Jake Gagne finished the 2021 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship on a record breaking Sunday with two races at New Jersey Motorsports Park. the Californian wins his 16th race of the season and thus holds the jointly set record of Josh Hayes and Cameron Beaubier for superbike victories in a single season and at the same time the mark of three-time 500cc world champion Wayne Rainey for his career victories.
Fresh N ‘Lean Attack Performance Yamaha’s Gagne won both HONOS Superbike races in the NJMP on Sunday after winning the only race in the MotoAmerica triple Superbike header on Saturday. The two wins were his 15th and 16th of the season (which are also his career wins in class) and his first win on Sunday morning earned him the MotoAmerica Superbike crown in 2021.
“Even in the bad years, I ride motorcycle races – Gagne said of the many racing seasons that eventually led to the Superbike title – that’s what I love. It is fun. It sure is a lot more fun when we have a winning bike and a winning team and we can get some wins. It’s been an incredible year. I didn’t think we’d have 15 wins behind us. It’s pretty surreal. Again, hats off to this team, because the guys work so hard and the bike has worked really well. We keep trying to get faster. These guys are chasing us all the time and we have no choice but to keep trying. But it’s amazing. We have another race today so it’s not quite started yet. We still have something to do this afternoon because I know it won’t be easy, so we’re rolling into race two. “
Gagne didn’t stop at 15 wins when he was eliminated on Sunday afternoon, winning his 16th straight, a record for AMA Superbike wins in a season co-sponsored by Josh Hayes and Cameron Beaubier. Photo by Brian J. Nelson
As has been the case all year round, Gagne dominated and again led every single lap of both races on the way to the two victories. Gagne has now led 273 laps in a row in the 2021 season.
Sunday’s two Superbike podiums were identical to Gagne, who led Mathew Scholtz of Westby Racing and Josh Herrin of Fresh N ‘Lean Attack Performance Yamaha.
It was a solid day for Scholtz as he managed to keep an eye on Gagne in both races, 9.5 seconds behind in the second and 6.5 seconds in the third.
“Jake (Gagne) is the class of the field now and it seems like I’ve been the second best guy over the last couple of laps – said Scholtz after the third race – I just have to go ahead and try to catch up with Jake. As for the lap time, we know what to do. We were now faster than before in the first race. So we’re getting faster and faster, but we just have to find something, really. “
Mistress, meanwhile, was on his comeback weekend after suffering from COVID-19, which forced him out of two rounds of the series. As if Herrin’s life hadn’t been hectic enough the past few months, his wife Rachel also gave birth to the couple’s first child this week. However, on Sunday he had a tough day at work and won two highly competitive fights with Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati New York’s Loris Baz.
“First of all, congratulations to the entire team – said Mistress after the second race – congratulations to Jake (Gagne). It’s been a difficult year without doing something good (me) but it’s hard to see how your teammate is doing well but at the end of the year when he finishes it feels good. You have to be proud of that. There are 15 wins in a row. It doesn’t matter if you ride go-karts with your pals. If you hit them 15 times in a row, that’s a lot. Fifteen wins in a row is something special, something that no one has ever done before and it’s really cool to see. So, congratulations to him. Congratulations to the whole team. You worked hard all year.
“Having the baby, as I said on the podium, changed my attitude towards everything. It was something so special, something that so many people have talked to me about and tried to describe the feeling, but it’s not like any other feeling I’ve ever had. I was there for the whole thing, cut the umbilical cord and all that stuff. I think it was good for me for racing because in the four days that he lived I realized that life has so much more to offer than just racing. Racing was always the only thing that was important to me. It was good for me because now I can come and have fun racing. For some reason it seems more fun than before. I still haven’t won this year and I really want to. that would be a lot more fun. But it has become different than ever before. I am happy. I’m happy to see him but I want to try and get a better result for him. I’m just thrilled that he’s here for the last couple of laps of the year. I can’t wait to get him out on the track this year. It was special. It was fun. I am happy to be up here. I’ve been down all year and that pulled the team down, so I’m excited to get on the podium for them. “
Baz finished fourth in both races, with M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Cameron Petersen fifth in both races. Sixth place was different, however, as Hector Barbera from Scheibe Racing won the place in race two and Toni Elias from Fresh N ‘Lean Attack Performance Yamaha defeated the Spaniard for place in race three.
One Cure Ducati’s Kyle Wyman finished the day seventh and eighth, while Altus Motorsports’ Jake Lewis finished eighth in race two.
Ninth place in race two went to Ashton Yates of Jones Honda, while Bobby Fong of M4 ECSTAR Suzuki finished ninth in race three. Michael Gilbert Racings Michael Gilbert was 10th in race two while Tecfil Racing Team’s Danilo Lewis was 10th in race three.
As for MotoAmerica President Wayne Rainey with his 16th AMA Superbike win of his career, Gagne said, “I actually spoke to him. I saw him in the bathroom just before that second race and he mentioned he was 16. He wishes me the best. Hope I can achieve that today. It was really a great weekend. To win the championship is a dream. It didn’t quite start because we had to focus on this race as well, but it’s incredible. I still can’t really believe that we have 16 wins in a row. It’s pretty amazing. But all I do is go out there and do every lap and race as hard as possible. This bike is the bike to be beaten. Hats off to these Yamahas. It is great. We got a Yamaha sweep here in New Jersey. These things rolled really well. So, hats off to Attack Yamaha and all the boys and Mat (Scholtz) and Josh (Mistress) and Toni (Elias), everyone. We only have a few more days to get back on track, so we’ll just focus on that for the whole week and maybe relax a little after that. But I know these guys, like I said, Mat will be strong at Barber. Josh will be really strong at Barber. These guys are doing really well there. So I have to stay on my toes. You’re going to want to win really bad. The championship is almost done, so it’s time. “
Superbike race 2
Jake Gagne (Yamaha)
Mathew Scholtz (Yamaha)
Josh Herrin (Yamaha)
Loris Baz (Ducati)
Cameron Petersen (Suzuki)
Hector Barbera (BMW)
Kyle Wyman (Ducati)
Jake Lewis (Suzuki)
Ashton Yates (Honda)
Michael Gilbert (Kawasaki)
Superbike race 3
Jake Gagne (Yamaha)
Mathew Scholtz (Yamaha)
Josh Herrin (Yamaha)
Loris Baz (Ducati)
Cameron Petersen (Suzuki)
Toni Elias (Yamaha)
Hector Barbera (BMW)
Kyle Wyman (Ducati)
Bobby Fong (Suzuki)
Danilo Lewis (BMW)