At first glance Westby Racing’s results on Sunday at Pittsburgh International Race Complex (PittRace) appear to be a carbon-copy of Saturday’s results. Superbike rider Mathew Scholtz raced his #11 Yamaha YZF-R1 to a second-place finish just as he did on Saturday, and Junior Cup rider Cody Wyman finished sixth on Sunday aboard his #34 Yamaha YZF-R3 to match his sixth-place result on Saturday. But, for both riders, their Sunday races were very different from their Saturday races.
For Mathew, who started from the middle of the front row, he was pounced on in the first lap by fellow Yamaha rider Jake Gagne. Jake had improved his setup from Saturday’s race, and it showed in Sunday morning’s warmup with him going second-fastest in the session compared with Mathew being third-fastest.
With Cameron Beaubier in the lead and Jake in second, Mathew knew he had his work cut out for him in running down the pair. Undaunted, Mathew put his head down and focused on doing fast, consistent laps. His efforts, combined with Jake experiencing a technical issue, enabled Mathew to catch Jake, pass him, and create a gap of more than 13 seconds over Jake, which enabled Mathew to secure a runner-up finish for the second day in a row.
“I kind of figured that something happened to him,” Mathew said about Jake. “Looking at the morning warmup times, we saw that they had upped their pace. I was a little bit disappointed in the warmup that we didn’t break into the 40s. My whole game plan was just to kind of follow Cameron and Jake and just sort of hang onto them and try to see, maybe from the halfway point, if I could consistently run low 41s and try to catch up to Jake, but something happened and he fell back. I’m just really happy to be back up on the podium and finish second for the Westby Racing team again today. We’ve been working hard. I feel like we’re getting better every time we go out. Just when we kind of think that we’ve caught up to Cameron, he pulls something out. So, we’ll just carry onward and find something more.”
Cody started fourth on the grid in his race and rode a consistent race in a pack of closely bunched riders, which has been the recurring theme this season. He ran no lower than seventh due to the shuffling of positions within his group, and he was in sixth place and planning his strategy for the finish line when the red flag was displayed due to an incident on the track that didn’t involve Cody. The race was declared final instead of being restarted, which spoiled Cody’s plan to move up in the results.
Cody said, “This morning, we tried new gearing, and I thought that was the right move for the race. I knew we were in our own battle for fourth place. I tried to study the other riders, and I thought I was in a good spot. But then, a red flag ended our race early. I was bummed because I really wanted a short sprint race to the finish. Two sixth-place finishes aren’t the worst, though. I really wanted a podium yesterday, but it’s a long season. Thank you to my team, family, and friends who came out to PittRace. On to a brand-new track on the West Coast. I’m always stoked to learn a new course, and I can’t wait to get out there
Next up for Westby Racing is round five of the MotoAmerica Championship, which will take place (without spectators in attendance) at the Ridge Motorsports Park in Shelton, Washington, on August 28 through 30.
MotoAmerica Superbike Standings
- Cameron Beaubier – Yamaha – 175
- Jake Gagne – Yamaha – 138
- Mathew Scholtz – Yamaha – 116
MotoAmerica Junior Cup Standings
- Rocco Landers – Kawasaki – 185
- Dominic Doyle – Kawasaki – 151
- Samuel Lochoff – Kawasaki – 126
- Cody Wyman – Yamaha – 71
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