After finishing fifth in Saturday’s Superbike race at Ridge Motorsports Park, Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz improved in Sunday’s race with a fourth-place result and maintained his second-place position in the 2021 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship.
Starting in the middle of the second row based on his fifth-place finish in Saturday’s race, Mathew got a good jump off the line and moved into fourth place on the opening lap. He got shuffled back to fifth for a few laps in the middle of the race, but he fought hard in the 100-plus-degree air temperatures, moved back up to fourth place, and tenaciously held the position all the way to the checkered flag.
“We made some setup changes from Saturday to Sunday’s warmup, and they seemed positive,” commented Mathew. “Then, when the race came in the afternoon, it was a lot hotter, and I just seemed to suffer (in the heat) a little bit more than I did yesterday. I brought the bike home in fourth, which was obviously not what we wanted, but it is an improvement from yesterday, so we can take the positives from that.
“We’ve got our work cut out for us, but I really am looking forward to Laguna Seca. It’s always been good to me, and with the help of Niccolò Canepa’s setup from last year (when he was a fill-in rider for the team at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca while Mathew recovered from injuries he sustained in a crash the round before at Indianapolis Motor Speedway), moving forward with the bike and understanding what we know now should help us try to run up front and battle for the podium there. I just want to give a big shout-out to the Westby team. It’s been difficult lately, but we are all in this together, and we can definitely make our way back up to the top.”
Westby Racing’s Junior Cup rider Jack Roach’s weekend at the racetrack closest to his home in British Columbia, Canada, did not go quite as well as he had hoped, but on the bright side, his Sunday result was an improvement on Saturday. After finishing 12th in Saturday’s race, he moved up three positions to finish 9th and inside the top 10 on Sunday. In addition, Jack’s results at Ridge moved him up three positions in the 2021 MotoAmerica Junior Cup Championship.
Next up for Westby Racing is round six of the MotoAmerica Championship, which will take place at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California, on July 9 through 11.
MotoAmerica Superbike Standings
1. Jake Gagne – Yamaha – 175
2. Mathew Scholtz – Yamaha – 131
3. Josh Herrin – Yamaha – 123
MotoAmerica Junior Cup Standings
1. Tyler Scott – KTM – 157
2. Benjamin Gloddy – Kawasaki – 155
3. Cody Wyman – Kawasaki – 116
13. Jack Roach – Yamaha – 24