Inside MotoAmerica: Pressure to Rise

On the Season 2 Premiere of “Pressure To Rise,” the Medallia Superbike riders face pressure from overseas as former MotoGP race winner Danilo Petrucci starts the season with two wins at COTA aboard his Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC Panigale V4 R. Petrucci’s familiarity with the Texas track played in his favor, and it left last year’s Superbike Champion Jake Gagne to deal with bike problems while the rest of the frontrunners fought hard to match The Handyman’s torrid pace.

In episode two of "Pressure To Rise," Danilo Petrucci has the hot hand coming into Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta after his double win at COTA. But Road Atlanta is all-new to the former MotoGP rider, so the other riders were looking to bounce back. And "bounce" some of them did with more adversity adding to the pressure. Meanwhile, a Medallia Superbike rider on hiatus gets back in the show, and makes the most of the opportunity. One thing is for certain, you never know what's going to happen next.

Three rounds into the 2022 Medallia Superbike Championship, and the pressure to rise is already at a boiling point. The Superbikes at Virginia event was jam-packed with action, excitement, and more than its fair share of controversy. The "Pressure To Rise" production crew captured it all, and it is documented in episode three of the season-long series. Go behind the scenes now and find out what happened.

Just three rounds into the 2022 MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike season, and the pressure to rise was already at a boiling point. And then came round four at Road America. A four-mile track. 180 mile an hour Superbikes. And throw some changeable weather into the mix, too. You want to talk about "pressure"? Watch Episode Four of "Pressure To Rise".

Pressure makes diamonds, and it also makes for great racing in the MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike series. Episode five of "Pressure to Rise" presents the Ridge Motorsports Park round of the championship. Temperatures were hot and so were tempers in the Pacific Northwest as the riders squared off in a battle that began even before the racing did. Go behind pit wall and inside the helmets of some of the world's best motorcycle road racers, and find out about everything that went down at Ridge.

In Episode Six of "Pressure To Rise," the Medallia Superbike riders are just past the halfway point of the season, and WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca's famed Corkscrew served up an interesting plot twist for a couple of the riders in the series. The intensity of the battles on track were matched by intensity in the teams and within their pit boxes as the Championship picture begins to take shape. The laps are winding down, and the pressure to rise is cranking up. Watch what took place at the GEICO Motorcycle MotoAmerica Speedfest at Monterey.

There are 10 rounds in the 2022 Medallia Superbike Championship. 10 rounds and 20 races. At the seventh round, and in the 14th race, all hell literally broke loose. Defending Medallia Superbike Champion Jake Gagne crashed spectacularly and handed the victory and the points lead to number-one contender Danilo Petrucci. Rather than continuing the winning streak to which we've all grown accustomed, Gagne sent his Yamaha Superbike into a parts-flinging cartwheel of chaos. And that's not all that happened up in Brainerd. Episode 7 chronicles the Superbikes at Minnesota event in a way that will have you mesmerized. Watch the entire episode.

After all the drama of Medallia Superbike round seven at Brainerd International Raceway, the pressure to rise increased even more for the riders when they got to Pittsburgh International Race Complex for round eight. In Episode 8 of "Pressure To Rise," Pitt Race is in the spotlight, and the 2022 MotoAmerica Championship continues to show that it is MotoAmerica's best season yet. It's coming down to crunch time, but the fight for the title is far from over and every point counts from here on out.

In Episode 9 of "Pressure To Rise", it's the penultimate round of the Medallia Superbike Championship, and the battle lines are clearly drawn between Jake Gagne and Danilo Petrucci, Yamaha and Ducati, and Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha Racing and Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC. The main protagonists took to the track at New Jersey Motorsports Park, and Mother Nature tossed some inclement weather into the mix just to increase the pressure even more.

In Episode 10 of "Pressure To Rise", it all came down to Barber Motorsports in Birmingham, Alabama. One more round of the 2022 Medallia Superbike Championship and two races to determine whether reigning champ Jake Gagne would go back-to-back and successfully defend his title or former MotoGP race winner Danilo Petrucci would give Ducati its first AMA Superbike Championship since 1994. It was the perfect ending to MotoAmerica best season yet, so watch this final episode of PTR season two.