ELKHART LAKE, Wis. — It’s early days for South African rider Darryn Binder racing in America, but he has certainly taken to U.S. race tracks like a Cape Shoveler to water (that’s a South African duck, by the way).
At Road America, Binder set a new race lap record aboard his Celtic/Economy Lube + Tire/Warhorse Ducati in Saturday’s race one, then he broke it in Sunday’s race two and reset it yet again on his way to getting his second win of the weekend, third win in a row, and fourth race victory in seven races so far. He has also reached the podium in every race this season except the Daytona 200.
M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott, who set the overall Supersport lap record in Saturday’s Qualifying 2 session, got a great jump off the line in race two and grabbed the holeshot going into turn one.
Rahal Ducati Moto with Desnuda Organic Tequila rider Josh Herrin managed to overtake Scott for second, and he and Binder got into a prolonged skirmish for the lead. Unfortunately for Herrin, however, with five laps to go in the 11-lap event, he suffered a tipover. He was unhurt, but the crash ended his day.
Finally free of Herrin and with Scott battling against Rahal Ducati Moto with Droplight’s Kayla Yaakov and Strack Racing Yamaha’s Josh Hayes, Binder was able to run clean, fast laps and build a gap, which extended to more than eight seconds by the time the checkered flag flew.
Scott emerged from the fray with Yaakov and Hayes, and he finished as runner-up with Yaakov and Hayes following close behind in third and fourth, respectively. How close? Scott beat Yaakov to the stripe by just .032 of a second, and Yaakov rounded out the podium by just .076 of a second. Incidentally, Strack Racing Yamaha’s Blake Davis also got himself in the mix for that third podium spot, and he was a scant .005 of second behind Hayes.
“That was awesome,” said Binder. “That was the plan today, to get out front and try to put in as many fast laps as I could. Even though Josh and I were battling so much, the pace was still pretty decent. So, I was quite happy about that. Kept pushing. I got probably about two laps alone and I realized something is up, because he hasn’t come by in any straights. Then I looked over at my board and saw about plus five. I was like, ‘OK, I’ve just got to manage it until the end of the race.’ So stoked. Thank you to the Celtic/Economy Lube/Warhorse team. They’ve done an amazing job this weekend. My bike has been phenomenal. First double (win) here in the States. Super happy and looking forward to the next one.”
What a weekend it was for Hayden Gillim, who also races in Quad Lock Superbike, but it was the Mission King Of The Baggers Championship where he had a Road America round that he won’t soon forget.
Gillim, who was baptized on Friday night by Chaplains Raymond Rizzo and Mark Merical, broke the track record in Saturday morning’s Qualifying 2 and the race lap record on his way to getting the win in Saturday afternoon’s race one, racked up the double win with his victory in race two on Sunday for his J&P Cycles/Motul/Vance & Hines Factory Indian team.
Harley-Davidson x Dynojet Factory Racing’s defending class Champion Kyle Wyman tried to hang with Gillim for a while, but the Kentuckian was just too strong. Instead, Wyman and his teammate Bradley Smith enjoyed each other’s company as they pretended their Big Twin Road Glides were flat trackers and parried for position with their rear Dunlops sliding around with authority.
Smith ultimately got the best of Wyman, and finished second behind Gillim, while the rider of the #1 Road Glide, Wyman, had to settle for third.
In the Twins Cup Championship, a little home cooking paid off for the pride of De Pere, Wisconsin, Hank Vossberg, who finished out the weekend on his home track with a narrow, and very exciting, victory on Sunday.
The race started out with M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Bodie Paige getting an incredible jump off the start to put him at the front of the pack. Vossberg chased down Paige and overtook him after two laps, but then, Karns/TST Industries Racing’s Isaac Woodworth got around Vossberg on lap three.
Vossberg fought back and regained the lead, but then, it was Paige’s turn to lead as he overtook Vossberg.
On the penultimate lap of the seven-lap race, Vossberg put his Aprilia back in the lead and rode defensively, but he couldn’t keep Paige at bay. The Australian took the lead and, on the run up to the checkers, Vossberg slipstreamed past Paige to take the victory, Paige ended up second, and Woodworth completed the podium in third.
Vossberg, Paige, and Woodworth all finished within .165 of a second of each other.
Bryanna Everitt started from the pole position with a plan to repeat her flag-to-flag winning performance from Saturday’s race one. New Mexico rider Jasmine Noelle, however, had plans of her own. Getting the holeshot into turn one, Noelle took the lead with Everitt following close behind.
Both riders raced in close formation, but on lap two, Everitt ran a little wide and slid off the track unhurt. That left Noelle uncontested at the front, and she held her lead all the way to the checkered flag to take her first win of the season. Brazilian rider Tati Paze, who also podiumed in Saturday’s race one, finished as runner-up, just .177 of a second behind Noelle.
Third place went to Emily Dickson, who is from Canada. Dickson and Paze both had a good race and got to battle against each other for the majority of the five-lap event.
