2019 MotoAmerica
Round 8 – Championship of Pittsburgh
Images by Brian J. Nelson
The weekend saw a great round of racing at the Championship of Pittsburgh, comprising Round 8 of the 2019 MotoAmerica championship, with Garrett Gerloff taking the EBC Brakes Race 1 win from Cameron Beaubier at Pittburgh, with Toni Elias completing the top three.
Race 2 on Sunday meanwhile saw Toni Elias claim the win after Gerloff suffered a mechanical failure from the lead. Beaubier took second, while Josh Herrin completed the podium. The result saw Elias leave with a 35-point lead over Beaubier, with Gerloff a further 21-points in arears.
In Supersport Sean Dylan Kelly took the Race 1 win after Bobby Fong high sided out of contentiion, with PJ Jacobsen and Hayden Gillim completing the podium. Race 2 on Sunday saw the return of Fong, but he was regulated to second as Sean Dylan Kelly took another win, with PJ Jacobsen claiming the final podium position.
In the Liqui Moly Junior Cup Kevin Olmedo and Rocco Landers shared the race wins, with Landers leading the standings from Dallas Daniels and Olmedo.
Aex Dumas dominated the Twins Cup races, taking both wins from Draik Beauchamp, with the dup separated by nine-points, with Dumas leading. Andrew Lee took the Stock 1000 win, further extending his dominant lead in the class.
EBC Brakes Superbikes Race 1
Garrett Gerloff is most definitely on a roll, the Texan riding his Yamaha Factory Racing YZF-R1 to his third victory in the last five races with the latest one coming on Saturday in the Championship of Pittsburgh at Pittsburgh International Race Complex.
Gerloff came out on top of a race-long battle in the first of two EBC Brakes Superbike races with his teammate Cameron Beaubier, the three-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion ending up just .326 of a second behind Gerloff at the end of the 18-lap race. Championship points leader Toni Elias finished third on the Yoshimura Suzuki, the Spaniard ending up three seconds behind the two Yamahas.
Gerloff had already proven to be the fastest of the fast this weekend as he led every session except for Superpole, which went to Beaubier with a new lap record of 1:39.472 around the 2.7-mile Pittsburgh International Race Complex. Gerloff led early, pulled a slight gap and then gave it all back when he ran off the track in turn one on the fourth lap. But he was able to rebound, passing Elias and then battling with Beaubier for the duration.
With the two Yamahas finishing ahead of Elias, the championship tightened up. Elias now leads Beaubier by 30 points, 282-252, with Gerloff just a single point behind Beaubier. Beaubier was upbeat despite the close loss to his teammate, knowing that he’d chipped away on the gap to Elias. Elias struggled to keep pace at a track he says favors the Yamahas.
Jake Gagne had his best finish of the season, the laid-back Californian ending up fourth and just .804 of a second ahead of Mathew Scholtz. Then came JD Beach, the Yamaha rider 7.4 seconds adrift of Scholtz and some 11 seconds ahead of Josh Herrin. Herrin had remounted from a crash with Jake Lewis in the first corner on the very first lap. Cameron Petersen finished eighth with Max Flinders and Sam Verderico rounding out the top 10.
EBC Brakes Superbikes Race 2
Toni Elias thought he had two chances of winning the second EBC Brakes Superbike race in the Championship of Pittsburgh – slim and none. But Elias is Elias and by the time the dust had settled around him, he was at the front of the field and en route to his seventh win of the 2019 MotoAmerica Series.
And, more importantly, a 35-point lead in the championship after two days of racing on a track that he considers one of the more difficult for him and his Suzuki GSX-R1000.
Elias ended up beating his rival Cameron Beaubier by just .340 of a second after 18 laps of the 2.7-mile Pittsburgh International Race Complex, handing Beaubier his second straight second place finish on the weekend.
If the margins of victory were difficult for Beaubier so too was the fact that he came to Pittsburgh 34 points behind Elias and he leaves Steel City 35 points behind.
For Gerloff the second race had a much worse outcome, the Texan suffering a mechanical failure while leading on the second lap. The non-finish puts a massive dent in Gerloff’s chances of earning a first EBC Brakes Superbike title as he now trails Elias by 56 points with two rounds and four races left on the calendar.
Third place today went to Elias’ Yoshimura Suzuki teammate Josh Herrin, the Georgian rebounding from his first-lap crash on Saturday and his seventh-place finish after remounting from his crash with Jake Lewis.
Elias didn’t hold back in admitting that he was very fortunate to come out of PittRace with a victory.
Toni Elias
“It’s been the worst race of the year, talking about rhythm, talking about being comfortable, talking about being relaxed and not breathing. It was so difficult. I didn’t find the rear grip and the right traction since lap one, and everybody passed me. Then everyone start to (make) mistake. So, I’ve been lucky. Today I’ve been super lucky. With the team we are doing all we can. We pass two difficult (tracks) for us – Sonoma and this one. But we win, so that’s great. I didn’t expect this. The changes I did, we did for today, I choose them but looks like with the cold temperature everything works well so I was super confident, but it didn’t work for me. It was a disaster. So, I’m not going to use that again. I will change totally for the next races. It’s too early (in the championship). We keep the same advantage, so let’s continue like this.”
Beaubier had given it his all in the final two laps after his mistake in the chicane that sent him off track while it looked like he had the race in hand.
Cameron Beaubier
“At the start of the race I got shuffled back a little bit, made a couple moves, and then I saw Garrett (Gerloff) ran wide. It was kind of a jumble there at the beginning. I knew today it was going to be tough going in. I saw myself in the lead. I saw Toni (Elias) ran a little wide in turn one. I just put my head down from there. I kept seeing plus 2 on my board, plus 3, and plus 0. Then I just kept digging, kept digging. I went into the little chicane and I think I just knifed the brakes pretty hard and the rear end, I don’t know if it slipped or what, but I was in just way too deep. I didn’t want to cut the track because I knew I would have had to give a position. But I made it worse. I jumped a curb, went through the grass, ended up going a second back or whatever I was. I was just so mad. It’s just been frustrating because my bike has been incredible here and Sonoma. I made that stupid mistake Saturday at Sonoma. Today I made that mistake. I just feel like I have a really good bike under me, but I’m just not clicking as a rider. That’s frustrating when you have before. Just one of those times. We’re just going to keep fighting. We’ve got two rounds left. I really enjoyed the last two tracks, New Jersey and Barber. Just going to keep digging. Congrats to these guys and see everyone in Jersey.”
Herrin was happy to bounce back from Saturday’s disappointment.
Josh Herrin
“Me and Toni found the food and water today, it was a good race. Yesterday was a bummer but for some reason I wasn’t mad. I’m sure the team was disappointed, but after the bad luck at Sonoma, whenever I went in and moved over and hit Jake (Lewis) at Sonoma. Whenever I came sliding through the grass on top of his bike I was kind of laughing. When we got up, he was sitting there kind of bummed out and I’m like, ‘Get up! Let’s go! I don’t want to do this race by myself.’ His bike was all bent out of shape. Of course, I want to be battling more at the front. The last few laps I just had nothing left on the right side of my tire. Just overcooked it a little bit, I think. But for being the soft (tire)… I think me and Lewis were the only ones on the soft tire. I raced it yesterday. The main reason that I got up and finished that race yesterday is because I knew I needed to see how the soft would work for today. It worked. Like I said, just couldn’t stick with them in the chicane.”
Fourth place on Sunday went to Jake Lewis, the Kentuckian making up for yesterday’s crash that took him and Herrin out on the first lap. Mathew Scholtz was fifth, matching his performance from Saturday, some 10 seconds adrift of Lewis and three ahead of JD Beach, another who matched his result from the day before.
Jake Gagne was seventh on Sunday after finishing a season-best fourth on Sunday. He was on Beach’s tail at the end of the 18 lapper. Eighth place went to Kyle Wyman, the New Yorker bouncing back from a crash in Saturday’s race. David Anthony and Cameron Petersen rounded out the top 10 finishers.
Source: MCNews.com.au