Birmingham, AL – September 19, 2021 – On the final day of the 2021 MotoAmerica Championship, Mathew Scholtz and the Westby Racing team put a crescendo on their season with a Superbike victory in race two on Sunday morning at rainy Barber Motorsports Park, followed by a runner-up finish in race three on Sunday afternoon.

 

The win and the second-place finish were the 15th and 16th podium results out of 20 races this season, making 2021 Westby Racing’s most successful Superbike season yet.

 

In Sunday’s first of two races, Mathew got to the front quickly and built a gap of more than seven seconds. At that point, a deer decided to get in on the action, and it ran across the track ahead of Mathew, which resulted in Race Control stopping the race and declaring Mathew the winner.

 

After the victory, Mathew said, “I pulled a pretty decent gap in the first couple of laps, and I took some pretty decent risks in the more fast-speed corners, which, I think, definitely helped me open up the big gap. I tried to charge. At the halfway point, I had a couple decent front-end pushes, front-end wobbles. I also tucked the front in corner five. So, I kind of just chilled out, watched the board, and tried to hold the six- or seven-second gap. I think, with five laps to go, I was coming over the corner of 14, 15 there, and a deer jumped out onto the track. I didn’t really think too much of it then, but I saw that the red flag came out, and I knew that I had won it there. Just a big thank you to the Westby crew. Now, we’ll wait and see what the weather does and come out swinging in the third race.”

 

After Sunday’s second race, in which Mathew finished second for the ninth time this season, he said, “I think 2021 has been a fair season for me. Last year, it was also going pretty well and then, unfortunately, at Indianapolis, I had a bad crash, and it almost ended things for me. But luckily, I’m back here riding again. Like I was saying earlier, I had kind of gotten through the halfway point of the season, and we just started chasing setup and going down the wrong rabbit hole. Some things changed for the last three or four rounds. We’ve been getting stronger and stronger. So, it's always good to end the season off like we have. Now, it gives us confidence heading into 2022. I’m going to be back with the Westby squad. I’ve been here for five years, going on six years now. They’re all family to me. So, I couldn’t be happier. I get paid to race motorbikes in one of the best championships. I’m here racing against some the world’s best guys and giving it to them sometimes, and sometimes they give it back to me. So, it’s always great. I’m just looking forward to coming back in this championship and hopefully challenging Jake next year. We’ll come out swinging next year. We know what sort of lap times we need to do, where we need to do better. So, we’ll work on that during the off-season. I won’t be going home (to South Africa), which kind of sucks, but that gives us some more testing time.”

 

Ed Sullivan, Westby Racing Crew Chief said, “It’s nice to finish the season off on a high with the win in race two. Even though all of the races were wet this weekend, the track surface was different for each race. We seemed to get it right this morning, and the Attack guys got it right in the afternoon. Mathew was really strong all weekend, in the wet or dry, and he carried on his form from the past few rounds. 2022 starts now, though. We are preparing our testing program and are working on the areas that we believe we need to improve. All of us are looking forward to COTA 2022!”

 

Chuck Giacchetto, Westby Racing Team Manager, added, “I’m grateful to everyone who made it possible for us to finish second in the 2021 Superbike Championship. A very special thanks to Tryg Westby, who makes it possible every single day. I’m sad to have the season end, but I’m very much looking forward to 2022.”

 

And so, that concludes the 2021 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship for Westby Racing. Mathew and the team will start working towards the 2022 season with the goal to move up one position in the final point standings next year, which is 2022 MotoAmerica Superbike Champion.

 

2021 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship Final Standings

1. Jake Gagne – Yamaha – 445

2. Mathew Scholtz – Yamaha – 357

3. Cameron Petersen – Suzuki – 264