Petrucci Reaps Reward of Heroic Performance at Road America

  Sunnyvale, Calif., June 5, 2022 — Danilo Petrucci put on a heroic display of grit at Road America, grabbing a second place in race one and a third in race two to extend his championship points lead over Yamaha’s Mathew Scholtz.

Petrucci, nursing injuries from a crash at VIR two weeks ago, entered the weekend with tempered expectations, but the Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC superstar tacked on another point to his championship lead and continued to impress with his performance on tracks he’d never visited.

Road America’s front straight, which at roughly eight-tenths of a mile is longer than the straight at Mugello, highlighted the horsepower advantage of the Panigale V4 R’s Desmosedici Stradale engine as Petrucci flew past his rivals, keeping him in position to fight for victory throughout race one. On the final lap, Yamaha’s Mathew Scholtz executed a bold block pass on Petrucci at turn five. While the Italian retaliated on the final corner, Scholtz was ultimately able to hold on for the win, crossing the finish line just 0.015 seconds in front.  

With a wet track on Sunday morning, Petrucci dominated warm up by two seconds. By race time, however, a partially drying track posed a challenge for riders and wet tires alike. In race two’s shortened eight-lap dash, Petrucci struggled with rear grip in the closing stages, finishing in a solid third place behind Yamaha’s Cameron Petersen and BMW’s PJ Jacobsen.

The former MotoGP race winner and Dakar stage winner leaves Elkhart Lake with 140 points, seven ahead of Yamaha’s Scholtz and 25 ahead of 2021 Superbike champion Jake Gagne.

2022 MotoAmerica Championship Points Standings—Top 5
P1 – Danilo Petrucci (Ducati) 140
P2 – Mathew Scholtz (Yamaha) 133
P3 – Jake Gagne (Yamaha) 115
P4 – Cameron Petersen (Yamaha) 103
P5 – Hector Barbera (BMW) 79

Danilo Petrucci (Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC – Ducati #9)
“At the end, I had two good races. For sure I wanted to win yesterday, but Scholtz was really hard on the pass and pushed me out of the way and I finished second. Today, I was happy to see the rain. I was fast in warm up, but in the race the track was dry by the end and I was struggling a lot with the rear tire. Our setup was too soft for the condition, so I had no acceleration. It’s a good third position for the championship. Road America is a nice track and I wanted to make a double win, but I did my best.”

The MotoAmerica series breaks for three weeks before heading to The Ridge Motorsports Park in Washington on June 24–26.