Gagne Wins His Ninth Medallia Superbike Race of 2022 In Pittsburgh

Gagne Tops Petrucci And Scholtz To Take 26^th Career Superbike Victory

WAMPUM, PA – August 21, 2022 – (Motor Sports NewsWire) – Jake Gagne earned his ninth MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike victory of the season today in the red-flag interrupted race one of the Superbikes At Pittsburgh, Presented by LaRoche Aviation Services, round at Pittsburgh International Race Complex.

Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha Racing’s Gagne, who earlier in the day earned pole position with a new lap record of 1:39.344 around the 2.78-mile Pittsburgh International Race Complex, led all three starts and every lap of the three portions of the race to claim the 26^th win of his AMA Superbike career.

Gagne’s victory also allowed him to claw back five precious championship points on series leader Danilo Petrucci, who finished a fighting second on his Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC Panigale V4 R. Petrucci now leads Gagne by eight points, 273-265, with five races (including tomorrow’s race two at Pitt Race) remaining in the 2022 season.

Gagne crossed the line 2.064 seconds ahead of Petrucci at the end of the three-parter, with Petrucci was hounded to the finish line by Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz and Gagne’s teammate Cameron Petersen, with the three separated by just .417 of a second at the conclusion of what ended up being a five-lap sprint.

The runner-up finish was the ultra-consistent Petrucci’s 13^th podium in 14 races after the Italian gave it his all in each of the restarts to try and latch on to Gagne.

Scholtz’s race to third was an adventurous one. Riding with a broken left wrist suffered at BIR three weeks ago, the South African was forced off track to avoid Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante, who made a mistake and crashed on the opening lap of the race. Scholtz had charged from well back to seventh when the first red flag was thrown on the seventh lap. Scholtz then charged through on the second restart and was battling with Petersen when another red flag was thrown. In the final portion of the race, Scholtz got the better of his countryman Petersen and the trio – Petrucci, Scholtz and Petersen, crossed the finish line in close formation.

Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Jake Lewis was a fighting fifth, 9.5 seconds behind Petersen and a tick over a second ahead of his fellow Kentuckian Hayden Gillim, who narrowly topped Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Hector Barbera.

Tytlers Cycle/RideHVMC Racing’s Corey Alexander was eighth while…