Jack Gagne places third in Red Bull race in Germany

Jake Gagne of Ramona followed up his Red Bull Rookies Cup podium performance in the Netherlands with another spot on the box at the race in Germany on Saturday.

Gagne toughed it out in wet conditions and outlasted his rivals on his way to another third-place finish in a heady performance.

“Qualifying and practice were held in the dry, so when it started raining on Sunday, I knew I had my work cut out for me,” said Gagne,15. “I hadn’t ridden in the wet since the Riders Cup race in Valencia last year. I had a pretty good start on the second row, but I was going to get the feel for things and keep from riding over my head. After the first few laps, I started to get a good feel for the bike and the conditions and I turned the same times as the leaders, even though I had lost some ground.”

Gagne’s first trip to Germany saw him ride a steady-but-quick race that paid off in the final laps. As the race wore on, it seemed like everyone was crashing, Jake said after the race.

“I just made sure I stayed up,” he said. “It brought me another podium. That’s two in a row! We’ll keep the ball rolling and keep finishing races and getting good results.

“England is next weekend and it feels good having some momentum going into that race.”

Gagne is the top ranked American in the series and is seventh in the points standings.

He and the Red Bull Rookies Cup will race next weekend at Donington in the United Kingdom.A flag-to-flag win for Czech 16-year-old Jakub Kornfeil in treacherous conditions at the Sachsenring boosted him to second place in the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup. Points leader Sturla Fagerhaug crashed chasing him on the wet and slippery track, but the 17-year-old Norwegian still has a 25 point advantage after recovering to cross the line 12th and pick up 4 points.

“It was pretty slippery out there,” said Gagne. “I just kept riding it as hard as I could and staying out of trouble. Then I started seeing the guys crashing and without me doing too much I was getting higher up the places. I didn’t expect to get on the podium, but I’ll take it.”