The Championship Picture: Superbike
Sean Dylan Kelly leads the MotoAmerica Superbike championship point standings.
Last year was one of the best finishes to an American Superbike season that I can remember watching. When MotoAmerica visited Circuit of the Americas in 2025, the Superbike championship came into that weekend with technically five riders mathematically eligible, but only four really had a shot while the championship leader had a 17-point lead over second place.
The 2026 Quad Lock Superbike Championship arrives at the same world-class facility in Austin, TX, with five riders mathematically eligible, but only four riders truly have a shot (sorry, Cameron Petersen) while the championship leader comes in with a 17-point lead over second place.
Isn’t that something?
There are some obvious differences, and that starts with the rider leading the chase. Sean Dylan Kelly has been consistently at or near the front of the field on his Orange Cat BMW by scoring 12 podiums, including three wins, over the 15 races that have taken place so far. While he has no DNFs, Kelly is coming off of his worst finish of the season in Race 3 at VIR where he crashed on the first lap of the restart. Still, SDK managed to score a single point in that race while he scored two solid seventh-place finishes in his two other non-podium finishes.
Mathew Scholtz has the most MotoAmerica Superbike wins in 2026 with four.
Last year it was Cameron Beaubier who came into the final weekend 17 points behind the leader before winning the championship. In 2026 it is Mathew Scholtz who finds himself in that position. Scholtz made his return to Superbike on a Yamaha R1 after winning two consecutive Supersport championships. Scholtz continues to prove that the partnership between the South African and Strack Racing is a powerful combination by leading all riders with four wins.
Bobby Fong is coming off of winning two of three races at Virginia International Raceway.
Right behind Scholtz are the two teammates from Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha Racing; JD Beach is third with 219 points and the rider that was leading the championship last year, Bobby Fong, is fourth this year with 212 points. Beach is only 14 points back from Scholtz while the factory Yamaha riders are 31 and 38 points behind SDK, respectively. Both riders have three wins in 2026, which shows they should have more than enough time to close that gap should things go their way at COTA.
In fifth place is Cameron Petersen with 145 points. I apologized to him earlier because while he can technically still come back and win this championship, this writer just doesn’t realistically see that happening. Petersen is currently 105 points back from SDK in the championship lead and there are only 125 points left on the table. That, combined with having to leapfrog three riders while closing that gap is something that may just be a bridge too far to cross.
However, Petersen is still completely capable of affecting the outcome of this championship by running at the front of the field and taking points away from the other championship competitors. Not just Petersen, either; Cameron Beaubier will be making his return with Warhorse HSBK Ducati Flo4Law after missing multiple rounds due to injury. It would not be out of the question for Beaubier to do the same thing as Petersen and take a large chunk of the available points away from the championship competitors. Beaubier’s teammate on the Ducati, Benjamin Smith, is also a threat to get on the podium and gobble up some points as we close out 2026.
PJ Jacobsen is a Superbike race winner that is capable of affecting the outcome of the 2026 championship.
The same could also be said for Jayson Uribe, who is coming off his first Superbike podium on the Orange Cat BMW M1000RR. Or PJ Jacobsen, a rider that has won a Superbike race before and is starting to make progress in developing the brand new Ducati Panigale V4R for Rahal Ducati Moto with XPEL.
When you combine these five potential spoilers with the four championship contenders we have a recipe for surprises at the penultimate round of the MotoAmerica Superbike season.
One result from the two races this weekend that would not be a surprise? Heading to the final round at New Jersey Motorsports Park with the championship still completely up for grabs.
