No Looking Back For MotoAmerica’s Herrin At Road America
Josh Herrin (1) led every lap of Saturday’s MotoAmerica Superbike race at Road America, despite the constant pressure from Bobby Fong (50). Photo by Brian J. Nelson
By Dennis Krause
By his standards, reigning MotoAmerica Superbike champion Josh Herrin has had a rough start to the 2025 season. But it all came right for Herrin Saturday at Elkhart Lake’s Road America, leading all 12-laps enroute to his first Superbike win of the year.
Starting second, Herrin, who rides the No. 1 Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati Panigale V4 R, took the lead when pole sitter Cameron Beaubier slid wide at turn one and never looked back.
Literally.
OK, maybe he looked back once.
“I think I looked back one time, like on the first lap,” admitted Herrin. “But you know, my mom's always yelling at me when I'm looking back, so it's been something since I was a little kid that she's just always like, quit looking back. She always says, when I look back, I make mistakes, and they always say in life, right? You don't want to look back. You always want to look forward.”
Herrin didn’t have to look back to see he had a comfortable lead over second place Bobby Fong, with Beaubier charging in third.
“Sometimes it's important to look back. Here, I use the TVs (track video boards) more than anything, because we can see the TVs on the track. So turn two, and I think like down by coming out turn seven the right hander. It just helps sometimes to see who it is, or, like, how much it is. So a lot of the race, I could see, I think, what was Cam coming out of seven as I was looking at the TV. So it's like, that helps a little bit just ease your mind of what's going on.”
Looking to break a tie with Josh Hayes for the most America Motorcyclist Association wins across all classes at 89 each, Beaubier got a good launch on his No. 6 Tytlers Cycle Racing BMW M 1000 RR from the pole position, only to see it go for naught in the first turn.
“I got a good jump,” said Beaubier, “and then I missed the shift slightly, going second, third, and then I sent it off in there, a little deeper than I should have in turn one, and I felt like I was okay. And then I was about mid track, and then I got a big front end push, and that sent me off the track, and yeah, I just kind of blended in as safe as I could. After that, man, I just did not have the same feeling I did in in qualifying and practice.
“But for me, it was just kind of a race of mistakes. I was struggling pretty bad getting the bike stopped. And when this BMW is working, it feels so good. But when it's not quite in its window, it's a beast to ride. But I'm glad we collected some points, especially after a couple mistakes I had, and a couple close calls. And I'm glad that we were able to at least salvage some points today.”
Bobby Fong continued his strong showing in his first season on the No. 50 Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha Racing Yamaha YZF-R1, keeping the pressure on Herrin and holding off Beaubier for second by just .009 of a second for his third runner-up finish of the year.
“Yeah, it was good, man, these guys, I was riding so hard to try to keep up with them. And I think it was like the second to last lap, I had a big one. I thought I was going down for sure at turn one, nearly fell off the thing, and then I thought Cam was gonna blast me.
“Once I had that moment, Cam went by, I'm like, all right, I think my race is over. I gotta settle in. And then he went wide. He just went super wide in turn one. I'm like, Oh, here's my second chance. You know, got second, and I thought he was gonna get me again. But no, it was good, man.
“Both these guys kept me on my toes the whole time. And definitely had a lot of moments out there. I was ready to just send it to the grass for sure, plenty of times.
“But no, it's good to get some points. And, you know, move forward to tomorrow.”
Herrin, whose wife gave birth to twin girls on Monday, will look to post twin wins this weekend at “America’s National Park of Speed.”
“I think this track suits me well. I've won on the Yamaha, the Ducati, the Suzuki, and got a podium on BMW here. So I've had a lot of success around this track. I like the vibes here.
“I'm happy to win. I always love to win. But for some reason right now, this doesn't feel like I thought it would. And maybe it's just because of all the stuff's been going on this week, I don't know. It's just I'm tired and and got a lot of my mind.
“I wanted to say something about the babies on the podium, and it was hard to remember all of the names. Now, I'm gonna mess this up, but, yeah, I'm excited. I may not look it, but I think I'm just, I've got so much going on in my mind right now. It's insane.
“So hats off to the team for working hard and pushing me this weekend. And yeah, hopefully tomorrow goes just as good.”
Dennis Krause has spent decades covering all forms of motorsports, including over 40 Indianapolis 500s, with stints at WIBA Radio, PIT PASS - Radio’s Premier Motorsports Magazine and Motorsports Minute. Follow him on X @DennisKrause500 or motorsportsminute.bluesky.social or motorsportsminute on Threads or MotorsportsMinute+ on Facebook.