SHELTON, Wash. – Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha’s Jake Gagne’s plan doesn’t change from race to race. Why would it? It works.
He traditionally qualifies on the pole, gets the jump on everyone off the start and puts the race out of reach in the first handful of laps.
That was the case again on a scorching hot Saturday at Ridge Motorsports Park, as the Californian won his sixth-straight MotoAmerica HONOS Superbike race by leading from start to finish.
Gagne, who broke the track record during Q2 on Saturday morning, was unstoppable again. He led every lap and, if it wasn’t for the oppressive heat, it could have been classified as a walk in the park.
“It’s kind of a balance,” Gagne said. “Especially this weekend, I knew if I got a good start, if I got through turn one, turn two clean then I could put my head down for a couple laps. It’s a balance. I knew with how hot it is these tires are taking a beating. It was hotter than all weekend, so I wasn’t really sure how we were going to end up after the second half. So, I got a good, solid gap in the beginning and then rode around and just tried to be smooth, be easy on the tires, not do anything crazy. I was actually impressed with how well these Dunlops held up again.
“This team is working, working so hard, so it’s great to get Josh (Herrin) up here. These guys were close, man,” Gagne added. “I was looking at my pit board and I couldn’t let up. It’s only a couple seconds, but anything can happen. Again, hats off to the team. These guys are going to be coming even harder tomorrow and I know that we can make some improvements in a couple areas tomorrow because I know these boys will be gunning for me. Try to keep this ball rolling and again, hats off to everybody.
”It will be a hot one tomorrow, so it will be fun.”
Second place went to Gagne’s teammate Herrin, the 2013 AMA Superbike champion, who found something in his setup that made him faster and more comfortable than in previous races. The second-place finish was Herrin’s best thus far this season, and he was 4.49 seconds behind Gagne after 17 laps.
Herrin’s first few laps were a bit daunting, and he came very close to crashing after losing the front at one point.
“The beginning of the race today, I had it,” Herrin said. “I felt so good at the beginning and (Loris) Baz threw a super sketchy pass on me into turn 12 and I tucked the front because I got out in the dirty stuff. But it kind of made me see like an Eslick (Herrin and Danny Eslick used to be fierce rivals) moment. I just got so fired up. It just made me push so hard.
”I think I rode like I haven’t rode since 2018. So, thanks to Baz for being sketchy and putting it on the line.”
Herrin had his hands full for the majority of the race with M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Cameron Petersen, with the South African hounding Herrin until giving up the chase after running wide in the turn one chicane. Petersen ended up some four seconds behind in third place.
Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati New York’s Baz ended up fourth, 14 seconds behind Gagne, after qualifying second and looking like he might have a challenge for Gagne in the race.
Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz crossed the finish line some five seconds behind Baz in fifth place, well clear of HONOS HVMC Racing’s Corey Alexander. Alexander put in a solid ride to finish a career-best sixth in the HONOS Superbike class, while winning the Superbike Cup for racers riding Stock 1000-spec motorcycles.
FLY Racing ADR Motorsports’ David Anthony finished seventh, which matched his best of the season. Then came M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Bobby Fong, who managed to finish eighth despite a mechanical problem.
Anthony’s FLY Racing ADR Motorsports’ teammate Jayson Uribe and Altus Motorsports’ Jake Lewis rounded out the top 10.
Gagne leads Scholtz by 32 points, 150-118, the the hunt for the championship. Herrin is a further 15 points behind and just five points ahead of Petersen. Fong is fifth and 80 points behind Gagne after seven races.