Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha Racing’s Jake Gagne continues to raise the bar in the MotoAmerica Superbike Championship, securing his first title in the premier class at the penultimate round at New Jersey Motorsports Park. After sealing the deal earlier today in Race 2 of the tripleheader, the newly crowned champ pulled off an encore performance in the afternoon race to extend his impressive win streak to 16. Josh Herrin returned to the podium with a pair of third-place finishes. Toni Elias rebounded from his crash in Race 2 to finish sixth in the final race of the weekend.
Gagne got another great start from pole position in Race 2 and made the pass for the lead in Turn 2. He then worked on expanding his lead up front, picking up the pace and breaking the track record with a 1:20.076 on Lap 3. Gagne put in consistently fast times to cross the line comfortably with a 9.5-second margin of victory. His 15th-straight win of the season gave him the two points he needed to claim the crown four races early.
A few hours after the championship ceremony on the podium, Gagne was back to business as usual. He countered the holeshot with another pass in turn two and never looked back. The Colorado rider executed his trademark disappearing act with a blistering pace to take his third win of the weekend by another healthy margin. Gagne’s sweep of the weekend not only extended his record-breaking win streak to 16, but it also put him in a tie for ninth on the AMA Superbike overall win list with multi-time World Champion and MotoAmerica President Wayne Rainey.
Herrin was hungry for a podium finish after finishing just shy of a top-five finish yesterday in his first race back in action. He got another good start in fifth and quickly passed his teammate to move into fourth. It was a heated multi-rider battle on those opening laps, and Herrin took advantage of the war of attrition and advanced to third. From there, the Californian ran his own race and held off the competition to score his sixth podium of the season.
In the final race of the weekend, Herrin repeated his previous starts in fifth. It was another three-rider fight for that final podium spot, and he patiently waited for his opportunity, making the pass for fourth on Lap 7. A couple of laps after the halfway mark, he battled for third and ultimately grabbed the upper hand with four laps to go, scoring his second podium of the weekend.
Elias had a tough second day of racing in Millville, New Jersey. He didn’t get the start he was hoping for and then, unfortunately, crashed out of the race in Turn 1 while battling for third. In Race 2, the Spaniard found himself eighth after the start but quickly made his way to sixth. He tried to chase down the group ahead, but they were out of reach. Elias was shuffled to seventh at the halfway point, but he closed the gap, and then on the final lap, he reclaimed sixth.
The Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha Racing Team heads to Barber Motorsports Park next weekend for another MotoAmerica Superbike tripleheader at the series finale in Leeds, Alabama, on September 17-19.
Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha Racing Team Manager
“Today was a great day for our team. Our Yamaha R1s ran flawlessly, giving Jake the opportunity to wrap up the championship early and continue to set new track records. The team is super happy with Jake and what he has been able to accomplish. He has truly raised the bar this season, and to wrap up the championship four races from the end says it all.
“Josh bringing home a couple of thirds today was a good comeback ride after missing the last two rounds; it was quite an accomplishment. He had a very tight race with the (Loris) Baz, and it was fun to watch.“Overall, the weekend has been exceptional. Mat Scholtz of Westby Racing also finished all three races in second, making it an Attack Performance-Yamaha podium sweep in all three races. We are looking forward to a fight to the finish at Barber next week. It should be fun!”
Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha Racing
“What a weekend! It’s amazing to be able to wrap up this championship for the team, and to do it with three more wins is fantastic. I have to give a big thanks to this team for such an incredible effort all year long! We have a short break, and then we’ll be right back at it. I’m looking to keep our momentum going into the finale at Barber.”
Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha Racing
“It feels so great to get back on the podium, especially after being away for so long. My coach Josh Hayes told me, ‘let’s get rid of the plus (sign) on your board, and just focus on what’s in front of you,’ and that made a huge difference today. I just want to give a huge shout-out to my whole team. They have been working hard all year for me. It’s been a struggle this season, especially since we thought we’d be getting better results, but we’re going to keep working hard. I just really appreciate those guys putting in all of their efforts for me.
“I also want to say thanks to Rachel and baby Griffin back home. I know they’re watching. It’s awesome knowing that he was able to be around for these last two rounds and be able to watch. It’s a huge motivation for me and gave me a whole new feeling about racing after he was born. This weekend I’ve been trying to have a whole different approach to things; to just have fun and get back to what it used to be like for me.”
Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha Racing
“It was a very difficult day for me. I felt really good in Race 2 this morning but made some mistakes on the first lap, which put me back in sixth. I was coming back super strong, but I went too deep going into Turn 1making a double pass on Josh Herrin and Cameron Petersen. Then in the second race, I was having an issue, and I couldn’t push. It was not my best day, but I’m really grateful for this opportunity. A big thanks to the Fresh N’ Lean Attack Yamaha team. It’s been a pleasure to work with this group and ride this bike that brought me back to the podium twice. I’m very happy to be back again; It’s been amazing.”
