Sean Dylan Kelly came to Mid-Ohio needing a clean weekend. He got a dominant one. The No. 40 OrangeCat Racing BMW M 1000 RR rider won Race 1 and stood on the podium again in Race 2 Sunday, stretching his MotoAmerica Quad-Lock Superbike Championship lead by 24 points with three rounds left.
Race 1 was a lesson in patience turned aggression. Kelly qualified on the front row, took the lead early, and then slipped to third by lap four. He attacked immediately, reclaimed the lead with six laps remaining, and never relinquished it. Sunday was messier for everyone. Multiple incidents produced two red flag stoppages, and officials called the race after the second halt, enough laps having been completed under the regulations. Kelly had led from the opening start but was running second when the race ended, giving him his third P2 of the season alongside his third win.
Teammate Jayson Uribe had the quieter weekend statistically, but the standings math worked in his favor. He qualified on Row 2, finished ninth in Race 1, and held on for sixth in the chaotic Race 2. That P6 cut his gap to seventh place in the championship to a single point. Uribe acknowledged after the weekend that tire management on harder compounds remains the work in progress: his pace on softs is established, and the team left Mid-Ohio with data to close the gap on harder rubber before the final stretch.
A third BMW M 1000 RR ran the weekend under the OrangeCat banner. Kaleb De Keyrel, returning to the team on the No. 51 machine, finished second in both races in the MotoAmerica Superbike Cup Championship, which replaced last year’s Stock 1000 Class. De Keyrel called it his first time racing in the Cup class and described the M 1000 RR as one of his favorite motorcycles outright, which is either genuine enthusiasm or a useful thing to say when BMW is signing your checks. Given his results, probably both.
The championship context matters. OrangeCat Racing entered 2026 as BMW Motorrad Motorsport’s official factory team after three years competing in the Stock 1000 class, a significant step up in resource and expectation. The 2026 season also carries weight beyond the team: it marks 50 years since the first official AMA Superbike race at Daytona in 1976, where Reg Pridmore won the inaugural championship on a BMW R90S. A BMW-backed team leading the standings at the season’s midpoint is not an accident BMW’s marketing department will leave unmentioned.
Three rounds remain. The series resumes August 14–16 at Virginia International Raceway.
Source: BMW. Images courtesy of BMW.
