MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike Race 1 Highlights at Alabama 2022 / Speed Enthusiasts

Bunches are out. We're going racing. And it looked like a good launch from all three on the front row. Jake Gagnon was the closest one there. He'll take us off into turn number one. So it's 1, 2, 3 for Yamaha at the moment. And Petrucci slots himself by. He gets by P.J. Jacobson. Muscles his way through on that Ducati. Now he's got to start to go after each one of these three Yamahas just in front of him. Also Kyle Weiman with a tremendous start from row three. Petrucci his strongest part of the racetrack down into turn number five. He's able to gather back up a couple of bike lengths. Barber motorsports park is a Yamaha track. It's a place where the Yamaha works perfectly and it feels like that this racetrack was designed for these motorcycles. It really is. Because they're able to keep a lot of roll speed and corner speed through. That's kind of what that R1 is known for. Talking to this guy here, the number 45 of Cam Peterson, he's made a pretty big step this weekend. You know, Greg, experience you can't pay off experience as much as these three guys are. That Ducati just doesn't have the data that these guys have. Oh, Cam Peterson. What just happened there? Cam just crashed up in turn two. Cameron Peterson down in this one. And that bodes well for Petrucci as he gains back another couple points. Wait a second. Wait just a second, Jason. We just got information that came across our screen that says the number nine of Benito Petrucci has been penalized five seconds for a jump start penalty. So on our timing and scoring screens, Petrucci has been relegated back to fifth place. Yeah, you know, you say that, but it's not going to be that big a deal, Greg. He's going to be able to make up this time. He's got to try to get that five seconds back so early in the race. I don't think it's anything that's really going to be too upsetting. He should be able to pull back away and have that five-second gap. I don't really see this reflecting anything bad as far as I think third place is where he is right now, and I think that that's where he'll finish. Third place is where he is right now, and I think that that's where he'll finish. This is the battle just behind between P.J. Jacobson and Richie Escalante. Now, looking at the lap times that last time through, you're going to see that Petrucci did go twenty five three. These guys are going quicker than him. Jacobson and Escalante both are going faster than Petrucci. So maybe it won't be as easy as I thought. But right now he has got about three seconds on them. Three, almost three and a half seconds on it. He said this weekend is already going much better and obviously on track. It's going much better. He said they spent some time between rounds talking with the team to help them feel more prepared. Their base set up for the weekend was really good. Just a couple of clicks here and there, but he's got his confidence back. That ankle's feeling better. He just wants to improve in a couple of corners on the brakes, but he's happy with his overall pace. And he said he doesn't really have any expectations. He's got nothing to lose. He really just wants to finish this race and enjoy the last round. Escalante, here's a look at the jump start, Jay. Right in the middle of your screen. Yeah. it looked. And, you know, it's, again, it's just that smallest of margins of, you know, Danilo, as a rider, the most pressure he has on him is to try to get that start right off the bat. And he just started to creep just a little bit, it looked like. So here is the Warhorse HSBK racing Ducati New York rider Danilo Petrucci. Currently he's in fifth place on your timing and scoring screens. However, the gap to PJ Jacobson and Richie Escalante has started to grow a little bit. Taking a look at Danilo Petrucci. Yeah, see that stuff there, that's the stuff that's been happening to him just a little bit too much. Do you think there's a lot of motivation right now for PJ to stand on the podium and be third on the racetrack to reel Petrucci in and get around him? Yeah, there's no question. I think for this guy here, he's ridden really superb and we don't know what PJ is going to do as it looks like Escalante has gone down. That's going to move Petrucci up a spot like this. So let's not forget that. As you can see, the grass on fire, going to try to get that put out and Escalante went down in the same turn that I believe Cam Previson went down, turn two. Here comes Jake Gagné, trying to notch another win a couple of corners to go. He's done everything he can to extend his lead in the championship and let it all play out behind him. Onto the front straightaway, the number one plate, Jake Gagné will take another win, race one here at Barber motorsports park. Coming across the line is going to be Matthew Schultz. He'll stand on the podium one more time, showboat down to turn number one and now we await what are the points going to be? Here comes PJ Jacobson, onto the front straightaway. Here comes Petrucci. So we knew that PJ is going to finish in third. Now the question is with Hector Barbera, does Petrucci finish fourth? Hector comes across the stripe and Petrucci was able to do it. So Petrucci will stay in fourth place. He was able to get, what Jay, about eight tenths of a second. So it's that three tenths plus another half a second. So it's got to be Gagné, Schultz, Jacobson, Petrucci in fourth.