MILLVILLE, N.J. — The MotoAmerica Quad Lock Superbike Championship comes down to its final round at New Jersey Motorsports Park September 25-27, where a three-race, triple-header weekend will decide the series champion.
Four riders remain mathematically alive for the title, with 75 points on offer across the weekend and no rider more than 49 points off the lead.
OrangeCat Racing’s Sean Dylan Kelly carries a 26-point cushion over Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha Racing’s Bobby Fong into the finale, with Strack Racing’s Mathew Scholtz and Fong’s teammate J.D. Beach also alive mathematically.
Kelly, Fong, Scholtz and Beach have combined to win all but three of this season’s Superbike races — the other three victories all going to Ducati riders: Cameron Petersen (Wrench Motorcycles) took Race 1 at Road America, while Warhorse HSBK Ducati Flo4Law claimed two wins, with Loris Baz taking Race 3 at VIR and Cameron Beaubier winning Race 1 at COTA.
The four riders who remain have never won a Superbike title which guarantees a new Quad Lock Superbike champion to be crowned in the Garden State.
NJMP’s Thunderbolt Circuit is a clockwise 2.25-mile, 13-turn road course known for its fast, flowing and technical run through the final sector that leads onto the half-mile front straight. With a first turn that sets up prime passing opportunities and the possibility of late-September weather, NJMP has a well-earned reputation for scrambling the order — a wet weekend would equalize the field and add another variable to an already tight championship equation.
Kelly’s title path is about managing the gap more than chasing wins. Sitting on 279 points, the Floridian needs only to keep pace with his rivals through the weekend’s three races — and he’s shown he can absorb a bad day, having salvaged a single point with a 15th-place finish on a damaged BMW at VIR.
Kelly has finished on the podium in 13 of 15 races this year, including three wins, making a top-five weekend an attainable target. The 24-year-old Floridian is the only rider to score at least one point in every Quad Lock Superbike race thus far.
Fong arrives as the hottest rider in the series, with three wins and six podiums in his last seven starts, including a Race 2 victory at COTA that pulled him back within striking distance of Kelly. To take the title outright, Fong needs to outscore Kelly by at least 27 points across the weekend. Fong has history at NJMP, having won Race 1 there last year before his own title bid slipped away.
Scholtz’s deficit is a steep hill to climb from 46 points back in P3. The South African can certainly go out and win all three races himself, but a sweep alone may not be enough. With a gap this size, he’ll also need the rest of the weekend to break his way.
Beach faces the longest road of the four, needing to outscore Kelly by at least 50 points across the weekend. A clean sweep would give Beach the full 75 points, but he’d also need Kelly limited to 25 points or fewer.
Petersen rounds out the top five in points but remains a threat to disrupt the finishes at the front. Kelly’s Teammate Jayson Uribe is sixth and represents a strong ally for the points leader.
While out of the points, several riders mark NJMP as a home round in the Northeast. Rahal Ducati Moto with XPEL’s PJ Jacobsen represents his Upstate New York roots in seventh, with two podiums this season.
M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Brandon Paasch is eighth and will race in front of his home-crowd from nearby Freehold, New Jersey. Paasch’s teammate Richie Escalante, who is recovering from injury (ninth in points), will miss the final round but 20-year-old Pennsylvanian Tyler Scott suits up for the finale at what is his home race on the calendar.
Rounding out the top 10 in points is Real Steel Honda’s Hayden Gillim.
Finishing off the list of Northeast riders calling this race home are Beaubier’s teammate, 26-year-old Pennsylvanian Benjamin Smith and New Hampshire native, Thrashed Bike/Scheibe Aftercare Racing’s Max Flinders from New Hampshire.
