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/1545841
TALENT CUP The Talent Cup Q2 pace lagged behind Q1, but Nathan Gouker bucked the trend to set the Talent Cup lap record in Q2. The Quarterley Racing rider set a 1:35.954 benchmark and secured pole for the weekend's doubleheader. Team Hammer's Jake Paige was second in quali - fying, with Team Roberts rider Kensei Matsudaira completing the front row. At the race-one start, Paige swept in from the far outside to lead through turn two and the infield. By the end of lap one, a clear top four broke out to a one-second lead. Matsudaira took the point on lap two, leading a breakaway quartet of the American Paige, Quarterley Racing's Gouker, and Yamaha bLU cRU Estenson Rac - ing's Sam Drane. The four iso- lated themselves from the field. By the halfway mark, Gouker led after a smooth pass on the polesitter at the Corkscrew entrance. Australians Paige and Drane remained in contention as the white flag waved. Gouker then crashed heavily while lead - ing in turn six, taking a moment to recover. Matsudaira inherited the lead and secured the victory under a final-lap red flag, reclaiming the points lead and setting a new Talent Cup race lap record of 1:36.009. Paige finished sec - ond, with Drane rounding out the podium. In race two, Paige led the pack off the start, but it was short-lived as the typical rota- tion of Matsudaira and Gouker made their way past before lap one was completed. Drane and Real Steel Honda's Derek San- chez joined the leading trio in a five-rider breakaway at the front. Sanchez suffered a mechanical on lap two, dropping him from the race. The lead four shuffled con - stantly until lap nine when Gouker started to fade, ultimate- ly finishing fourth, leaving the podium battle up to Matsudaira, Paige and Drane for the final four laps. Matsudaira held on to se- cure a double victory at his home track, recapturing the points lead in the process. "It's definitely great to be up top, especially after warmup, where our motor blew up, so I didn't get any laps," Matsudaira said. "Huge thank you to the whole team, everybody that helped. We got it done fairly quickly. But the race was good. It was a good battle, three-way battle actually, because I didn't know where Nathan was." Drane and Paige rounded out the podium in second and third, respectively, with Gouker finish - ing fourth. ROUND 5 / JULY 10-12, 2026 WEATHERTECH RACEWAY LAGUNA SECA / MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA ROAD RACE I MOTOAMERICA AMA/FIM NORTH AMERICAN ROAD RACING CHAMPIONSHIP P84 Kensei Matsudaira (74) leads Jake Paige (55), Nathan Gouker (19) and Sam Drane (59) in the highly competitive Talent Cup class, but Matsudaira won both races.