Austin, TX – April 22, 2018 –

After winning Saturday’s rain-soaked Race 1 at the MotoAmerica Superbike Championship of Texas, Mathew Scholtz and his Yamalube/Westby Racing team were hoping to keep their podium-finishing streak alive in Sunday’s Superbike Race 2, which took place under sunny skies at the Circuit of The Americas (COTA).

 

Unfortunately, the podium streak ended as Mathew took the checkered flag just outside the top five. It was still a decent result, but not quite the finish to which the 2017 MotoAmerica Superstock 1000 Champion and his team are accustomed, considering that they finished on the podium in 19 of the 20 races last year. On the bright side, Mathew is still cemented firmly in second place in the Championship points standings and just 17 points behind current leader and defending MotoAmerica Superbike Champion Toni Elias.

 

“Before the Sunday morning warmup, we made a few changes that we were pretty positive were going to make the bike better, and they definitely did,” Mathew said. “Obviously, our pace wasn’t that quick because the track was slightly damp, but I was pretty confident that we had found something. Going into the second race, I knew it probably wasn’t going to pan out quite like the first race, but I still kind of thought we could fight for the podium. Same as in the first race, I got a terrible jump off the line, but I was able to make my way past a few guys. And then, we started to have a few problems with the bike, and I ended up fighting with (Josh) Herrin for a couple of laps. Then, (Jake) Lewis caught us with two laps to go. All of the riding aids (electronic intervention) on the bike completely switched off, and I just really dropped off and finished in sixth place, really far off. So, it’s a disappointing end to a brilliant weekend that we had. But, I am really confident that my Yamalube/Westby team is going to work hard to get the bike sorted out for the Virginia round. We did a test there about three weeks back, and our times were phenomenal. So, we’re confident, heading there that we can really be fighting up front.”

 

Round 3 of the 2018 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship will take place at VIRginia International Raceway in Alton, Virginia, on May 4 through 6.

 

MotoAmerica Superbike Standings

1. Toni Elias – Suzuki – 88

2. Mathew Scholtz – Yamaha – 71

3. Cameron Beaubier – Yamaha – 63

4. Josh Herrin – Yamaha – 49

5. Garrett Gerloff – Yamaha – 48

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