Herrin Wins Superbike Race Two, Builds On Championship Lead

Ducati North America recently extended its partnership with the Warhorse HSBK Ducati Racing team for another five years in the MotoAmerica Superbike Championship. Josh Herrin reinforced this decision with a victory at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Riding his Ducati Panigale V4 R, Herrin held off intense pressure from five-time champion Cameron Beaubier and Sean Dylan Kelly, winning his third Superbike race of the season. This victory gives Herrin a 15-point lead as the series heads into a break before resuming in August. Herrin took the lead from Beaubier on the third lap and maintained it despite challenges from Beaubier and Kelly. The race concluded with Herrin narrowly ahead of Beaubier by .244 seconds, with Kelly close behind. Bobby Fong finished fourth, Jake Gagne was fifth, and Herrin’s teammate Loris Baz came in seventh.

Josh Herrin "Yeah, super stressful. Who knows how it would have ended up, but with Sean (Dylan Kelly) being there it kind of helped me a little bit because it got Cam a little bit distracted, or probably got his heart rate racing a little bit. He couldn’t just calm down and think about where he wanted to get me because he has to think about who’s behind him also. So, it probably helped me a little bit. I could hear him every lap kind of just testing – I would assume testing where he was going to be able to get me. I tried my hardest on the last lap to protect the lines but also not make the mistake of overprotecting and losing drives. I obviously don’t know what happened behind me, but obviously it worked out. I’m just super happy to get this because it’s huge for the championship. We’ve clawed our way back from a long ways. The team really deserves this. We talked about it yesterday. It’s been 30 years since Ducati has won a championship. That just got me super motivated, especially because (Eraldo) Ferracci is here. I don’t even know how that guy is still going as strong as he is. It’s insane. It’s a huge motivation for me to try to get this win this year for him. Yesterday was like a reset. Like I just got this championship reset. We’re back at square one and I just got to take advantage of it. We have three rounds to go, which seems insane. Just a huge thank you to the entire team. It was just an amazing weekend. I’m really happy."