Petrucci does debut MotoAmerica double in Austin

Danilo Petrucci made his debut in the Auto Parts 4 Less MotoAmerica Championship a perfect one with his second victory of the weekend coming on a breezy Sunday afternoon at Circuit of The Americas in the MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike class.

Petrucci won his first-ever MotoAmerica race on Saturday and came back on Sunday to match that performance. Although Sunday’s race featured a larger, 5.1-second margin of victory than Saturday’s race, it was actually the tougher of the two races for the Italian as it featured a heated battle early on with Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz.

Petrucci and Scholtz traded the lead on several occasions until the South African started having moments sketchy enough for him to say enough was enough, and he opted to make certain of his second runner-up finish of the weekend in what was the season opener at COTA.

“Definitely I have to be happy for this weekend. I didn’t know what would be my level. The only thing I knew was this track. Fortunately, our bike is really good on braking and on maximum speed. I can carry that speed in the corner,” said Petrucci.

“I need to brake hard and pick up the bike in the straight. Definitely have to say thanks to all my team because we had really quite few chances to ride and to make experience. The bike was better now. It was really great to fight with Mat. As I told you yesterday, we go to Atlanta, which is a completely new track for me.

Behind the lead duo came defending MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike Champion Jake Gagne, the Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha rider finishing third to salvage 16 valuable championship points after a miserable weekend for the Gagne side of the Yamaha rig. Yesterday’s race one was a disaster for Gagne and crew with his bike