Gagne Plus 13 Points With One Round To Go For MotoAmerica Superbike Title

Gagne Wins His 12^th Race Of The Season, Petrucci Third.
Title To Be Decided Tomorrow

BIRMINGHAM, AL – September 25, 2022 – (Motor Sports NewsWire) – All season long, Jake Gagne hasn’t wanted to talk about championship points. Today, at Barber Motorsports Park, he didn’t seem to mind. It’s amazing what a 13-point lead going into the final race of the year will do.

After earning pole position this morning with a new lap record, Gagne did what Gagne does in the race. He took off at the start and was never headed, flanked initially by his wingman on the Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha team Cameron Petersen and ultimately followed home by Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz.

At the end of 20 laps of the 2.38-mile Barber Motorsports Park, Gagne had his 12^th win of the season and the 29^th of his AMA Superbike career by 5.43 seconds over Scholtz. Scholtz had been on the move early, chasing Petersen until his fellow South African crashed on the sixth lap. From there, Scholtz went into points-scoring mode as those two will battle for third in the championship in tomorrow’s finale with only four points separating them. Petersen, meanwhile, remounted and scored seven valuable points for finishing ninth.

Gagne’s run to the championship tomorrow was originally made easier with Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC’s Danilo Petrucci struggling with a fourth-place finish after being stung with a jump-start penalty of five seconds. The penalty, however, was later overturned on appeal by Petrucci’s team and overturned at roughly 6:30 p.m., giving Petrucci third on the day.

Tytlers Cycle Racing’s PJ Jacobsen was originally credited with third place but the change in the official results moved him back a spot to fourth.

While Gagne pocketed 25 points for winning, Petrucci earned 16 points for finishing third. That gives Gagne a 13-point advantage going into Sunday’s final race of the year.

Fifth place on Saturday went to Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Hector Barbera, giving the BMW team two riders in the top five. Barbera was some nine seconds ahead of the Hayden Gillim/Jake Lewis scrap for sixth.

That spot went to Disrupt Racing’s Gillim over fellow Kentuckian Lewis and his Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki by just .059 of a second.

Tytlers Cycle/RideHVMC Racing’s Corey Alexander, Petersen and ADR Motorsports’ David Anthony rounded out the top-five finishers.

After 19 of 20 Medallia Superbike races, Gagne leads Petrucci, 356-343, with Petersen third on 279…