Fresh n Lean Yamaha’s Jake Gagne is back for a 4th consecutive title after dominating the MotoAmerica Superbike field the last three seasons. Previous to his current run of crushing spirits from Friday morning to Sunday afternoon, the cool-headed veteran was riding a Scheibe Racing BMW for a year in MotoAmerica Superbike back in 2019.

Before Scheibe, Jake Gagne tried his hand at World SBK for a year on an aging CBR1000RR, albeit with the Red Bull factory team. His World Superbike results were mostly outside the top 10 and weren’t much better for his teammate, Leon Camier.

Moving forward to 2020, Jake Gagne signed with the factory Yamaha squad, being teamed with Cameron Beaubier for his last year in the states before spending a few seasons in the Grand Prix circus, riding a 600 cc Moto2 bike with American Racing Team. Having spent 2020 watching the extremely talented Cam Beaubier impose his will on both his Yamaha motorcycle and the rest of the Superbike field, Gagne was ready to turn his string of podiums and a second overall in the MotoAmerica Superbike championship into a title of his own, in 2021.

Absolute domination ensued, apart from a blowed up motor in the very first race of the year and the crash in typhoon conditions at Barber in Alabama, both incidents just a few laps into each race and in the second race at Barber where Jake made it up to third in drying conditions before a red flag (for wildlife on the track!) ended the penultimate race of the year. Having not won a race since his 2015 Stock 1000 title winning season on a Red Bull CBR, Gagne won 16 races in a row, 17 in total and flirted around with all-time records by the end.

Following his DNF to start the season in 2021, the new champ did one better and DNS’d at COTA in 2022, pulling into the pits following the citing lap. Gagne got on the podium at race 2 at COTA and lost the front at the bottom of the esses in race one at Road Atlanta. Three wins in a row finished the Atlanta round and swept the VIR races going into Road America. A brake waving contest with Danila Petrucci caused Jake to crash and remount for 5th place in race one and he had a 4th place on a wetting track in race two.

The Ridge was next, and two more race wins added followed by two more at Laguna Seca. Brainerd, race one, was a win from the drop and race two saw Gagne throw away a 4 second lead with a few laps to go. Three more wins in a row carried the Yamaha man through Pittsburgh and race one at New Jersey. NJ race 2 was raining heavily by the end and Gagne salvaged a podium finish out of the late race attrition. First and second place finishes rounded out Jake Gagne’s 2022 season where he beat Danilo Petrucci by 20 points.

Last year turned out more like ’21 than ’22, Jake Gagne racked up 11 wins and when he wasn’t top of the box Jake only missed the podium twice. The first round at Atlanta saw a revitalized Cam Beaubier back, and on an absolute rocket ship Beemer, win straight away. Atlanta Race 2 was the red-flagged, four rider battle between Gagne, Beaubier, Herrin and Scholtz that saw Herrin and Cam touch at 180mph. Incredible race! Before the big incident Gagne was sitting in third and would come across the line in first.

The next round at Alabama featured two wins and Jake was in control the entire weekend. Round 3 at Road America, Gagne retired after losing a motor in race 1 and just barely held onto third spot in race 2. Overall, a rough weekend for the defending champion and a showcase for the other fast guys.

At the Ridge, Gagne won the first race after a charging Cam Beaubier crashed at the end and finished in second when Cam did all that charging without the crashing part on Sunday. At this point in the season, with four down and five to go, Gagne was holding steady and absorbing the shots, Beaubier, Herrin, PJ and Cam P. have thrown at him so far.

Jake Gagne went to Laguna with the championship lead and put a stamp on that fact in race 1, winning a red flag neutered race by over 5 seconds. Making the weekend a 1-2-3, Gagne finished a mighty fine 2nd to Beaubier in race two then finished on track in 2nd again in race three but was assessed a very dumb penalty and sent to 3rd spot officially after the bonus 3rd race of the weekend.

Brainerd is where Gagne put one hand on the trophy, winning race one after current runner-up spot holder, Cam Beaubier crashed out early and his teammate, PJ Jacobsen, couldn’t make amends for the German brand…yet. And yet he did, PJ won race two and Gagne finished second to pile on top of his title lead and let Herrin move up to second overall.
Going into Pittsburgh, Gagne just needed to defend any late season volleys from the BMW of Cam Beaubier and the new runner-up Josh Herrin. Herrin had a forgettable weekend, even though he got two podium finishes he effectively lost his shot to take it to Jake with a 6th place finish in race 1. Cam Beaubier did the job in race 1 with a second-place finish, a freak crash with Ashton Yates in race 2 knocked Cam’s noggin, thus ending his Pittsburgh weekend and costing Beaubier the conclusion of his first season back. Gagne left Pittsburgh the 2023 MotoAmerica Superbike Champion, his third in a row and reaffirming the Gagne way, in case anyone forgot. A win at a sweltering COTA in race 1 was followed by a DQ from 2nd place for too-fast racing stripes. Gagne still champ. Rain in New Jersey and Gagne wins race 1 in relaxed fashion and finished off the podium for the first time in races that he finished, landing in 4th. JD Beach won this race filling in for an injured Cam Petersen, his second Superbike win and the first in 4 years in road racing.

What does 2024 look like for Jake Gagne and what are his prospects to pull off the quad-pete? This season could end up looking a lot like 2022 for Gagne. I’ll put Herrin in the spot held by Danilo Petrucci a few years ago, Josh will be in his second year on the big bike with Warhorse Ducati and his third year with the team, Herrin I think will push Jake at most tracks, mistakes and misfortune could decide how close it is, come Mid-Ohio time. Beaubier is my candidate for Petrucci circa ’22 number two because just like Herrin, Cam Beaubier has some experience now with that team and bike, barring the unforeseen Cam should push Gagne throughout the year, especially high-speed tracks where the BMW can stretch its legs. With PJ and Scholtz back to supersport and Cam Petersen rebounding from some injuries I think that leaves Richie Escalante on the Suzuki to make it four riders in the title hunt. Gagne is going to win the title in 2024 but with a few less wins this year and it won’t happen until the last round of the year.