Throughout qualifying and practices the past two days there have been a number of accidents. That’s nothing new, and in fact expected. However, the timing of the accidents in today’s MotoAmerica race 1’s have been stalled by red flags.
From the beginning of the day the North American Talet Cup and Stock 1000 races couldn’t get through lap 2 without the red flags coming out. The Medallia Superbike race was no different. In fact, the Superbike riders had to pit twice and restart the race. By the time of the third restart of the race had been reduced to 8 laps from the original 16 laps.
Despite the stop and start of the race Yamaha rider Jake Gagne #1 took advantage of his record setting pace to maintain the leader. During qualifying Gagne beat the lap record he broke in 2021 at the Ridge Motorsports Park. While the race was cut short, Gagne didn’t waste any time taking hold of the lead. He would never give it up despite constant pressure from teammate Cameron Petersen #45 and Ducati rider Danilo Petrucci #9. The win certainly helped Gagne gain some ground on overall points leader Petrucci.
Local PNW rider Kevin Pinkstaff #91 did well enough in qualifying to make to the race. In a field of heavy hitters Pinkstaff did a solid job getting into the grid for Saturday’s race. We’re sure he was soaking up the moment every chance he got. We know his friends, family, and students were all cheering him on today. Congrats on a well run race.
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