. The two-time Supersport Champion and five-time Superbike race winner led the session in the early minutes before the pace dropped into the 1:24 range. Later in the session, he did a 1:24.526, just one one-thousandth of a second behind Fong and .178 of a second behind the leader.
OrangeCat Racing’s Sean Dylan Kelly put his BMW M 1000 RR in fourth place with a 1:24.677, just .329 of a second behind the leader. After hovering around the top five early, the 23-year-old from Hollywood, Florida, found his groove late in the session and joined the “minute-24 crew.”
Fifth position belongs to Wrench Motorcycles’ Cam Petersen. The South African was fifth-fastest with a time of 1:25.048 aboard his Ducati V4 R, and he looks to close the gap to the top four in tomorrow’s Qualifying session.
Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha Racing’s JD Beach is sixth, seventh position is occupied by Warhorse HSBK Ducati FLo4Law’s Benjamin Smith, followed by Real Steel Honda’s Hayden Gillim in eighth, Rahal Ducati Moto with XPEL rider PJ Jacobsen in ninth and M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Brandon Paasch rounds out the top 10.
The top five riders in Supersport are separated by less than one second after the first qualifying session.
Rahal Ducati Moto with Desnuda Organic Tequila’s Josh Herrin set the provisional pole aboard his Ducati Panigale V2. Herrin began the session in the 1:29 range, but a mid-session red flag brought riders into the pits for about 15 minutes while crews cleaned up oil on the racetrack. Herrin’s crew made a few adjustments to his bike during the stoppage, which helped him take the top spot with a 1:28.600
