Sunday Morning Notes // Laguna Seca

Superbike

Following his third career Superbike win in the wet at the last round at Ridge Motorsports Park, JD Beach couldn't help but say "it feels great, but I'm ready for a win in the dry." Well he didn't wait long to make it happen, securing a wire-to-wire victory in QuadLock Superbike Race 1 at Laguna Seca Saturday afternoon. It begs the question, will getting the dry win monkey off his back be a launch pad for a run of wins from a rider who's got championship pedigree and a work ethic to back it up? We've got a handful of hours until we find out.

After a crash from PJ Jacobsen, the battle for the final podium spot behind Cam Petersen in P2 came down to current title rivals Mathew Scholtz and Sean Dylan Kelley. Scholtz led the duo for the entire race, with SDK cementing a classic Laguna Seca final corner pass to secure third place and claw a few points back on the points leader. It's been a spicy couple of races between the two, with both welcoming respectful hard racing and not backing down. Will there be fireworks? If so, how long until we see the show start? Plenty of racing left this season and it's only just begun between the two.

Supersport

When the lights went out in race one it looked as though we were about to get a classic Laguna showdown between Darryn Binder and Josh Herrin - with Herrin stalking Binder throughout the first half of the race, often getting a run and sitting up, just biding his time until he went for a move. General consensus was he'd pull the trigger in the last three laps and it would be on. However, racing is racing and plans change quick, such was the case for Herrin as he lost feel with the front end, explaining that he nearly crashed in 5 different corners before finally accepting points for second place.

After seemingly protesting the Dunlop hat on the podium, he explained in the press conference that the only variable changed heading into a race he felt confident about was the tire, without placing any blame on Dunlop. While was a hard compound front tire, in theory, it should have been just as strong if not stronger than the softer option on Binder's bike. Interesting times, we'll see what today brings.

King of the Baggers

Hayden Gillim's string of wins for Vance and Hines Factory Indian came to an end yesterday, at the hands of none other than Bradley Smith who finally found the top step aboard the Dynojet Factory Harley Davidson. Smith took off with the lead and never looked back, stamping his first KOTB win in dominating fashion over Troy Herfoss who eventually finished second.

While the stop of the Gillim streak and Smith's first professional race win in 11 years was something to write home about - for us it was the events that led up to the race that were the talk. Gillim's uncharacteristic crash out of Q1 created limited track time for him and the team to chip away at set up. This was only exacerbated by the eventual cancellation of Q2 just minutes into the final qualifier as Kyle Wyman's motor expired leaving oil on the racing surface from the middle of the corkscrew through the middle of Rainey corner. Gillim eventually managed 3rd place in the race, limiting the damage from the tough start to the weekend. Did he find what he needed in the race yesterday to return to the top step where he's often been this season? Starting from 6th on the grid won't do him any favors, but we'd venture to guess he'll be making a dash to the front.

Tune in for the final day of racing on MotoAmerica Live Plus or Samsung TV Plus as the action gets back underway this morning from Laguna Seca.