For Mathew Scholtz, rider of the Westby Racing Yamaha YZF-R1 Superbike with the big number 11’s on the front and sides, Saturday’s runner-up result in Superbike race one at Barber Motorsports marked his—there’s that number again—11th podium finish of the 2022 MotoAmerica season.

Continuing with the numbers theme, it was also Mathew’s fifth consecutive podium finish and his second runner-up result in the row, making it eight runner-up finishes so far this season with one more race left in the season Sunday afternoon.

Starting from the outside of the front row on the grid, Mathew immediately gave chase to fellow Yamaha riders Jake Gagne and Cameron Petersen. On lap six, Petersen had a tipover, and Mathew took over second place where he went to work on trying to catch Gagne in the lead. As the laps wound down, Mathew decided to stabilize his position as runner-up in the race, which now puts him just four points behind Petersen for third in the championship points standings.

“I think Cam was just maybe charging in slightly harder than he had been and just lost the front,” Mathew said. “I had a very similar moment in the second-to-last corner. I think it was just so hot out there on the track that the front tire was just skidding. It just didn’t seem to want to hook up and turn. It was kind of pushing the front. I felt in the first two or three laps, I must have folded the front at almost every single corner. I was at my limit trying to hold onto Jake and Cam. Once I saw Cam crash out, it seemed like a pretty small crash. I hope he’s doing good. But I know that I’m battling him for third in the championship. I was only about 20 points back, so from then, I kind of knew that if I wanted to try to catch up to Jake, I would have had to ride over my head, and I just wasn’t willing to do that, knowing the circumstance that Cam had crashed out and I could maybe clinch third in the championship still. So, I just kind of went into salvation mode from there. Hopefully, tomorrow, I’ll be up on the box one more time. 

Sunday’s Superbike race two starts at 3:10 p.m. CT and will be broadcast via tape delay on Fox Sports 2 (FS2) at 9 p.m. ET.

For all the action from Barber Motorsports Park, as it happens, subscribe to MotoAmerica Live+, which is MotoAmerica’s live streaming and on-demand service. To find out more about how to watch MotoAmerica, click HERE

Meet Mathew, Get An Autographed Poster, And More

Mathew will be available for autographs during the Dunlop Hot Pit Walk & Autograph Session, scheduled for 11 to 11:40 a.m. Sunday on pit lane at Barber Motorsports Park. He and the team will be handing out free posters and T-shirts, so don’t miss it.

Check Out The Westby Racing Sponsor Showcase

Attack Performance and Puig USA are the featured team sponsors on display in the Westby Racing paddock area this race weekend, so be sure to stop by to say hello and learn about some of the companies that support the team.

For more updates about Westby Racing, including news, photos, and videos, visit http://www.WestbyRacing.com