ELKHART LAKE, Wis. — There are good weeks and there are nice weeks. Josh Herrin is having an important one. Simply six days after the start of dual ladies, Herrin went out and received his first Superbike race of the 12 months and the seventeenth of his profession on a sunny Saturday at Street America.
Herrin’s seventeenth profession AMA Superbike win moved him out of a tie with three-time 500cc World Champion Wayne Rainey and right into a tie with 2006 MotoGP World Champion Nicky Hayden for ninth on the all-time AMA Superbike win record.
Herrin and his Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati Panigale V4 R led each lap of Saturday’s race as he took benefit of pole-sitter Cameron Beaubier’s miscue in flip one on the opening lap to take a lead he would by no means relinquish. Herrin, nevertheless, didn’t have it straightforward as Assault Efficiency Progressive Yamaha Racing’s Bobby Fong caught with Herrin and the Ducati for the length.
On the completion of the 12-lap race, Herrin was 2.827 seconds forward of Fong.
Beaubier recovered from his first-turn blunder to regularly reel in each Fong and Herrin. However flip one once more was a bogey nook for Beaubier and his Tytlers Cycle Racing BMW M1000 RR. After passing Fong and setting off after Herrin within the closing levels, Beaubier ran large in flip one once more, recovering once more to make a ultimate cost at Fong for second place. On the end line it was Fong by .009 of a second over the five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion.
Fong’s teammate Jake Gagne was fourth, 21.5 seconds from the entrance and a few 5 seconds forward of fifth-placed Richie Escalante on the Imaginative and prescient Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki. Escalante’s fifth-place end was a lonely one as Actual Metal Honda’s Hayden Gillim was 10 seconds behind in sixth.
Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates raced his Honda to seventh, effectively away from BPR Racing’s Bryce Kornbau. Thrashed Bike Racing’s Max Flinders and Aftercare Scheibe Racing’s Danilo Lewis rounded out the highest 10 finishers.
Notable non-finishers included MotoAmerica Superbike Cup sequence chief JD Seashore, who pulled out with a clutch concern on his Actual Metal Honda, and Imaginative and prescient Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Sean Dylan Kelly, who crashed out within the early laps. FLO4LAW/SBU Racing’s Benjamin Smith was a non-starter after struggling a mechanical failure in qualifying.
Beaubier now leads the championship by 26 factors over Gagne, 111-85, with Herrin transferring to 3rd – only a level behind Gagne. Fong, together with his third runner-up end of the season, is fourth – eight factors behind Herrin. Kelly holds on to fifth, 59 factors behind Beaubier.
