On Saturday of MotoAmerica’s first-ever race weekend at Brainerd International Raceway, Westby Racing teammates Mathew Scholtz and Jack Roach competed in their respective races on the fast and technical 2.5-mile road course.
From the outside of the front row, Mathew got off to a good start in the 18-lap race, but Jake Gagne and Loris Baz both crashed on lap two, and the race was red-flagged. On the 15-lap restart, Mathew slotted into second place, but he was overtaken by Bobby Fong, and then he battled for third with Cam Petersen until lap 10 when he secured the final spot on the podium all the way to the checkered flag.
With his third-place result, Mathew maintained second in the championship point standings and will be ready to improve on his result in Sunday’s Superbike race two.
“I was quite happy with today’s race,” commented Mathew. “We came into Laguna with some ideas and ways to get ourselves back to the front, and I believe that we achieved that. Today, we finished the closest to first place that we have throughout most of the season so far. We were within five seconds of (race winner Jake) Gagne and just a second off the podium, so I feel like we are ‘right there.’ We have some ideas on where we can improve for tomorrow, and I’m very confident that we should be battling for the podium. Things have been difficult over the past two rounds for myself and the Westby team. We all rallied together here this weekend, put our heads down, and worked things out. I’m very happy to be back where we should be, and I’m looking forward to putting the Westby Yamaha R1 back up on the podium. A big thank you to the crew for all their great work.”
Ed Sullivan, Westby Racing Crew Chief said, “I am happy with today’s result. We’ve had good race pace all weekend, so while the first portion of the race didn’t play out in our favor, Mathew settled down, rode really well, and showed his pace in the second half of the race. We have some changes to try in morning warm up, and we’re looking forward to seeing what we can do in tomorrow’s race.”
Chuck Giacchetto, Team Manager, added, “Today was a very good day for the team. I feel we are definitely giving Mathew what he needs to succeed, and I very much believe in Mathew’s desire to be great. The second half of the season started today, and I’m very excited to see it play out because our team generally makes great strides in the second half of the season. I’d like to personally thank all the fans here at Brainerd. What a great bunch of folks!”
Sunday’s Superbike race two is at 3 p.m. CT and will be broadcast via tape delay on FOX Sports 1 (FS1) at 7:30 p.m. CT. In addition, the race will be streamed on MotoAmerica Live+.
In Saturday’s Junior Cup race, Jack started from the inside of the third row in seventh, and he moved up to sixth on the opening lap. He dropped back to seventh again on lap two, and then, he was shuffled back to eighth on lap four where he battled among a large group of riders. As a result, he was unable to improve his position for the remainder of the 11-lap race.
Sunday’s Junior Cup race two is at 2 p.m. CT and will be streamed on MotoAmerica Live+, as well as broadcast via tape-delay on FS2 this Tuesday, August 3, beginning at 5 p.m. ET.
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