Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1503475
ROUND 5 / JULY 7-9, 2023 WEATHERTECH RACEWAY LAGUNA SECA / SALINAS, CALIFORNIA ROAD RACE I FIM NORTH AMERICAN ROAD RACE CHAMPIONSHIP P82 match Squid Hunter Racing's Josh Hayes on pace before the mandatory pit stop. And the pit stop is where Fores won the race, though not in his pit. The race was handed to him when Hayes' crew struggled to get the front wheel into the fork during his stop and it ultimately cost him a shot at the victory. Fores came home 12.6 seconds up on Hayes who is still chasing that elusive 90th win that would set a new AMA record. Vision Wheel M4 Ecstar Suzuki's Tyler Scott finished third with the youngster being caught and passed by Hayes in the closing laps. Tytlers Cycle Racing's Stefano Mesa and Vision Wheel M4 Ecstar Suzuki's Teagg Hobbs rounded out the top five. but two crashes in the last two meetings have hurt his title charge. Gagne is on 217 points, 34 up on Beaubier with Herrin another five points back in third. Escalante is fourth at 127 and Mathew Scholtz, who suffered a bruising high-side out of the Rainey corner in race one, is fifth at 119. Supersport The second "extended" Super- sport race program of the 2023 season was another Ducati affair as the Xavi Fores show rolled on. The Spaniard's week- end didn't start in the best way with two crashes—his first of the season—during the extra Thursday practice session and on Saturday morning, but he gathered himself together to it was okay. But we destroyed a bike pretty good yesterday. The boys were here until 10:30, 11:00 making sure the second bike was ready to go. Josh rode incredible. He was so good on the brakes. I was kind of like earlier today, I was sniffing here and there, but I couldn't really commit to anything. I saw his tire starting to shred and I was able to get out of the second- to-last corner before the last corner a little bit better than him. So, I was trying to make that work where he passed me earlier in the race. After that, I just put my head down." Escalante was again best of the rest in fourth with Petersen home in fifth. Two wins for Beaubier at his home track were welcome, Kyle Wyman (33) padded out his King of the Baggers title lead with the race-two win.