Bobby Fong Continues Late-Season Charge with Superbike Victory at COTA
Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha Racing’s Bobby Fong gains ground in the MotoAmerica Superbike title fight with a podium finish and a Race 2 victory at the penultimate round in Texas / Sep 16, 2026 /
It’s been a rollercoaster MotoAmerica Superbike season, with multiple riders in play for the 2026 crown. Continuing his late-season charge, Bobby Fong earned his third win in five races, topping the podium in Sunday’s Race 2 at the penultimate round at Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas. Together with a third-place finish on Saturday, the Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha Racing rider gained some points back in the title fight to stay in the hunt heading into the Superbike tripleheader at the season finale in New Jersey.
His teammate JD Beach rebounded from a crash in Race 1 to finish the weekend with a top-five finish. Unfortunately, a pair of DNFs for Strack Racing Yamaha’s Mathew Scholtz made for a heartbreaking weekend in Texas, but with three races remaining, both he and Beach are still mathematically in contention for the title.
Fong showed good speed from the start at COTA, qualifying fourth and getting a decent start from the second row of the grid in Race 1. He quickly made his way to fourth, and although he was shuffled back to fifth, he regained the position after his teammate crashed. Around the halfway mark, Fong made the pass on Sean Dylan Kelly for third and then started to close the gap to the leaders. Although he ran out of time to challenge for the win, the Californian rode on to secure the final spot on the podium.
“It was cool to get a podium and beat the people ahead of me in the championship, just to gain a few points,” said Fong. “But it’s hard to really think about the championship. We’re still a little ways out. It feels good to get on the podium here and keep the podium streak alive. I’m looking forward to more tomorrow.”
In Race 2, Fong got another good start and quickly made his way into the top three. After a multi-rider battle for position in the opening laps, he moved into second on Lap 4 and set his sights on race leader Cameron Petersen. Fong steadily closed the 2.7-second gap and was on Petersen’s heels with two laps to go. The Californian made the pass for the lead at the end of the penultimate lap and rode on to secure his third win in five races. With four wins and 10 podiums so far this season, Fong heads into the season finale 26 points from the leader with 75 points available.
“It was a good weekend,” said Fong. “I’m happy about the win. We changed the tire plan a little bit, and it paid off. We’re a little closer on points, but really, there’s so much racing left, I can’t think about the championship. I just have to keep digging, keep doing our thing, and race wins are our goal.
“Whatever happens at the end, happens. We just have to keep our head down, keep plugging away, and not even bat an eye at this championship yet. Like I said, we just have to give it our all, and I’ll be happy no matter the outcome.”
It was a tougher weekend for Fong’s Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha Racing teammate, JD Beach. After qualifying seventh, Beach got a great start from the third row of the grid in Race 1 and slotted into third. He battled up front in the opening laps, making his way past Kelly on Lap 5 before setting his sights on the leaders, but unfortunately crashed out of the race.
Beach got another great start in Race 2 but was shuffled back to fifth early. He continued to battle for position in a multi-rider fight, but after a big moment, Beach shifted his focus to securing the top-five finish. He heads to the season finale fourth in the standings and 49 points from the championship lead.
“The weekend was tough,” said Beach. “We started out Friday, and I was feeling good. Then in yesterday’s race I was feeling really good and smooth, running in third. I felt like I had great pace, and then just one little mishap – I tucked the front in Turn 16. It sucks to crash out of a race after a start like that, and especially with the pace we had.
“Today, I just kind of felt off a little bit. The first two or three laps of the race, I was riding a little nervous and not pushing the front. I started getting a little bit of the feeling back and made a charge for the podium. I made a couple passes, but then got passed back. With four laps to go, going through the esses, I tucked the front big and somehow saved it. In the end, it’s points on the table, but you want to be at the front, so it sucks, especially with how hard the team is working. But we finished the day, and we’ll keep fighting.”
It was an especially tough weekend for Strack Racing Yamaha’s Mathew Scholtz, who arrived at COTA just 17 points from the championship lead. After qualifying sixth, Scholtz was running inside the top six in Race 1 when a technical issue forced him to withdraw on Lap 3.
Scholtz looked to bounce back in Race 2 and was again fighting inside the top six before another technical issue forced him into the pits with four laps remaining. The team was able to get him back on track, but he had lost too much time and ultimately finished 17th. The South African heads to the season finale 46 points from the championship lead.
“Coming into COTA only 17 points down in the championship, the goal was not to lose too many points and maybe try to gain a few back, because COTA has been a little bit of a difficult track for me in the past,” said Scholtz. “Unfortunately, we had an issue with the bike in Race 1, and I wasn’t able to finish. We definitely found something for the second race on Sunday, but unfortunately on Lap 9, the clutch had come loose. We got that fixed, but we weren’t able to score points. It hurts a lot to score zero points out of the two races here. Now we go to Jersey to just try to get some wins there and hopefully finish top three in the championship. That’s the goal for us.”
The 2026 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship concludes at New Jersey Motorsports Park in Millville, New Jersey, on September 25-27, with three races and 75 points up for grabs.