Day One at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca Belongs to Gagne

Jake Gagne Leads The Way Again In HONOS Superbike

MONTEREY, CA – July 10, 2021 – (Motor Sports NewsWire) – Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha’s Jake Gagne had a normal Jake Gagne day on Friday at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Go fast, earn provisional pole, get ready for tomorrow’s first of two HONOS Superbike races in the MotoAmerica GEICO Motorcycle Superbike Speedfest at Monterey.

Gagne lapped at 1:24.371 in Qualifying 1 and that put him .338 of a second ahead of Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati New York’s Loris Baz, the Frenchman turning his best lap of 1:24.709 after a low-side crash in the Corkscrew.

“We had a good day today,” Gagne said. “In the first session we took the bike off the truck, and it was actually one of the toughest first sessions we’ve had. I wasn’t too happy with the bike with just a couple of little tweaks, the electronics mostly. We managed to run both tires and I liked the green tire better. We made some changes in between sessions and made the bike feel a lot better right away in the second session. So, we went out and did a 13-or 14-lap run to get a good feel for the tires, and we had a really good run out here. Obviously, we are just trying to do the work for the race. We’re just seeing how these Dunlops are going to be in the second half of the race because that’s when we want to be strong.”

M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Cameron Petersen ended a sunny and warm afternoon on the Monterey Peninsula third fastest by virtue of his 1:24.831 on his 17^th lap and that put the South African ahead of countryman Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholz by just .002 of a second. Scholtz suffered two crashes in the session.

Gagne’s teammate Josh Herrin completed the day in fifth place with his 1:25.139, which put him ahead of Scheibe Racing BMW’s Hector Barbera, M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Bobby Fong and the returning Toni Elias on Kyle Wyman’s Panera Bread Ducati rounding out the top eight.

M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Sean Dylan Kelly topped his rival Richie Escalante, on the HONOS HVMC Racing Kawasaki, by just .130 of a second in Supersport Q1. North East Cycle Outlet Racing’s Benjamin Smith, CV28 Racing’s Cory Ventura and Altus Motorsports’ Kevin Olmeda rounded out the top five.

Scott Powersports/KTM’s Tyler Scott was the fastest of the SportbikeTrackGear.com Junior Cup races as he led his championship rival Ben Gloddy by 1.4 seconds. Maz Van ended the day third fastest, 1.7 seconds behind Scott.

BPR Tuning’s Bryce Prince made his first day back in the MotoAmerica Series count as he led the way in Stock 1000 Q1, besting Ridge Motorsports Park/DiBrino Racing’s Andy DiBrino and Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates.

Mission Foods S&S Cycle News Indian Challenger’s Tyler O’Hara and his 1:33.058 led the Mission King Of The Baggers Q1, besting H-D Screamin’ Eagle’s Travis Wyman, DTF Performance/Hoban Brothers Racing’s Michael Barnes and championship points leader Kyle Wyman and his H-D Screamin’ Eagle Road Glide.

Righteous Racing’s Jody Barry led Twins Cup Q1 over Rodem Engineering teammates Toby Khamsouk and Kaleb De Keyrel.

Superbike Q1

1. Jake Gagne (Yamaha) 1:24.371
2. Loris Baz (Ducati) 1:24.709
3. Cameron Petersen (Suzuki) 1:24.831
4. Mathew Scholtz (Yamaha) 1:24.833
5. Josh Herrin (Yamaha) 1:25.139
6. Hector Barbera (BMW) 1:25.885
7. Bobby Fong (Suzuki) 1:26.143
8. Toni Elias (Ducati) 1:26.199
9. Jayson Uribe (Suzuki) 1:26.971
10. David Anthony (Suzuki) 1:27.107

For the complete 2021 MotoAmerica Series schedule, click HERE

To purchase tickets for any of the 2021 series round, click HERE

For information on how to watch the 2021 MotoAmerica Series, click HERE

Jake Gagne was again the fastest of the HONOS Superbike men on Friday at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Photo by Brian J. Nelson

The final round of the Mission King Of The Baggers Series will be held on Sunday. On Friday, it was Tyler O’Hara who led the way in the first qualifying session. File photo by Brian J. Nelson

Friday photos and video are available HERE

Friday results by class:

HONOS Superbike

Supersport

Liqui Moly Junior Cup

Stock 1000

Twins Cup

King Of The Baggers

Complete practice, qualifying and race results are available HERE

For complete 2021 MotoAmerica Media Resources please visit – 2021 MotoAmerica Media

About MotoAmerica

MotoAmerica is the new North American road racing series created in 2014. MotoAmerica is an affiliate of KRAVE Group LLC, a partnership that includes three-time 500cc World Champion, two-time AMA Superbike Champion, and AMA Hall of Famer Wayne Rainey, ex-racer and former manager of Team Roberts Chuck Aksland, motorsports marketing executive Terry Karges, and businessman Richard Varner. For more information on MotoAmerica, visit www.MotoAmerica.com. Also make sure to follow MotoAmerica on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Source: MotoAmerica

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