Brainerd, MN – July 30, 2023 – Mathew Scholtz and the Westby Racing team overcame a stroke of bad luck in Saturday’s MotoAmerica Superbike race one at Brainerd International Raceway and wrapped up the weekend with a solid, third-place finish in Sunday’s race two.

 

After not being able to finish Saturday’s race due to a mechanical issue caused by an incident that wasn’t his fault, Mathew’s experienced crew was able to repair the #11 Yamaha YZF-R1 for Sunday’s race.

 

Getting a great jump off the line in the 18-lap race, Mathew was in second-place for the first couple of laps. He lost a position on lap three, and then another one on lap four, but then, he stabilized his position in fourth for the next four laps and then moved back up to third place on lap eight. Mathew staunchly held onto the final podium position all the way to the finish line.

 

“It’s awesome to be back up on the podium,” Mathew said. “We went out there today with different gearing, but we weren’t really sure if it would help. For the first three or four laps, Jake (Gagne) and PJ (Jacobsen) had a little bit of pace on me, but from lap five onwards, I kind of pulled them back slightly. Then, from the halfway point till the end of the race, the bike started losing grip as I would open the throttle. So, the last couple laps were just survival. In Laguna, I had a massive crash. Hadn’t been able to really train coming up to this and I’ve been sitting on the couch. Maybe did two or three cycles just to try to keep my fitness, but I definitely noticed that it hurt me today. My arms were pumping up. Overall, these guys are riding well. Just to finish in the top five now is something special. There’re crazy-fast guys. There’s Beemers, Ducatis, Yamahas, Suzukis are now up there, too. So, just to be up there makes me feel good, considering how bad things have been. I hope we can just build on from here. Pittsburgh has been one of my favorite tracks. I’ve been strong there previously, so I’m really thinking we can challenge for the win there and carry on pushing forward.”

 

The Westby Racing team will be back in action on August 18 through 20 at Pittsburgh International Raceway in Wampum, Pennsylvania, for round seven of the 2023 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship.

 

MotoAmerica Superbike Standings

1. Jake Gagne – Yamaha – 262

2. Josh Herrin – Ducati – 194

3. Cameron Beaubier – BMW – 183

4. PJ Jacobsen – BMW – 162

5. Richie Escalante – Suzuki – 147

6. Mathew Scholtz – Yamaha – 135

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