Herrin Doubles Up In MotoAmerica Superbikes At Road America
Josh Herrin (1) leads Cameron Beaubier in the MotoAmerica Superbike race on Sunday at Road America. Photo by Brian J. Nelson
By Dennis Krause
Each of Josh Herrin’s newborn twin girls will be getting a winner’s trophy when daddy gets home as he swept both MotoAmerica Superbike races this weekend at Elkhart Lake’s Road America.
It was only the second time in Herrin’s career that he scored a weekend sweep.
While it looked like it was going to be a battle to the checkered flag with championship leader Cameron Beaubier quickly turned into a relatively easy win when the rider of the No. 6 Tytlers Cycle Racing BMW M1000 RR low-sided in the Carousel, sending Beaubier tumbling into the gravel trap and his bike flipping into the outside barrier on the ninth lap of the 12-lap race. Beaubier appeared to be uninjured.
Herrin said he was waiting to see what Beaubier was going to do when the 11-time winner at Road America crashed out.
“At that point, I was kind of like leaving the ball on his court. I wanted to see how he was feeling, if he was going to push. I heard him a couple times. I knew I was losing a lot of time I come out of chicane, I had nothing. I just kept having to go half throttle until I got through the first two shifts, he was catching me a lot there, and I just wanted to see what he was going to do. After seeing the 2-minute, nine-point-four second lap, I'm like, alright, obviously I can do a nine, so I'm sitting in 10-seven. So I was hoping that the last two laps, if I hadn't been passed by him yet, that I wanted to try and do like a high nine, low 10, just to try to break him, but I didn't need to.
“I could see on the monitors (around the track) where I was kind of gaining on him. It seemed like in the corners where we were having to trail break pretty late. I think he was just kind of feeling a little bit pressured because he was having those problems. And we were able to capitalize on and be back in the points.”
From there on Herrin was able to cruise to a 8.680-second win on his No. 1 Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati Panigale V4 R over the No. 50 Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha Racing Yamaha YZF-R1 of Bobby Fong. Richie Escalante was a distant third on his No. 54 Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki GSX-R1000R for his first podium finish of the year.
With his two wins over the weekend, Herrin, the reigning series champion, pulled to within 2-points, 111 - 109, of championship leader Beaubier. Road America was a turning point in Herrin’s season last year and where his championship run began. It appears to be the case again this year.
“Luckily, we had two really good races this weekend. We don't want to catch Cam because of crashes. But that's part of the game, making mistakes is, it's part of it. You gotta try to minimize them.
“My guys gave me a perfect bike this weekend. The track didn't have the grip that it had yesterday. But it seems like when the grip’s down, it's always going to be better for us.
“Super happy with how the week went. Got two babies and two wins.”
And two trophies to take home to the twins.
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.