MotoAmerica: Bryce Prince Takes the Superstock 600 Championship Title

On Sunday, Bryce Prince accepted the honor of being MotoAmerica’s first champion of 2016 when he locked down the Superstock 600 title after a successful weekend at Utah Motorsports Campus. Prince did it in style as he passed his rival, Richie Escalante, on the final lap of Race 2 to take victory. The win also extended his points lead to 114 points, enough to wrap up the championship with three races remaining.

Prince, admittedly, was riding in Utah with the same mindset as he has all year. One race at a time and not worried about the championship. It showed. By Friday, he was the top Superstock 600 qualifier before he finished second in Race 1 and took victory, even when he didn’t have to, in Race 2 on Saturday.

“We were just taking it race by race, but we knew we had a very good opportunity to win the championship in Utah” explains Prince. “Honestly, we wanted to have a performance like we did at Barber [Superstock 600 top qualifier and two race wins] and we were close, but Richie was riding really well and was just too consistent in Race 1.”

Prince has been a part of 11 of the 12 Superstock 600 podium presentations in 2016, seven of those times he’s been on the top step. While speed is no problem for the Tuned Racing rider, he attributes his championship title to the consistency he’s been able to maintain even when things weren’t quite perfect.

“The biggest thing for us is our consistency. We’ve finished on the box every race except one race which was in the wet. I knew there were a couple races I just couldn’t win because of mistakes with bike setup or tire choice. I just tried to be as smart as I could and take as many points for us as possible.”

It’s not hard to see that Prince continuously uses the word “us” when talking about his year and results. Like most riders do, he’s referring and giving thanks to the crew and team that run his program.

“My crew chief Rocky and my mechanics, Weslie and Randy, had a lot to do with it. They were there every weekend to push me” says Prince. “They have a lot more experience than who I had been working with in the past. It really has elevated my game to have such a good crew. It really made it a lot easier on me because they would make very good choices with the suspension and other things on the bike.”

So now that the title is secured, what’s next for “The Prince”? Well he’s looking to move up a class in the MotoAmerica series.

“We were pushing to racing Supersport at Laguna [Seca] but it just wasn’t in the cards. I didn’t want to do it unless I was on a 100 percent competitive motorcycle and that just didn’t work out,” says Prince about the upcoming MotoAmerica/WSBK weekend at Laguna Seca. “Next year, we were originally planning on racing the Superstock 1000 class next year, but depending on what they do with the rules that may change. If they join the 600 classes then I would be eligible to race it again next year so it just depends on where the cards lay.”

The 2016 season has helped the Californian make a name for himself as he took the MotoAmerica Suerstock 600 title with near dominance. No matter where “The Prince” heads next, there should be no doubt that he will taste success.