Gagne Takes Race One at NJMP and Extends Championship Points Lead

Gagne Wins, Petrucci Fourth As Lead Grows To 13 Points.
Race Two Tomorrow at NJMP

MILLVILLE, NJ – September 11, 2022 – (Motor Sports NewsWire) – Fresh N’ Lean Progressive Yamaha Racing’s Jake Gagne took a big step towards a second MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike Championship on Saturday at New Jersey Motorsports Park with the defending champion stretching his advantage in the title chase from one point to 13 points.

Gagne won his 11^th Medallia Superbike race of the year and the 28^th of his career on a sunny afternoon in New Jersey. With his latest victory, Gagne moved into a tie on the all-time AMA Superbike win list with former AMA and World Superbike Champion Ben Spies. Not bad company, especially considering that Gagne didn’t win his first race until last year.

Gagne bested his teammate Cameron Petersen by 4.88 seconds with Mathew Scholtz coming out second best in his battle with countryman Petersen, the Westby Racing rider finishing less than half a second behind Petersen in third place.

The podium finish was Petersen’s 10^th on the year with Scholtz landing on the podium for a ninth time in 2022.

Gagne’s championship rival Danilo Petrucci was fourth on the Warhorse HSBK Ducati NYC Panigale V4 R, with the Italian finishing off the podium for just the second time all season. Petrucci came into NJMP trailing Gagne by just a point, but his title chase took a hit with Saturday’s result, and he now trails by 13 with three races remaining.

Pole sitter PJ Jacobsen was fifth after losing out on his race-long battle with Petrucci, finishing just .051 of a second behind the Ducati at the finish line.

Jacobsen’s teammate Hector Barbera was sixth, some 10 seconds behind his teammate and just 1.2 seconds ahead of Disrupt Racing’s Hayden Gillim.

Aftercare Hayes Scheibe Racing’s Ashton Yates was eighth with Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Jake Lewis and Tytlers Cycle/RideHVMC Racing’s Travis Wyman rounding out the top 10.

There were seven non-finishers, including Vision Wheel M4 Suzuki’s Richie Escalante with his GSXR-1000 suffering a mechanical failure.

Superbike Race 1

1. Jake Gagne (Yamaha)
2. Cameron Petersen (Yamaha)
3. Mathew Scholtz (Yamaha)
4. Danilo Petrucci (Ducati)
5. PJ Jacobsen (BMW)
6. Hector Barbera (BMW)
7. Hayden Gillim (Suzuki)
8. Ashton Yates (BMW)
9. Jake Lewis (Suzuki)
10. Travis Wyman (BMW)

Jake Gagne – Winner

“It was a great day. It’s been a good weekend. We learned a lot. Like Cam (Petersen) said, me and Cam were both doing some…