Sean Dylan Kelly took his first MotoAmerica Quad Lock Superbike victory of 2026 on Sunday at Road America, leading most of the race aboard the OrangeCat Racing BMW M 1000 RR and beating PJ Jacobsen by 0.381 seconds. The win moved Kelly into the championship lead by a single point after three rounds.
The victory arrived at the 4.048-mile circuit in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, where straight-line speeds exceed 190 mph and where Kelly had been collecting podiums without breaking through. He finished second in Saturday’s race one, losing the lead on the final lap by 0.067 seconds. Sunday’s race two went differently. Kelly moved to the front of a six-rider breakaway group on lap four and never gave the position back.
What made the performance sharper is that Kelly was riding with a fractured fingertip on his braking hand. Jacobsen was managing an injured finger on his clutch hand. Bobby Fong, who finished third, was nursing a shoulder injury. Cameron Beaubier, the Warhorse HSBK Ducati Flo4Law rider who had been contending for wins, was sidelined entirely after a shoulder injury in Saturday’s race. Mathew Scholtz, who held an early-season advantage, suffered a mechanical DNF that undid his points cushion. Kelly left Wisconsin leading the championship by one point.
The weekend started with Kelly posting consistent times in practice. He clocked a 2:10.251 in Free Practice 1, good for second position, then matched that placement in Timed Practice. Free Practice 2 saw him lower his mark to 2:09.984. In Saturday’s red-flagged qualifying session, his fastest lap of 2:10.186 secured a fourth-place grid position on the second row. Teammate Jayson Uribe qualified seventh with a 2:11.684.
Saturday’s race one played out as a battle for every position from the start. Uribe traded second and third until a crash in the lead group on lap six brought out a red flag. The restart turned into a five-lap sprint. Kelly battled for the lead through the closing laps, swapping positions multiple times before finishing second, 0.067 seconds behind the winner. Uribe finished eighth, 9.1 seconds back.
The race two result earned Kelly his first win since OrangeCat Racing stepped up from Stock 1000 to the top Superbike class. The team won the 2025 MotoAmerica Stock 1000 championship before becoming BMW Motorsport’s first factory partner team in MotoAmerica history for 2026. Kelly had four podiums in the five races leading up to Road America, including two second-place finishes, but the win had stayed out of reach. At Barber Motorsports Park during round two, Kelly suffered a crash during practice, losing control of the BMW M 1000 RR over the high-speed hill between turns 12 and 13. Road America was the recovery.
Uribe’s weekend was less straightforward. Mechanical issues in both Friday sessions forced the team to spend Saturday playing catch-up. He finished eighth in both races, missing the top six he had been fighting for. After race two, Uribe acknowledged the gap came down to traction and electronic settings the team had not yet dialed in. With five riders within four points of eighth place in the championship, Uribe sits 12th, four points behind that cluster.
Bobby Fong finished third in race two, with JD Beach fourth. Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha Racing and Rahal Ducati Moto with XPEL filled the top positions behind Kelly’s BMW. The next round is June 26 through 28 at The Ridge Motorsports Park in Washington state. Kelly leads the championship by one point with the season barely started.
Source: BMW. Images courtesy of BMW.
