LEEDS, Ala. — Strack Racing Yamaha’s Mathew Scholtz stole the show again in The Magic City, disappearing from the field, leading all 20 laps of Sunday’s Quad Lock Superbike race two, and winning by over six seconds.
The South African took the lead from Rahal Ducati Moto with XPEL rider PJ Jacobsen in the final corner of the first lap and checked out from there, taking the first double win of his Superbike career and extending his championship lead to 34 points in dominating fashion.
Behind Scholtz, Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha Racing’s JD Beach quickly moved into second on lap three with Warhorse HSBK Ducati Flo4Law’s Cameron Beaubier and his Ducati Panigale V4 R moving into third behind him.
Beaubier worked his way past Beach for second, but it was short-lived as the Ducati rider crashed one lap later entering Charlotte’s Web, ending his bid for a second straight podium and handing the position back to the Yamaha YZF-R1 rider.
Beach capitalized to secure another podium finish in race two, propelling himself to third in the championship standings, 46 points behind the leader.
Fresh off a hard crash on Saturday, birthday boy Sean Dylan Kelly rebounded with a composed ride aboard his OrangeCat Racing BMW M 1000 RR to finish third. The newly turned 24-year-old moved into the final podium position at the halfway mark and rode a calculated race to maintain second in the championship standings, 34 points behind the leader.
Richie Escalante delivered an impressive charge through the field aboard his M4 ECSTAR Suzuki GSX-R1000R to secure fourth place, marking his best finish of the season. The Mexico native started ninth and briefly dropped to 10th before methodically working his way forward on the #54 machine, while also climbing to sixth in the championship standings.
Wrench Motorcycles rider Cameron Petersen was out for redemption aboard his Ducati Panigale V4 R after a race one DNF. The South African shook off the tough Saturday, was locked in for the early mid-pack battle, and followed Escalante’s rise through the pack, but dropped from fifth to seventh in championship points.
Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha Racing’s Bobby Fong put his Yamaha YZF-R1 sixth in race two and managed to hang on to fourth in the season standings.
Race two was a mixed bag for the Real Steel Honda team. On the positive side, Andrew Lee once again topped the Superbike Cup category to maintain his points lead, while teammate Hayden Gillim suffered mechanical issues with his CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP that forced the Kentuckian to retire from race two, holding him to 11th in the points standings.
Richie Escalante delivered an impressive charge through the field aboard his M4 ECSTAR Suzuki GSX-R1000R to secure fourth place, marking his best finish of the season. The Mexico native started ninth and briefly dropped to 10th before methodically working his way forward on the #54 machine, while also climbing to sixth in the championship standings.
Wrench Motorcycles rider Cameron Petersen was out for redemption aboard his Ducati Panigale V4 R after a race one DNF. The South African shook off the tough Saturday, was locked in for the early mid-pack battle, and followed Escalante’s rise through the pack, but dropped from fifth to seventh in championship points.
Celtic/Economy Lube + Tire/Warhorse Ducati’s Darryn Binder was the Supersport winner.
