via motoamerica.com MONTEREY, CA (July 13, 2024) - For the majority of Saturday’s Supersport race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, it appeared as though Strack Racing’s Mathew Scholtz was closing in on his seventh race win of the season. But Rahal Ducati Moto’s PJ Jacobsen had other ideas.
With just a few laps to go in the race, Scholtz was circulating about as comfortably as you can with a lead that was always just a bit under a second. But things changed in the Corkscrew when the South African encountered a lapped rider right in the middle of the track. Scholtz made his way through, but Jacobsen was suddenly locked in on his rear wheel.
On the next lap, Jacobsen made an unexpected move in turn six, a corner not known as a passing spot. From there he put his head down and gapped Scholtz, who started making mistakes while trying to close back in on the New Yorker.
N2 Racing/BobbleHeadMoto’s Blake Davis made a return to the podium with his third-place finish, his first since the Barber Motorsports round back in May.
Altus Motorsports’ Jake Lewis ended up forth, just a second clear of TopPro Racing’s Maxi Gerardo.
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott’s miserable season continued as a mechanical problem knocked him out of the race before it even started. Scott is the only rider other than Scholtz and Jacobsen to win a Supersport race in 2024.
“I was sitting behind him for most of the race,” Jacobsen said. “I felt quite comfortable, but our pace I thought was very good. We were consistently doing 27.0 to 26.8. It was always one, two tenths. You’re going around Laguna, one or two tenths every lap is a lot. So, to make a small mistake or if you get backing in, or a small movement from the rear coming off the corner, let the other guy get away quickly. So, I feel like it kind of shows here a bit more at Laguna when you make a mistake because we’re so close in the lap times. So, it’s very difficult.
We’re on the edge and the lap time is just consistently the same. But when that guy went down the Corkscrew, he kind of backed up (Mathew) Scholtz back to me. I feel like I was there, but then it seemed like I don't know if he slowed down at that point because of grip issues or what, or if I went faster. I’m not really sure, but it seemed like I was able to then latch onto him again. Then I saw the whole race at turn six that he was struggling quite a bit. Now he knows for tomorrow. But it was a great overtake. The last two laps when I passed him, I felt like I just had to push. But I didn’t have too much grip, either. I feel like he was really killing me off of that turn two. So, we have to work on that as a team tonight, and also the last corner as well. Just too much spin off the bike. So, we need to go back and do our homework. They’ll do their homework. I’m sure the race pace will be even a bit faster tomorrow and even another crazy race.”
MotoAmerica Supersport Action Is Hot And Heavy At Laguna Seca
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