Herrin Takes Sunday Superbike Win at Road America
Photo courtesy of Ducati
After Saturday’s disappointment of finishing third in the MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike race at Elkhart Lake’s Road America, rider Josh Herrin and the Warhorse HSBK Ducati team stormed back to win Sunday’s 48-mile feature.
Herrin led the BMW of Tytler Racing Cycle’s P.J. Jacobsen to the line by 2.014-seconds, followed by two-time and reigning series champion Jake Gagne on his Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha.
For Herrin, it was the perfect way to put Saturday’s disappointment behind him.
“Yeah, that felt really good, but this just motivates me to do more. I know that this is for sure one of our strongest tracks, but we gotta figure out how to make tracks like Barber (Motorsports Park) not be such a weakness for us. I think just getting more confidence, more time on the bike will help with that.
“Man, I’m just so happy that I’m a part of this team. It’s been really like a family these last two years. Man, it just feels good to be 33-years-old, winning Superbike races on a bike like I”m riding right now, and just having fun.
“This track’s always been one of my favorite tracks, but today felt like…I’ve been racing here since 2006. This is my 18th season racing at this track. It felt like ’06 with the crowds we had today. It was just really special going around the track afterwards and seeing everybody cheering on the fence. It’s really motivating as a racer to be out there and see a crowd like that.”
The only rider who looked like he could challenge Herrin was Saturday’s winner, Cameron Beaubier. After passing Herrin going into turn five on lap three, Herrin reclaimed the lead going into turn eight. Beaubier dropped out the following lap when the engine on his Tytler Racing Cycle’s BMW let go.
At the time, Herrin was unaware that his strongest challenger had dropped out of the race.
“No, I had no idea. I kind of had a feeling after I saw P.J. come by me and I didn’t see Cam come near him after that. I thought maybe he went down. I kind of figured maybe he went down rather that the motor blowing, just because we were pushing really hard and we were dicing it up, a little bit. I had thought maybe he had tried something on a part of the track that was a little dirty, or something, and maybe tucked the front, but, yeah, I was surprised to not see him at the end.”
“Yeah, that felt really good, but this just motivates me to do more.”
The win was the first of the season for Herrin since moving back up to Superbike with the Warhorse team and the ninth of his career. But he was reluctant to call it his biggest.
“Nah, I wanna win when everybody’s up and everybody’s doing really good. It’s more motivating just to do it again later on in the season. But it felt good.
“The coolest thing to me is just the diversity of bikes I’ve been able to win Superbike races on. This is the fourth (different) brand podium (finish) at this track in particular. That’s the coolest part about it to me because there’s not very many people who’ve done that. That’s just a little stat I’ve been looking at throughout the years because, unfortunately, I’ve had to switch around teams a lot, so that’s the coolest part.”
Herrin’s exuberance was seen on the last lap when he had a moment going through turn 13 and nearly lost the bike.
“I was just pushing hard. Normally, I would play it safe but I had a hard time seeing the pit board this weekend. Everybody was wanting to be on top of each other in the pit board area, for some reason. It was just a cluster and I couldn’t see anything. I literally couldn’t tell the whole race if I had a plus one or a plus point-one (lead) or whatever it was, I was just pushing probably harder than I should’ve been and just had a couple of moments. It got me excited.”
While Herrin relished his return to Wisconsin, Gagne, the points leader coming into the weekend, was only too happy to get out of town after finishing third following a challenging weekend, to say the least.
“Yeah, that was about all I could expect coming from the last couple days.”
“Yeah, that was about all I could expect coming from the last couple days. Josh, and P.J. and Cam were really flying and they had pace. I know what it feels like now. Like they had pace that I just couldn’t run, I think, no matter what. They took off right away. I wanted to get a good start and clear some of the other guys. My teammate Cam (Petersen) was on me like the whole race long. I could hear him breathing down me.
“Yeah, the team went through a lot of crap this weekend, and had some real bad luck. It was just one of those weekends. I’m just happy we at least put it up on the box today.
“(Cameron) Beaubier having a DNF; I’m having some luck on my side today, too, which isn’t how you want it, but we’re up here (on the podium) and I’m ready to get out of this state.”
While the Yamaha team Gagne rides for has set the standard in race wins and championships over the years, Gagne was excited there’s now a battle at the top in the series.
“It really is cool, man. I mean, I like winning. You know these last couple years have been different, but it’s really, really cool to see other manufacturers, other teams putting in the work the last couple years and, finally, winning some superbike races. Like I keep saying, it’s going to be some good battling at the front this year. Good show. That’s what we’re here to do and really, I’m stoked and looking forward to it.
“Hat’s off to these boys and I’m ready to get on to The Ridge (Motorsports Park).”
Photo courtesy of Ducati
Sunday was doubly good for the Warhorse Ducati team as Xavi Fores remained a perfect five-for-five in the MotoAmerica Supersport class. It’s not something the Spaniard expected when he left Europe to come race in the United States this season.
“Yeah, it’s been much, much better than I was suspecting when I got this challenge because it’s like ten or twelve years I’m riding with the Superbikes. Dropping to Supersport, honestly, was not my first choice when I got this challenge. But I say, OK, I’m going to try and do new stuff, new challenges and try to enjoy again on the bike.
“I didn’t expect to win five races in a row. I expected to stay on the podium, for victories sometimes, but I start quite bad in Daytona. After Daytona, when I came back home, I was a little bit disappointed in myself, as well, and say maybe it was going to be a hard season.
“For the moment, this is going well. For sure there’s going to be hard races, like Brainerd (International Raceway), Ridge (Motorsports Park), or the tracks I don’t know, or tricky tracks, but for the moment, this has been nice.”