Ducati ended the 2026 MotoAmerica season with a landmark Supersport result: the Panigale V2 occupied all three places in the championship standings. Darryn Binder took the title as a rookie with 406 points, Josh Herrin finished second on 328, and Kayla Yaakov completed the top three, 157 points behind Binder. The clean sweep is Ducati’s first in the MotoAmerica Supersport Championship, while Yaakov became the first female rider to finish inside its top three. Binder also closed the season with the final Supersport race win, giving the title campaign a decisive finish.

The Supersport finale at New Jersey Motorsports Park was shaped by difficult weather. Binder chose the safer approach in race one and came home fourth, behind winner Josh Hayes. He responded in race two with a close victory over his season-long rival Herrin, winning by 0.137 seconds after a long battle. Binder described the result as the ideal way to end the year after a day that involved waiting for conditions to allow the race to go ahead. The South African rider credited Celtic HSBK Racing, Warhorse HSBK and Ducati, while also thanking his personal sponsors Sport Pesa, Bell and Alpinestars.

Podiums and difficult conditions in Superbike

The Superbike weekend brought a podium for both of Ducati’s Warhorse HSBK Ducati FLo4Law riders, although the final points haul was shaped by the weather. Race one required three starts after two separate red flags in torrential rain. Bobby Fong won, Cameron Beaubier finished second and Benjamin Smith took third for his first MotoAmerica Superbike podium.

Neither Beaubier nor Smith finished race two. Smith said an engine mechanical problem forced him to end the race early, and the same situation contributed to the team’s decision not to enter the final race as rain continued and standing water remained on the circuit. Beaubier reported having virtually no grip from the start of race two, with the rear stepping out whenever he turned the motorcycle into a corner. The team later checked the data, which supported his impression that something was wrong with the bike’s behaviour.

Beaubier ended the Superbike championship 11th with 105 points, while Smith was 12th on 97. Beaubier was still riding with a shoulder that was not fully recovered, and said that sitting out the last race left more to gain than to lose in conditions he considered especially rough. He also pointed to the progress made by the Ducati over the final two rounds and said the development work had made him excited for 2027. His weekend therefore combined a second-place finish in extreme conditions with a cautious decision to protect both rider and motorcycle.

For Smith, the season included pole position and a podium during his first year on a Superbike, milestones he described as important steps in his career. His third place at New Jersey Motorsports Park provided the clearest result of that progress, even though the engine issue prevented him from completing the second race and the team withdrew from the third. Across the two classes, Ducati’s weekend therefore produced both a historic Panigale V2 championship sweep in Supersport and two Superbike podiums in a finale dominated by rain.