After finishing on the podium with a third-place finish in Saturday’s Superbike race at Pittsburgh International Race Complex, Mathew Scholtz, rider of the #11 Westby Racing Yamaha YZF-R1, shrugged off the pain in his triple-fractured left wrist and put in another heroic effort on Sunday. In his encore performance, The Scholtz Kid outdid himself and finished second in Superbike race two.
Starting from the outside of row two on the grid, Mathew started moving towards the front on lap two. He went from sixth, to fifth, to fourth where he stabilized his position until lap 10 of the 17-lap race. He then made a brilliant pass on Cam Petersen with seven laps to go, which put him into third. Then, on lap 12, he overtook Danilo Petrucci for second and began pulling a gap on the former MotoGP race winner. Mathew ultimately crossed the finish line less than five seconds behind race winner Jake Gagne.
What a Sunday it was for Mathew Scholtz and his hard-working Westby Racing team. After the well-earned podium celebration, he reflected on the accomplishment:
“When I was out there racing, I didn’t really notice the wrist too much,” Mathew said. “The only problem for me today was, on the last four or five laps, my fingers began going numb. That was the worst part of it, really. After the race finish, I could feel the wrist throbbing a lot, but when I was out there riding, I didn’t notice it. So, I can’t blame it on that. Jake (Gagne) was definitely the quickest guy today. I reeled him in a couple laps towards the end there. I think he knew he had a couple seconds’ gap, so he was just chilling, really. I know that I definitely have to sort the first couple of laps out. That always hurts me bad. That’s something that we’re going to have to look at.”
After a well-deserved rest, Mathew and the Westby Racing team will be back in action for round nine of the 2022 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship, which takes place at New Jersey Motorsports Park in Millville, New Jersey, on September 9 through 11.
MotoAmerica Superbike Standings
- Jake Gagne – Yamaha – 290
- Danilo Petrucci – Ducati – 289
- Cameron Petersen – Yamaha – 241
- Mathew Scholtz – Yamaha – 219
- Hector Barbera – BMW – 150
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