The MotoAmerica Championship Comes To A Close In Style At
Barber Motorsports Park
BIRMINGHAM, AL – September 26, 2022 – (Motor Sports NewsWire) – Jake Gagne won 17 races last year en route to his first MotoAmerica Superbike Championship. This season, Gagne won 12 – five fewer races – to take the title. Yet, this championship means more than the first, he said. Because it came with more difficultly.
“Last year was cool winning all those races and taking home the championship, but this one feels good to bring it all the way down to the last race,” Gagne said. “It was just incredible. It was amazing being able to race with Danilo (Petrucci). That guy is a world-class racer. Like I said down there, I don’t think there has ever been anybody that I wanted to beat more, just because of his resume. He’s a MotoGP guy, a MotoGP winner. I don’t know how many of those we’ve had here in the States, so I wanted to do right and protect the home turf here and bring this MotoAmerica Championship home with an American.”
On Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park, Gagne finished second to his Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha Racing teammate Cameron Petersen and that earned him a second successive Superbike title. The runner-up finish on Sunday put a ribbon on Gagne’s season that featured 12 wins and 14 total podiums in 20 races.
The race went perfectly for the Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha Racing team as Petersen led Gagne for the duration, the pair flying in formation until Gagne backed it down in the final laps.
Petersen took his second win of the season, his third career victory, and his first in dry conditions at his favorite track by 3.1 seconds over Gagne.
Third place went to Tytlers Cycle Racing’s PJ Jacobsen with the New Yorker passing Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC’s Danilo Petrucci in the last corner on the last lap. It was a fitting finish for Jacobsen, who lost out on third in Saturday’s race one when Petrucci’s jump-start penalty was reversed after the team’s appeal was upheld.
Jacobsen beat Petrucci to the line by .206 of a second.
Fifth place went to Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz, the South African racing with Petrucci early on before fading. He was some seven seconds adrift of the Italian at the finish and 3.2 seconds ahead of Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante.
Next up was Escalante’s teammate Jake Lewis with the Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki rider topping Disrupt Racing’s Hayden Gillim.
Tytlers…
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