Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha Racing’s Jake Gagne scored another dominant victory in today’s race one of the MotoAmerica Superbike tripleheader at the New Jersey Motorsports Park in Millville, New Jersey. His impressive 14th-straight win moves him closer to his first title in the premier class. Toni Elias joined him on the podium in third. After two months away, Josh Herrin had a solid first race back, coming just shy of a top-five finish in sixth.
Gagne set the pace early, leading every session to maintain his perfect qualifying record this season. The Colorado rider got a great start from pole position and led every lap to take his 14th win of the season by a 7.6-second margin. With 100 points left on the table and five races remaining, Gagne’s 98-point lead in the championship puts him just two points away from clinching the title a week early.
Elias got a great start from the second row of the grid to third and quickly moved into the runner-up spot. He then found himself in a three-way battle for the podium and on Lap 7, he was passed by fellow Yamaha rider Mathew Scholtz. The Spaniard kept pushing but then had a moment after the halfway mark and lost some ground. With another rider on his heels, Elias kept cool under pressure and held off the competition to secure third for his second podium finish in three tries aboard the Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha R1.
After being sidelined from the previous two rounds with Covid-19, Herrin had a solid return to racing. Qualifying fifth, he started on the second row next to Elias and was fifth after the start. The Californian was able to close the gap to the riders ahead, but started to lose some time five laps in and found himself locked in an intense three-rider battle for fifth. Herrin exchanged positions a few times and fought all the way to the finish line, coming short of the top-five finish by just .051 of a second.
The Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha Racing Team returns tomorrow for two more races to complete the MotoAmerica Superbike tripleheader at the championship’s penultimate round at the New Jersey Motorsports Park.
Richard Stanboli
Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha Racing Team Manager
“Today was a fun day at NJMP. Jake rode a great race and won from the front. We told him not to worry about the championship and do what he has been doing, and everything else will fall into place.
“It was also good to have Toni on the bike. He has a wealth of knowledge in addition to being a great rider. It was good to see him race at the front and finish on the podium. He is really enjoying his time on the Yamaha R1.
“We also welcome Josh back after recovering from Covid, and he is quickly getting back up to speed. We will have a look at our data tonight and make some further improvements for tomorrow. It would be good to see all three riders on the podium, and we will work hard to give them that opportunity.”
Jake Gagne
Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha Racing
“It was another great day for the team. We had a productive practice, and we were able to understand how the bike was going to work over the race distance. I got off to another good start and just clicked off the laps until the end for another win. We’ve got two twenty-lap races tomorrow, which will be a lot, but I’m ready for it.”
Toni Elias
Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha Racing
“I’m very happy to be on the podium. This track is difficult, but we have made some improvements since Pittsburgh. I’ve been struggling a bit with rear grip, and this hurt me a little bit today. I had a really great start, and for seven or eight laps, I followed Jake and kept that one-second gap, but at the end, I started to slide and lost touch with him and then fought with Mat (Scholtz). I think we can make another step tomorrow. I want to say thank you again to the team for working so hard and bringing me back to the podium.”
Josh Herrin
Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha Racing
“I’m so happy to be back. It wasn’t the result we wanted, but being off the bike for two months made it hard. I was a little too far back and knew I wasn’t going to catch those guys once (Loris) Baz was there with me. We had a great battle; I think we probably had fifteen passes there at the end of the race. I’m sure that we’ve got a lot to look at when we get back to the truck. It’s been a long road climbing back to where we’re at right now, but we’re going to keep working as hard as we can to get back on the podium.”