With two rounds and four races completed in the 2021 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship, Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz holds a six-point lead in the standings based on the strength of his race finishes thus far. Mathew notched a victory and a second-place finish at Road Atlanta in round two, and then, he added another runner-up finish on Saturday at VIRginia International Raceway. On Sunday, “The Scholtz Kid” added a third-place finish to his four-race podium streak in a hard-fought result where he had to overcome adversity.
On the opening lap of Sunday’s final race of the weekend, Mathew got caught up in traffic going into turn one. Thankfully, he didn’t suffer a tipover in the incident, but it did shuffle him all the way back to 14th. Undaunted, he went about his business and started clicking off laps as fast as, or faster than, the leaders. On lap 13, he made it all the way back up to third place where he battled with Josh Herrin for a few laps before securing the final spot on the podium on lap 17.
All in all, it was a hero effort from Mathew, who knows that podium finishes all season long are the key to winning his first MotoAmerica Superbike title.
“I just saw one of the M4 Suzuki bikes coming up the inside, so I gave him space,” Mathew commented. “I could have followed him, but I don't know what happened from there. I think Cam (Petersen) ran off the track. I’m not sure if he got touched. It’s just one of those unfortunate things. I was trying to get aggressive in the first corner, trying to hang onto Jake (Gagne) because I knew if I could slot in behind him, he would pull me, and I kind of had the pace over everyone else after about lap 8 or 10.”
Westby Racing’s Junior Cup rider Jack Roach’s weekend at VIR went from bad on Saturday to worse on Sunday. After not being able to finish race one due to a technical issue, he crashed out of race two on lap 4 while in heavy traffic.
Jack said, “This round was full of ups and downs, and as it turned out, the best part was qualifying P3 and maintaining consistent speed throughout the weekend. I wanted to get two really good race results but, unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way. Two DNF’s obviously don’t show my potential. I can’t thank Chuck (Giacchetto) from Westby Racing and Shiloh (Salopek) from N2 Racing enough for all their support. Road America is my favorite track, so I can’t wait for the next round to begin.”
Next up for Westby Racing is round three of the MotoAmerica Championship, which will take place at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, on June 11 through 13.
MotoAmerica Superbike Standings
1. Mathew Scholtz – Yamaha – 81
2. Jake Gagne – Yamaha – 75
3. Josh Herrin – Yamaha – 61
MotoAmerica Junior Cup Standings
1. Benjamin Gloddy – Kawasaki – 90
2. Tyler Scott – KTM – 74
3. Cody Wyman – Kawasaki – 65
15. Jack Roach – Yamaha – 11
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