Not since Valentino Rossi was nearly decapitated by a flying motorcycle in Austria in 2020 have I seen a closer call than the last-lap incident of MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike race two at Road Atlanta a week ago. The Atlanta incident was not as potentially catastrophic as that Austria crash, but it could have been a messy end to a great race, and multiple riders could have easily gotten hurt. And saying disaster was averted by inches is not a cliché or an exaggeration. Maybe by one inch.
Better than a movie stunt, but nobody planned this one. Josh Herrin (2), having lost his front brakes on the fast, downhill run to Turn 10a at Road Atlanta, slices through the narrow gap between Jake Gagne (1) and Cameron Beaubier (6). If any of the three had been a tenth of a second different, at least two would have crashed. It was a scary end to a fantastic race. See the full race in the video below. Image from MotoAmerica video.
Josh Herrin has used the video of that incident to give a detailed second-by-second explanation of what happened on that final run down the long back straight at Road Atlanta, where the Superbikes this year were approaching 190 mph top speeds. It’s a fascinating video for any motorcycle roadracing fan, in the way it breaks down the strategies, thoughts, and reactions these pro riders are processing each second while riding at speeds the rest of us can’t come close to achieving. It’s also worth noting why Herrin needed to make this video and why he deserves some praise and respect for doing it.
Herrin needed to make this video because in the past he has sometimes been quick to criticize others for on-track moves while not accepting blame for worse ones of his own, and I have pointed that out in articles I’ve written. A good (though relatively minor) example is from the Supersport race at VIRginia International Raceway last year when Josh Hayes passed Herrin, causing Herrin to run wide and lose position. After the race, Herrin called the move “super dirty” and said he’d lost respect for Hayes, who is one of the most respected racers in the paddock. Two problems with Herrin’s statement: Nobody else in the paddock thought Hayes’ move was dirty and in the same race Herrin had put an equally (or more so) hard pass on Sam Lochoff, causing Lochoff to run off track. After “getting blown up on social media” (Herrin’s own words) for his double standards, he retracted his statement about Hayes.
Because of cases like that, when Cameron Beaubier and Herrin touched on the last lap, ruining Herrin’s chances for the win, some fans assumed Herrin would be angry. Seconds later, when Herrin flew into Turn 10a out of control, some assumed he was trying a hairball pass and endangering everyone.
The reality was quite different. Herrin understood why Beaubier touched him. Beaubier almost crashed through the kink in the back straight, because he was riding as fast as his very fast BMW M 1000 RR would go and he had to take a slightly tighter line. Then Herrin lost his front brakes temporarily from the resulting headshake on his Ducati Panigale V4 R and wasn’t able to get stopped for the turn at the bottom of the hill.
Beaubier apologized on the cool-down lap and again in person in the paddock. And this time, instead of going on a rant, Herrin said he had no hard feelings. This is what the term “racing incident” was invented for. Nobody did anything wrong, but bad stuff can happen anyway when everyone is on the edge. Fortunately, a great amount of luck and some tremendous skill meant that no one got hurt and we’ll see all these guys racing again next weekend at Barber Motorsports Park.
Herrin does not allow videos on his YouTube channel to be embedded in third-party websites, so I can’t show you his explanation video here. At 17 minutes, it’s a little longer and more rambling than it should have been, but it’s still a fascinating explanation, so I suggest you go over to YouTube and watch it. What I can show you here is the MotoAmerica full race video. If you haven’t seen it, it’s worth your time. As Herrin said himself, “Positive comments were that was the best MotoAmerica race, best Superbike race, people have seen in 10-plus years.”
There’s a lot of positives here. First, that no one got hurt. Second, that Herrin has taken a classy approach to setting the record straight. And third, most fun of all, that it’s shaping up to be a great season of racing. My season preview article is only 10 days old and already I’ve been taken by surprise by how fast returning champ Beaubier has gotten up to speed on the BMW M 1000 RR and how strong Herrin looks on the Ducati. It’s shaping up to be a great season.
Well that’s a pleasant surprise. I was sure Josh was going to be a whiny ***** about that.