On Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park, Mathew Scholtz, rider of the #11 Westby Racing Yamaha YZF-R1 Superbike, showed once again, that he is a world-class rider. He finished second in the weekend’s race after a nearly race-long battle with five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion and former Moto2 World Championship contender Cameron Beaubier.
Taking his grid position on the front row, Mathew got off to a much better start than in Saturday’s race, and that enabled him to set and maintain a good pace, which kept him closer to the front.
He was pursued by Beaubier in third, who did manage to overtake Mathew for second place as the laps wound down. Undaunted by the move, however, Mathew put his head down and retook the position. Beaubier made one more attempt to overtake Mathew on the final run to the checkered flag, but a defensive move by Mathew to break Beaubier’s draft thwarted his effort and ensured Mathew’s runner-up finish while fellow Yamaha rider Jake Gagne took the win.
“I think I pulled a little bit of a gap and Cameron (Beaubier) closed me down,” Mathew said. “I kind of knew from, I think, maybe lap six or seven, that Cam had a couple tenths on me. So, I didn’t really try to push as hard as I could on the limits and use too much tire. Once he passed me, I just made sure I made a couple good laps and that he didn’t pull a gap. There were a couple of sectors on the track where he was definitely quicker, and a couple sectors where I was a little bit faster. On the final lap, I knew ‘Charlotte’s Web’ was one of the main points that you could pass someone, so I went in there really, really deep. Then, I ruined the drive coming out. Cameron got up next to me going into corner seven. I brake-passed him there, and it was a pretty hard pass. So, I kind of thought that I had a couple bike lengths on him
“Going into the final corner, I tried to focus on driving out hard. I pushed the front, and I just kind of had to close the line a little bit, because I knew Cameron was right there and driving off the corner well. Obviously, I don’t mean to try to cut somebody off, but I’m just happy to be sitting up here in second place. After watching Cam ride in Moto2 for the past two years, it feels awesome to be up here battling with him. Well-done to Jake. He spanked us one more time. Hopefully, in two weeks’ time, we can give him something.”
The Westby Racing team will be back in action on June 3 through 5 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, for round three of the 2023 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship.
MotoAmerica Superbike Standings
- Jake Gagne – Yamaha – 95
- Cameron Beaubier – BMW – 71
- Mathew Scholtz – Yamaha – 59
- Cameron Petersen – Yamaha – 53
- Josh Herrin – Ducati – 49
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