Bobby Fong stretched his points lead to 13 and now needs to finish only second or better in the final two races on Sunday.
In Race 1 of the final round, Bobby Fong seized an early advantage, lost the lead briefly, and regained it during the second half of the race to score a commanding victory and come one step closer to winning the 2025 MotoAmerica Superbike championship.
Fong holds a 13-point lead over Cameron Beaubier with two races remaining.
The grid opened with the three title contenders spread through the field. Fong had the poll with Beaubier in the middle of Row 2. Josh Herrin was well back in 10th, which was his worst starting spot ever. Still, the three fastest riders of 2025 found one another early.
Fong's teammate, Jake Gagne, launched best from his second-place position on the grid to lead the first four laps. Fong slipped into second and must have been a little surprised to find Herrin on his back wheel going through the first turns.
Herrin surged into third with Cameron Beaubier in fourth.
"It was a hard-fought race at the beginning," Fong said from Victory Lane. "It’s slippery out there for sure. I knew these boys would be right there the whole time. We have two more tomorrow, so I can’t enjoy it too much. We have to keep working and celebrate after the weekend."
Fong could afford to be a little cautious in the opening laps, so he paced Gagne and waited for an opening. As soon as he felt pressure from behind, Fong swept into the lead on Lap 4. Herrin wasted no time getting to second place one lap later. Beaubier took a little longer to get into podium contention, but once he was established in the top three, he contributed to a sweep for the championship contenders.
Herrin took the lead from Fong on Lap 10 and tried to slow the pace to bring Beaubier and Gagne back into the fight. Fong would have nothing of that and retook the top spot one lap later.
A bobble by Beaubier just as the field hit lapped traffic was the break Fong needed. In the second half of the race. That contributed to a one-second lead, and he consistently built on the advantage until it was nearly four seconds as the white flag waved.
Instead of costing Fong positions, Herrin's move put Beaubier back into contention to minimize the points' damage.
"First of all, I have to give it up to my Tyler’s BMW crew," Beaubier said. "They put two bikes together yesterday after I had the worst Friday I’ve had in a long time – throwing two bikes away. ... We felt a lot better this morning. Not as close as we wanted, but that race I gave it everything I possibly had. I was sliding, losing the front, losing the rear. It was bittersweet to come up short, but Bob was riding so good. He had pace on everyone."
Herrin was so locked into the race with Beaubier that he lost track of its progression. As he jockeyed to get into position to challenge for second, the six-time winner in 2025 was surprised to see the white flag out of the corner of his eye.
"I couldn’t hang with Bobby and at the end of the race, Cam came by me there and I didn't know idea it was the last lap," Herrin said. I don’t know what I was thinking, but I thought there were eight laps to go. I was trying to get along beside him, and I saw a white flag waving, and I was like, ‘Whoa. What the heck is going on?’ [It was] the first time in my life that a race went by that quick."
Sean Dylan Kelly pressured Beaubier and Herrin for a spot on the podium before finishing fourth.
Gagne rounded out the top five.
Category: General Sports
