Gagne Leads Day One at VIR, Half A Second Covers Top Five in Medallia Superbike

It’s Oh-So Close At The Top On Opening Day At
VIRginia International Raceway In All Classes

IRVINE, CA – May 20, 2022 – (Motor Sports NewsWire) – With two pole positions from two races in his pocket already in 2022, Jake Gagne went out and put his Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha on provisional pole on a smoking-hot day at VIRginia International Raceway on Friday.

Gagne lapped at a best of 1:24.371 in Q1 and that was just .031 of a second ahead of Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz, .105 faster than Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC’s Danilo Petrucci, .357 of a second ahead of Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Jake Lewis and .584 of a second clear of his teammate Cameron Petersen as the top five were covered by a scant half a second.

The lap record at VIR is a 1:23.594, set in Q2 last year by Gagne who went on to dominate both races with his biggest margin of victories of his 17 race wins in 2022.

But thus far, this year’s two races promise to be much closer than that. At least if Friday is any indication.

“I still expected that,” Gagne said of the top five being ultra-close. “Especially at this track. It’s tight, it’s technical, it’s kinda short, but it’s close out there. It’s going to be a brutal race. Twenty laps in the heat like that. We just have to focus and do our job. We’ve got another qualifier in the morning, so we’ll see what happens. Just try to put it up there on the grid and go race in the heat. This track gets to a point where it starts to be pretty greasy in the heat, tire temps, tire pressures go up. We’re gonna have to have a smart race and understand what these tires are gonna do in the afternoon tomorrow. We’ll go for it and have some fun.”

Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante ended the day sixth, just barely ahead of the first of the BMWs ridden by Tytlers Cycle Racing’s PJ Jacobsen. Scheibe Racing BMW’s Ashton Yates was eighth with Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Hector Barbera and Disrupt…