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MOTOAMERICA - MotoAmerica has another week off before returning to action next weekend in Austin, Texas at the Circuit of The Americas.
It's a good time then to take a look back at what happened in the Supersport Class at the last round at VIR. It was hot weekend in Virginia, with the weather playing a key role in what transpired.
In Saturday's Supersport Race 1, Celtic/Economy Lube + Tire/Warhorse's Darryn Binder came out on top of a heated three-way fight for the win. Binder converted pole into his eighth win of the season, holding off a hard-charging Herrin in Race 1. The South African jumped into the lead at the start, with Kayla Yaakov running third.
With eight laps to go, RDM's Josh Herrin slipped past Binder into Turn 1, dropping the points leader to third. The lead changed hands repeatedly among Herrin, Binder and Hayes, and with three laps to go, Binder took the inside line as the trio entered Turn 1 three-abreast and exited with the lead.
On the final lap, Herrin attempted a pass at Turn 14 but ran wide and conceded second to Hayes. Binder crossed the line first by half a second over Hayes, while Herrin rallied through the grass to salvage third.
Darryn Binder: "At the beginning there, I tried to get to the front and set the pace, but the more laps I did in front, the more I was looking at the lap time and I just wasn't able to go any faster. When we started battling, I tried to follow for a couple laps to see if I could find something. But then I figured, you know what? I better just get involved in the fight and try to get to the front for the end. That last lap I led into Turn 1, and I was like, if I can block to the end of the lap, maybe I'll drive them to the line. I opened up — I think Turn 10 or 11 — just a little bit to brake as late as I could. Josh came flying up the inside, but I managed to get it stopped, cut back under, and got to the line first. Super sick race. Can't thank the whole Celtic/Economy Lube + Tire/Warhorse team enough."
Josh Hayes would go one better in Sunday's Supersport Race 2. Changing weather scrambled the grid and rewrote the script for the championship contenders. Race 2 was pushed back due to inclement weather and lightning in the area. Riders were given a 10-minute wet-familiarization session to test the track on rain tires and gauge setup before the race — now declared wet and shortened to 14 laps from the scheduled 18.
With the weather clearing quickly and no further rain in the forecast, tire choice split the grid. Dry patches around the Virginia road course complicated the call: some riders opted for rain tires, others gambled on slicks, and most notably, the two championship front-runners missed their starting positions entirely.
Polesitter Darryn Binder missed the sighting lap outright, while Josh Herrin left pit lane on rain tires with the rest of the field. But on his out lap, Herrin noticed most of the grid was playing the long game, fitting slicks in anticipation of a drying track. He made a last-second call to skip the grid, return to pit lane, and swap to slick rubber.
Binder's miscue sent him to the back of the grid; Herrin's forced him to start from pit lane and wait for the full field to pass before beginning his recovery.
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