Jacobsen Surprises ‘Em With Provisional Pole at New Jersey Motorsports Park

PJ Jacobsen Rode His BMW To The Fastest Medallia Superbike Time On Friday

MILLVILLE, NJ – September 10, 2022 – (Motor Sports NewsWire) – With five minutes left in Q1 at New Jersey Motorsports Park on Friday, normalcy returned to the timing sheet in the MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike class with the top two in the championship – Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha Racing’s Jake Gagne and Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC’s Danilo Petrucci – moving up to first and second, respectively. Or so it appeared.

Prior to the five-minute mark, it was Tytlers Cycle Racing’s PJ Jacobsen with the fastest lap time. Then, with just five minutes left, Gagne and Petrucci threw in their fast laps and moved to the front. But then – with less than a minute to go in the session – Jacobsen showed that he means business this weekend and shot back to the top with his 1:20.365, which put him just half a second from Cameron Beaubier’s Superbike lap record at NJMP.

Jacobsen’s flyer left the two championship protagonists, Gagne and Petrucci, scratching their heads and hoping to restore order in tomorrow morning’s Q2 session.

So, the provisional front row is Jacobsen, Gagne, Petrucci as Friday ended.

“I think we’re putting in the work that we have to be,” Jacobsen said. “We’re on provisional pole right now and we’ll get the qualifying tires tomorrow. I think the lap times can be quite fast, maybe low 19s.”

Jacobsen’s teammate Hector Barbera ended the day in fourth, .491 of a second behind but ahead of Gagne’s teammate Cameron Petersen. Petersen is the last rider on the same second as Jacobsen. Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz completed the session in sixth.

Supersport – Hayes Over Herrin

Four-time AMA Superbike Champion Josh Hayes was back onboard his personal Squid Hunter Yamaha YZF-R6 at NJMP after spending a few races as a fill-in rider for Kevin Olmedo on the N2 Racing/BobbleHeadMoto R6.

Apparently, he found his comfort zone as he ripped off a 1:23.001 on Friday afternoon to lead Warhorse HSBK Racing’s Josh Herrin, Hayes’ former Yamaha Superbike teammate on the verge of earning his first MotoAmerica Supersport Championship.

Landers Racing’s Rocco Landers, the only person mathematically still alive in the championship posted the third quickest time in Qualifying 1. The top seven riders ended the session on the same second as Hayes with the returning-from-injury Sam Lochoff ending up seventh on the Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR…