Talking Points // COTA 2026

The MotoAmerica series heads to it's penultimate stop at Circuit of the Americas this weekend in Austin, Texas. Here's what you need to know heading into what will likely be the hottest round of the season yet.

The Weather

We just said it, it's gonna be a hot one. While most immediately think rider fitness, we immediately turn our eyes to tire life. From a track perspective, COTA has it all - plenty of fast and slow corners, both left and right, hard braking, hard acceleration, long fast corners on the edge of the tire… the search for grip and longevity is always prominent, but add the aforementioned track features to a 100 degree air temp and the baking Texas sun, it's going to be a fight to make the tires work this weekend.

Superbike

With that out of the way… yeah… you thought. The Superbike boys have the toughest hill to climb when it comes to tire life - and points leader Sean Dylan Kelly has proved to be there at the end more often than not when the heat is up and the grip is low, as has Bobby Fong. Fong had a double podium here last season, and 2025 race 2 winner Cam Beaubier returns to action on the bike that won the most recent Superbike race at VIR. That said, the last time SDK raced a BMW here it was his rookie season.. and he won his first superbike race. Who's your pick for this one?

Supersport

With 4 races left we might just be staring down the barrel of the best racing this season in the Supersport class. Josh Herrin's only option if he wants the championship? Win the rest of the races. He'll need a bit of help as Binder could get second place behind him and still secure the title, but there's been no shortage of quick riders hunting down the lead duo. Kayla Yaakov is hungry and more than capable of grabbing her first win before season's end, Josh Hayes is fresh off of a mixed condition win at VIR, his teammate Brenden Ketelsen and Herrin's teammate Alessandro DiMario had what most would consider break through rides at VIR… who's going to step up and get in the mix at COTA?

Baggers

Mission King of the Baggers returns for the final two stops and it's advantage Hayden Gillim, as he's won 7 out of 10 races in KOTB this season. His closest challenger is teammate Troy Herfoss, who's been steadily coming to grips with the Vance and Hines version of the Indian Challenger. One might think 'well he's on an Indian still and Gillim switched from Harley, what do you mean?' To that I say, the Vance and Hines team flipped the bike on its head to start the season from a suspension and geometry perspective, thus flipping Herfoss' normal world upside down. In the previous two rounds, the Australian has found the feeling he's been searching for in the front end and it shows. 23 points separate the two, is Herfoss peaking at the right time, or will Gillim continue his winning ways?

Oh and one more thing… The Bagger World Cup gang came to town in April, and they laid down a new Bagger lap record at 2:12.387. Gillim was watching from the sidelines that weekend and trust us when we say one of the first things mentioned when we asked what he thought of BWC was that he was bummed to have to wait all summer long to have a crack at getting the lap record back. Game on.

SuperHooligans

It's championship weekend for the Hooligans, and Andy DiBrino sits atop the standings, just five points ahead of teammate and team owner of BPR Yamaha, Bryce Kornbau. Since finding his first podium of the season, DiBrino is on a 6 race streak of podiums with 3 race wins to his credit, while Kornbau has 5 in a row with 2 wins. The BPR duo have had nothing between them in their run of podiums and we've gotta believe it'll be the same this weekend, a dog fight for the title. That said, Gus Rodio and his Ducati Streetfighter V2 sit 19 points off the lead, the only other challenger with a mathematical shot at the title. Oh and do you think James Rispoli will stand by and watch to see what shakes out? Our guess is absolutely not - he and Jake Lewis will be on a mission to put their Harley Davidson's back on the top step of the podium.

Talent Cup

This class has been a swing of momentum at the front between Kensei Matsudiara and Nathan Gouker, with the latter taking the double win in their most recent fight at VIR. There's just five points between the two with four races left, Matsudaira leading the charge into the penultimate round. This weekend we'll see the young guns of the class return to where their season started, and a four-rider dog fight ensued in both races between the aforementioned duo, Jake Paige and Sam Drane. While not quite in the title fight, the aussie's Paige and Drane will be ready to fight this weekend as they look to secure their first wins of the season.