The Motovation Supersport series will start its 2025 championship at Barber Motorsports Park, April 4-6. Photo By Brian J. Nelson
Motovation Supersport And Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. To Start
Their Seasons In Alabama
IRVINE, CA (April 3, 2025) – Three classes will begin their 2025
MotoAmerica Championship campaigns this weekend at Barber Motorsports
Park with Superbike, Motovation Supersport, and Royal Enfield Build.
Train. Race. starting their seasons at the picturesque Barber
Motorsports Park on the outskirts of Birmingham, Alabama.
SC-Project Twins Cup and Parts Unlimited Talent Cup By Motul, meanwhile,
will be holding their second rounds at Barber, having already started
their seasons at Daytona International Speedway and Circuit of The
Americas, respectively.
The Stock 1000 class, meanwhile, will begin its 2025 championship at
Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, May 2-4.
Motovation Supersport – Scholtz For Title Defense?
Thirty entries are set for the start of the 2025 Motovation Supersport
Championship, led by defending class champion Mathew Scholtz and his
brand-spanking-new Strack Racing Yamaha YZF-R9, with the much-ballyhooed
new bike a major talking point of the off-season as it takes over from
the YZF-R6.
Scholtz returns to the Motovation Supersport class after his eight-win,
15-podium season that saw him emerge from a season-long battle with
Rahal Ducati Moto w/XPEL’s PJ Jacobsen to earn his second MotoAmerica
title. The South African’s first championship in the U.S. was way back
in 2017 in the Superstock 1000 class.
Scholtz and Jacobsen will start the season as title favorites, but
there’s plenty of others hungry for a title.
How about we start with four-time AMA Superbike Champion Josh Hayes? The
winningest rider in AMA road racing history, Hayes will campaign the
entire season on one of nine Yamaha YZF-R9s entered with his effort
backed by the BPR Racing Yamaha squad.
Scholtz’s young teammate on the Strack Yamahas is Blake Davis with the
Virginian showing his mettle last year by finishing third in the
championship behind Scholtz and Petersen. The 18-year-old Davis had one
win and six additional podium finishes in 2024.
Jacobsen’s two teammates should also be factors with Cory Alexander
and Kayla Yaakov returning to the Graham Rahal-owned team after their
sixth- and seventh-place finishes in the 2024 title chase, respectively.
MotoAmerica Stock 1000 Champion (2020) and six-time Superbike race
winner Cameron Petersen should cause his friend and fellow South African
Scholtz some worry as he joins the Supersport class on the
championship-proven Celtic/Economy Lube+Tire/Warhorse HSBK Ducati
Panigale V2.
Vision Wheel M4 ECTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott won a Supersport race last
year and earned three additional podiums en route to fourth in the title
chase. Scott will be joined on the team by Max Van, who was 13th in last
year’s championship.
Jake Lewis was a race winner in Supersport in 2024 and he’s back for
more with Altus Motorsports, but this time the Kentuckian will be armed
with a Yamaha YZF-R9. He will be joined on the team’s Yamahas by Jaret
Nassaney.
Team owner/racer David Anthony will again be aboard a Suzuki GSX-R750 in
his one-rider team.
SC-Project Twins Cup – Chapin Leads Them In
With his two wins in the two SC-Project Twins Cup races at Daytona in
early March, RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki’s Matthew Chapin is
the early leader in the championship as the series heads to Barber for
its second round.
Chapin won both races for a perfect score of 50 to lead defending class
champion Alessandro Di Mario by 10 points. Di Mario finished second in
both races in Florida on his Robem Engineering Aprilia RS 660.
Giaccmoto Yamaha Racing’s Dominic Doyle had a successful start to his
2025 campaign with two third-place finishes on his Yamaha YZF-R7.
Koch Racing’s Sean Ungvarsky also ran in the lead pack at Daytona on
his Yamaha YZF-R7 and ended up with a pair of fourth-place finishes.
Bad Boys Racing’s Avery Dreher rounds out the top five heading into
round two with a pair of fifths on his Yamaha.
Parts Unlimited Talent Cup By Motul – All Tied At The Top
The 15 youngsters taking part in the all-new Parts Unlimited Talent Cup
By Motul will barely catch their breath before doing it all over again
at Barber Motorsports Park as they are fresh off the series opener at
Circuit of The Americas this past weekend.
Victory in the first two races in Texas was split between
Warhorse/American Racing’s Alessandro Di Mario and CTR/D&D Cycles’
Bodie Paige as the pair each won a race and were second in the ones they
didn’t win.
Third place in both races went to Yamaha BLU CRU Estenson Racing’s Sam
Drane as the series got off to a thrilling start with battles all
through the field.
Jones Honda’s Julian Correa and MP13 Racing’s Ella Dreher left Texas
fourth and fifth in the new championship. Correa was fifth and fourth in
the two races with Dreher ending up seventh and fifth.
Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race – Going International
The 12-strong pack of Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. will begin their
season at Barber Motorsports Park with an international flair as it will
feature two riders from Brazil and one from Canada joining nine American
returnees.
Last year’s BTR Champion Mikayla Moore won’t be returning to the
series in 2025, but the 2024 series runner-up will be in the lineup –
Camille Conrad. The Californian had four podium finishes in a season
dominated by Moore and should be one of the favorites for a title run in
2025.
The Brazilian contingent is two strong with Karina Simoes and Tati Paze
set to make their series debut. Team Canada, meanwhile, consists of Lucy
Blondel in her second year of competing in the series.
PRE-BARBER NOTOES
Mathew Scholtz won both of the Supersport races at Barber Motorsports
Park in 2024 with his season-long rival PJ Jacobsen second in both
races. Maxi Gerardo and Blake Davis split third-place finishes.
Avery Dreher and Alessandro Di Mario won the two Twins Cup races last
year. Casidy Heiser was second in race one with Dominic Doyle third.
Rocco Landers was second with Gus Rodio third in race two.
In Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. Mikayla Moore showed her dominance
with two race wins. Camille Conrad was second with Emma Betters third in
race one. In race two, Betters reversed the score and finished second
with Conrad third.
Suzuki leads the way in entries for the Barber series opener in
Supersport with 12 riders set to race GSX-R750s. Yamaha is next with
seven of its new Yamaha YZF-R9s and two of its YZF-R6s. There are eight
Ducati Panigale V2s with MV, Kawasaki, and Triumph fielding one entry
apiece.