SHELTON, Wash. — Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Josh Herrin emerged from a race-long battle with Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Cameron Beaubier with his third straight MotoAmerica Superbike victory.
The win on Saturday at Ridge Motorsports Park was Herrin’s third MotoAmerica Superbike win in a row, a career first for the defending series champion.
The win didn’t come easy as what initially was a three-rider battle between Herrin, Beaubier, and Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha Racing’s Jake Gagne, turned into a two-rider fight between the top two in the championship – Herrin and Beaubier.
Herrin did the majority of the leading and even gapped Beaubier by a second-and-a-half mid-race, but Beaubier fought back to take the lead on the 12th of 16 laps. The five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion held the lead for three laps before Herrin struck back, taking the lead on the 15th lap and holding off the determined Beaubier.
At the finish line, it was Herrin by .194 of a second over Beaubier. With the win came a five-point swing in what is shaping up to be a nail-biter of a championship as Herrin now leads Beaubier by three points.
The win was the 19th of Herrin’s career, and it puts him ninth on the all-time AMA Superbike win list.
Gagne, meanwhile, lost touch with the Herrin/Beaubier battle, with the pole-sitter finishing 2.4 seconds adrift in third place. The top three raced three different brands of motorcycles to the podium – Ducati, BMW and Yamaha.
Some three seconds behind Gagne came his teammate Bobby Fong with the Californian fending off the advances of Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante.
Escalante’s teammate Sean Dylan Kelly crossed the finish line some 13 seconds behind in sixth place. BPR Racing’s Bryce Kornbau was a lonely seventh. Ditto for eighth-placed JD Beach and his Stock 1000-spec Real Steel Honda CBR1000RR-R SP.
Edge Racing’s Jason Waters and Thrashed Bike Racing’s Max Flinders rounded out the top 10.
Notable among the non-finishers was Real Steel Honda’s Hayden Gillim, the Kentuckian involved in a bump and run with Ashton Yates in the first corner. Yates crashed and Gillim didn’t, but the melee put him well back in the pack. He went on a charge that saw him climb to seventh before a crash ended his day.
