Garrett Gerloff wanted to end his championship quest of the 2017 Supersport title on Saturday at the Barber Motorsports Park, the last double-header weekend of MotoAmerica racing for the season. It almost didn’t happen.
An early off-track excursion put him all the way back to sixteenth place, and threatened his title. He did what he has done all season: put his head down, and charge forward. He made it to the podium with a pass on the penultimate lap to take third, and win his second consecutive Supersport Championship. It was Gerloff’s sixteenth podium of the season. On Sunday, he ended the season the way he wanted to–with a win, his eleventh of the season.
Although Toni Elias wrapped up the championship in New Jersey with a double win, at the Barber round it was Roger Hayden who was blazing fast through qualifying, grabbing the pole and keeping his composure through two restarts to take a dominating and emotional win in front of his family, including father Earl who has been too ill to attend any other races this year.
In the post-race press conference, with Earl, wife Rose and sons Roger and Tommy in attendance, Dunlop’s Mike Buckley announced Nicky Hayden as the latest Dunlop Legend, revealing a poster that will benefit the Nicky Hayden Memorial Fund.
Saturday’s results left both the 600 Supersport and KTM RC Cup championships going down to the wire on Sunday. And in both the undecided titles, the race winners also won the championships. In Superstock 600, Jason Aguilar mastered the field to win and take his first MotoAmerica title as did Benjamin Smith, who won the KTM RC Cup race and championship.
Also on Sunday, in slippery and wet conditions, Matthew Scholtz–who locked up the Superstock 1000 title last week–made MotoAmerica history by becoming the first rider to win the Superbike race on a Superstock 1000.
Dunlop, the Official Tire of MotoAmerica, congratulates all the 2017 champions, and all the riders who competed in the series.
