Herrin Shines In Road America Superbike Test

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. — There are good weeks and there are great weeks. Josh Herrin is having a great one. Just six days after the birth of twin girls, Herrin went out and won his first Superbike race of the year and the 17th of his career on a sunny Saturday at Road America.

Herrin’s 17th career AMA Superbike win moved him out of a tie with three-time 500cc World Champion Wayne Rainey and into a tie with 2006 MotoGP World Champion Nicky Hayden for ninth on the all-time AMA Superbike win list.

Herrin and his Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati Panigale V4 R led every lap of Saturday’s race as he took advantage of pole-sitter Cameron Beaubier’s miscue in turn one on the opening lap to take a lead he would never relinquish. Herrin, however, didn’t have it easy as Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha Racing’s Bobby Fong stuck with Herrin and the Ducati for the duration.

At the completion of the 12-lap race, Herrin was 2.827 seconds ahead of Fong.

Beaubier recovered from his first-turn blunder to gradually reel in both Fong and Herrin. But turn one again was a bogey corner for Beaubier and his Tytlers Cycle Racing BMW M1000 RR. After passing Fong and setting off after Herrin in the closing stages, Beaubier ran wide in turn one again, recovering again to make a final charge at Fong for second place. At the finish 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 front and some five seconds ahead of fifth-placed Richie Escalante on the Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki. Escalante’s fifth-place finish was a lonely one as Real Steel Honda’s Hayden Gillim was 10 seconds behind in sixth.

Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates raced his Honda to seventh, well clear of BPR Racing’s Bryce Kornbau. Thrashed Bike Racing’s Max Flinders and Aftercare Scheibe Racing’s Danilo Lewis rounded out the top 10 finishers.

Notable non-finishers included MotoAmerica Superbike Cup series leader JD Beach, who pulled out with a clutch issue on his Real Steel Honda, and Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Sean Dylan Kelly, who crashed out in the early laps. FLO4LAW/SBU Racing’s Benjamin Smith was a non-starter after suffering a mechanical failure in qualifying.

Beaubier now leads the championship by 26 points over Gagne, 111-85, with Herrin moving to third – just a point behind Gagne. Fong, with his third runner-up finish of the season, is fourth – eight points behind Herrin. Kelly holds on to fifth, 59 points behind Beaubier.