Storm Forces Superbike Qualifying Cancellation As Kelly Starts Race 1 From Row Four; Binder And Gillim Set The Pace In Supersport And Baggers, Gouker Impresses In Twins Cup Debut 

Millville, NJ (Sept. 25, 2026) – The 2026 MotoAmerica season finale got underway at New Jersey Motorsports Park (NJMP) under cool, overcast skies, with temperatures stuck in the low 60s and rain in the forecast that could soak much of the weekend.

Six classes hit the 2.25-mile Thunderbolt Circuit for practice and qualifying on Friday, setting the stage for a final showdown that will crown champions in Quad Lock Superbike and settle final standings across five other title fights.

Quad Lock Superbike

The season’s defining championship battle wasted no time making its presence felt. Wrench Motorcycles’ Cameron Petersen threw down the gauntlet in Friday morning’s Free Practice, ripping off a 1:21.166 to top the field ahead of Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha Racing’s Bobby Fong (+0.515) and Warhorse HSBK Ducati Flo4Law’s Cameron Beaubier (+0.535). Points leader OrangeCat Racing’s Sean Dylan Kelly settled for fourth, with Real Steel Honda’s Hayden Gillim rounding out a stacked top five on a track already threatening to shuffle the deck for the title fight.

With a nor’easter bearing down on New Jersey for the back half of the weekend, MotoAmerica officials have scrapped Saturday’s Timed Qualifying session for the Superbike class entirely, setting the Race 1 grid directly from Friday’s Timed Practice instead. The schedule shakeup didn’t stop there: originally slated to run Race 1 on Saturday and close out the triple-header with Races 2 and 3 on Sunday, the Superbike class will now run both Race 1 and Race 2 on Saturday, pushing only Race 3 to Sunday — the day forecast to bear the brunt of the storm. 

It’s a significant reshuffling of the road to a championship, compressing two-thirds of the title-deciding points into a single day and leaving the decisive final race to play out under what could be the wettest conditions of the weekend. 

In Timed Practice, the top ten finished the session separated by less than a second, with Beaubier making the most of Friday’s consequential 40-minute session with a 1:20.209 to take the top spot a day early. 

Fong followed the six-time and defending Superbike champion by a mere 0.085 seconds, setting his Yamaha in prime position to attack the championship in the wet at the final round.

South African Petersen rounded out the front row in third (+0.346 seconds), primed to play the spoiler across the weekend’s three Superbike races that will decide the championship.

Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha Racing’s JD Beach (+0.637 seconds) came fourth and Strack Racing’s Mathew Scholtz fifth (+0.644 seconds). Real Steel Honda’s Hayden Gillim showed solid speed rounding out the second row in P6 (+0.830 seconds) with Beaubier’s teammate Benjamin Smith behind him turning the exact same lap time in P7 (+0.830 seconds). OrangeCat Racing’s Jayson Uribe was 0.830 second behind in eighth and Rahal Ducati Moto with XPEL’s PJ Jacobsen in ninth. 

The real headline, though, belongs to Kelly: only tenth fastest (+0.984) when it mattered most, the championship leader will now be forced to carve his way forward from the fourth row in Race 1, with zero chances left to erase it before the lights go out on a weekend that will decide his fate against Fong, Scholtz and Beach.

Superbike Cup

While the Superbike title chase dominated the headlines, Superbike Cup competitors ran alongside the premier class Friday, with the grid for their own competition being set within the overall Superbike order. Real Steel Honda’s Andrew Lee, who wrapped up his fourth career MotoAmerica title at COTA, was the fastest Cup rider on the day with a 1:22.330, good for 14th overall in the Superbike field — but he barely had room to breathe.

Right behind him was a familiar face making an unfamiliar move: BPR Racing Yamaha’s Bryce Kornbau, fresh off clinching the Mission Super Hooligan National Championship at COTA, is turning his attention to Superbike Cup for the season finale and immediately made his presence felt, trailing Lee by just 0.011 seconds to line up 15th overall. Team Brazil’s Danilo Lewis rounded out the top three Cup riders in 16th overall, just over a second off the pace.

Behind that group, the real battle is for silver — BPR Racing Yamaha’s Deion Campbell and Super Carl Racing 57 Rider Development’s Carl Soltisz enter the weekend separated by just five points, and neither has shown any sign of settling for second without a fight.

Supersport

The Supersport field delivered an early surprise Friday morning, with Rodio Racing’s Gus Rodio slicing through Practice 1 at his home track for the fastest time of the session at 1:23.037, just ahead of BPR Racing Yamaha’s Josh Hayes and Rahal Ducati Moto with Desnuda Organic Tequila’s Josh Herrin. Newly-crowned champion Celtic/Economy Lube + Tire/Warhorse Ducati’s Darryn Binder, meanwhile, spent the morning lurking in eighth — content, it seemed, to let others show their hand first.

The 2026 Supersport Champion made his intentions clear the moment it counted. The South African exploded to the top of Qualifying 1 with a 1:22.372 on a gap of 0.497 seconds that left no doubt about who’s still the class of the field.

Hayes held on for second, with Herrin third (+0.557 seconds) and Rahal Ducati Moto with Droplight’s Kayla Yaakov fourth (+0.559) as they battled down to the wire for the final two spots on the front row. 

Strack Racing Yamaha’s Blake Davis was fifth (+0.673 seconds), with the New Jersey-native Rodio sixth and M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Rossi Moor turning heads in seventh for his Supersport debut.

Mission King Of The Baggers

There was no mystery about who owned Friday in the Baggers class. J&P Cycles/Motul/Vance & Hines Factory Indian’s Hayden Gillim was untouchable in both sessions, topping Practice 1 with a 1:22.827 before backing it up with a 1:22.124 for a new lap record in Qualifying 1 — a dominant showing from a rider who’s already sealed the championship but clearly isn’t ready to ease off the throttle.

Harley-Davidson x Dynojet Factory Racing’s Kyle Wyman shadowed him by 0.234 seconds in Q2.

The battle for the runner-up spot in the standings, though, took an unexpected twist. Harley-Davidson x Dynojet Factory Racing’s Bradley Smith clocked the third-fastest time (+0.963 seconds) in Qualifying 1, while Gillim’s own teammate, Troy Herfoss — locked in a tight fight with Smith and trailing by just three points — failed to post a qualifying time at all, an ominous wrinkle heading into a weekend where every point matters. 

SDI Racing’s Tyler O’Hara and Big Diehl x Harley-Davidson Factory Racing’s James Rispoli rounded out the top five in Q1.

Talent Cup

There’s a fitting symmetry to Quarterley Racing’s Nathan Gouker sealing his championship at the exact track where he’ll spend the weekend riding like there’s still one to win. The soon-to-be 2026 champion set the tone from the opening session Friday, topping the morning’s Practice 1 before turning up the heat in Qualifying 1 with a blistering 1:29.854 — nearly three-tenths clear of his closest pursuer. It’s the kind of performance that suggests Gouker has no intention of coasting into his coronation; if anything, the pressure’s off and the throttle’s wide open.

Behind him, the real drama is just getting started. Yamaha BLU CRU Estenson Racing’s Sam Drane qualified second (+0.282 seconds) and will spend the weekend trying to hold off Team Hammer’s Jake Paige for the final podium spot in the season standings — a task made trickier by the fact that Paige, who didn’t even record a lap in Friday morning’s Practice 1, roared back to qualify third (+1.430 seconds) by the afternoon. 

Right on two Australian’s heels was Real Steel Honda’s Derek Sanchez King in fourth (+1.528 seconds) riding in front of a home-state crowd and looking every bit like a rider chasing his first podium of the year with extra motivation on his side.

Twins Cup

Already-crowned champion or not, Robem Engineering’s Hank Vossberg showed up Friday looking every bit like a rider with something left to prove. Vossberg topped both sessions on the day, capping it with a 1:24.113 in Qualifying 1 for a new lap record and a reaffirmation of exactly why he wrapped up the title weeks ago. 

Karns/TST Industries Racing’s Kevin Olmedo and teammate Isaac Woodworth rounded out the top three, keeping the Karns/TST squad squarely in the mix as the season winds down. Unfortunately, both riders would go down in the session with Woodworth walking away under his own power and Olmedo regrettably being declared unfit for the remainder of the weekend. 

The real intrigue, though, came from an unexpected corner of the paddock. M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Matthew Chapin and Bodie Paige — both locked in a tight scrap for second in the final standings — qualified fifth and sixth, respectively, keeping their championship math alive heading into race day. But it was Talent Cup’s soon-to-be-crowned champion, Quarterley Racing’s Nathan Gouker, who stole the show in his own right: in his first-ever Twins Cup qualifying session, Gouker immediately flashed the pace that’s carried him to a title of his own, qualifying an eye-catching fourth aboard the Aprilia RS 660 in his class debut.

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