Long time coming
Hermersmann just glad to be back after 12 years
Special to the Journal Sentinel
— Winning won’t be the goal when Scott Hermersmann runs his first professional race in 12 years during the Subway Superbike Doubleheader this weekend.
Even a 15th-place effort in the Superstock finale Sunday at Road America likely won’t wipe the smile off Hermersmann’s face.
The Oak Creek native competed in AMA from 1999-2002 until a left rotator cuff injury sidelined him from competition. Even though work, and the rest of life, intervened to become higher priorities, Hermersmann still couldn’t shake the need for speed.
Hermersmann builds transmissions for semis and trucks through his own business, Herm’s High Performance, based in Oak Creek. And he has been a spectator at the racetrack, bringing 9-year-old daughter Savanah to watch a handful of female riders compete in the sport, including Elena Myers, who has raced in AMA for five years and made her debut in Superbike class, the premier class, this season.
“That passion and love I have for racing never went away,” said Hermersmann, who won five amateur Championship Cup Series regional titles in 1998. “The window is closing and I, obviously, want to do the best I can.”
Lack of equipment and a spare Kawasaki kept the 40-year-old from competing in wet conditions Saturday at the 4.05-mile road course. But Hermersmann will start 21st in
Elkhart Lake
Hermersmann the 34-rider field in Superstock’s second race of the weekend Sunday.
“If I was to fall down in the rain (Saturday) and completely mess everything up, it would set me back,” he said. “To race in the rain, without doing it for that long — doing it at this level — it isn’t easy.”
Travis Wyman, 23, won his first Superstock race in four years Saturday, and succeeded with a wet setup on his Yamaha. Wyman, from North Las Vegas, Nev., edged Joe Roberts by 0.231 of a second.
“I don't really like this track that much, but I do really well here,” said Wyman, who won at Road America in 2011.
“The layout and configuration don’t suit me because I’m not as strong on the brakes. Joe would gap me everywhere on the brakes going in (the turns), but I would make it up off the corner.”
Meanwhile, Hermersmann’s journey back to the pro ranks took some unexpected turns. Despite his AMA experience, he had to obtain license re-certification under a new set of criteria established by MotoAmerica, which assumed ownership of the series in September.
Hermersmann ran a slew of Championship Cup Series events — at the amateur heavyweight Superbike level — in October, and collected five runner-up efforts and a victory en route to a title at the CCS Race of Champions at Daytona International Speedway.
He collected points and top-three finishes earlier this year at Carolina Motorsports Park in Kershaw, S.C., and Autobahn Country Club in Joliet, Ill., and got his pro license back two days ago when he arrived at Road America.
“A 15th-place finish at Road America would be a win,” Hermersmann said. “I think it’s possible, and I’ll be motivated to do that. If we can get good results to build on and keep going in the right direction, I might keep doing this for who knows how long.”
Josh Herrin shook off a frightening qualifying moment to snare his third win of the season.
The victory was the first in wet conditions for Herrin, who avoided a high-side crash and skidding into the wall on the back straightaway during Saturday morning qualifying.
Herrin posted a 26.99-second victory over Tomas Puerta.
“I’ve never really been a fan of riding here in the wet,” Herrin said, “just because I get scared of going through on the back straight on the turns, and it puddles a little bit. You’re always having some big moments.
“The (qualifying) incident definitely scared me, and that’s kind of why I used the strategy I did and
Supersport:
tried to stay up.”
Superbike
KTM RC Cup:
qualifying:
Josh Hayes bested teammate Cameron Beaubier with a best lap time of 2 minutes 31.079 seconds to win his fifth pole at Road America.
Hayes has won seven of the last 10 races at the track, and he’s eager for the doubleheader race day.
“Three top gear straightaways, a lot of hard braking, 90-degree turns, burning the tires off the turns — all that stuff is just so much fun that I always have a smile on my face when we come and ride here,” Hayes said.
Gage McAllister, 19, won the inaugural event in the debut of the division, topping Jody Barry by 0.7972 of a second in the race reduced to six laps because of crashes on the warm-up lap.
The division is a spec class for riders ages 14 to 22 and drew 24 entrants for the first two races at Road America.