LEEDS, Ala. – Mother Nature chose to dump rain on Barber Motorsports Park on Saturday, but nothing could dampen the spirits of Tyler Scott as the 16-year-old captured the MotoAmerica SportbikeTrackGear.com Junior Cup Championship in style in his debut season of MotoAmerica.
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Meanwhile, newly crowned MotoAmerica champions Sean Dylan Kelly and Jake Lewis earned victories in the Supersport and Stock 1000 classes, respectively, while Kensei Matsudaira and Jesse James Shedden won in Mini Cup by Motul action on a purpose-built racetrack on site at Barber Motorsports Park.
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The SportbikeTrackGear.com Junior Cup Championship wrapped up on Saturday, and Scott Powersports/KTM rider Tyler Scott clinched the title in the best way possible, by also winning the race. The Pennsylvanian started from the pole, but he was overtaken by Veloce Racing Kawasaki’s David Kohlstaedt on the first lap. Scott bided his time in second, and Kohlstaedt crashed in the wet conditions on lap three of the seven-lap event, which handed the lead to Scott, who maintained it all the way to the finish line.
Second place went to 14-year-old female racer Kayla Yaakov, the BARTCON Racing Kawasaki rider becoming the first female rider to finish on a MotoAmerica podium since Jamie Astudillo finished third in race two at Road Atlanta in 2018.
Landers Racing Kawasaki’s Ben Gloddy, who had a mathematical chance to catch Scott for the championship until today, finished third. The New Hampshirite was hampered by a wrist fracture that he suffered a few weeks ago.
It’s been an incredible two weeks for M4 ECSTAR Suzuki rider Sean Dylan Kelly. After clinching the Supersport Championship last weekend in New Jersey, Kelly started off the weekend with the announcement that he will race in the Moto2 World Championship next year. And then, on Saturday in Supersport race one, he not only overcame another classic battle with HONOS HVMC Racing Kawasaki’s Richie Escalante, but he also prevailed despite the race being red-flagged and restarted.
Weather was a factor in both legs of the race, and in the six-race second leg, Kelly was in the lead at the beginning, but Escalante overtook him with three laps left to go. On the final lap, Kelly got past Escalante to take the checkered flag by .040 of a second for the 12th time this season. Finishing third and a little over 2.5 seconds back was MESA37 Racing Kawasaki rider Stefano Mesa.
In the only Stock 1000 race of the weekend, which started race day one at Barber Motorsports Park, recently crowned class champion Jake Lewis overcame the wet track conditions to notch his sixth win of the season and fourth in a row. Lewis started from the pole and led from start to finish, deftly negotiating the very tricky race surface aboard his Altus Motorsports Suzuki. Chuckwalla Valley Raceway/Octane Lending Kawasaki rider Michael Gilbert finished second, and Motul/Travis Wyman Racing BMW’s Travis Wyman rounded out the podium in third.
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In the final round of the 2021 Mini Cup by Motul, which was held on a purpose-built racecourse at Barber Motorsports Park’s Proving Grounds skid pad, the 110cc class was swept by American Racing Team’s Kensei Matsudaira. Fernandez Racing’s Jayden Fernandez rode his Ohvale GP-0 to victory in race one of the 160cc class, while race two was won by Atlas Speed Factory’s Jesse James Shedden. And Shedden was also the winner of both races in the 190cc class.Matsudaira clinched both the 110cc and 160cc season championships, while Shedden was presented with the number-one plate for wrapping up the 190cc title.