Round 2 of the Brazilian Superbike championship at Interlagos proved a challenging weekend with weather and technical issues cutting short practice.
Anthony West
Despite an overheating engine Anthony West was able to finish the Superbike race in third place. That was good enough for the 37-year-old to retain his championship lead. His Kawasaki cried enough on the cool-down lap, leaving him to catch a ride on the back of another rider’s bike back to park ferme.
Anthony West
“The second round of the Brazilian SBK Championship is in the books and we have with the championship points lead. The race was declared wet but then it stopped raining. Only one rider gambled on slicks. I struggled with grip and an overheating engine, nursing the bike home in third to retain the points lead. Engine locked up on cool down lap, sorry to my team – you guys have a motor to rebuild! It’s a shame, that one was fast.”
Brazilian Superbike Round 2 – Interlagos
Brazil Superbike Round Two Report
The Kawasaki Racing Team-Brasil (KRT-Brasil) squad had prepared a full testing schedule to be completed when they arrived at the Interlagos circuit just outside Sao Paolo, unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans, with the weekend proving a trying one for Ant West and the team alike.
Brazilian Superbike Round 2 – Interlagos
The previous weekend had seen the circuit hosting Lollapalooza Brazil and the ensuing rain delayed the break down of the stages and preparation of the track for the second round of the Brazilian Superbike Championship. The entire Thursday test schedule was scuttled by the organisers as a result.
Friday arrived and the team was all set to try and condense their planned eight practice sessions into three. The team was looking for a new solution for the unique layout of the Interlagos track in search of grip, but an electrical gremlin in the form of a malfunctioning quickshifter ensured another entire session was lost. Eight testing sessions were now reduced to two.
Brazilian Superbike Round 2 – Interlagos
Saturday’s free practice saw Ant West reduce his personal best lap time around the circuit to 1:36.7, leaving him ready to fight for pole position in the ten-minute Superpole session. Just as Ant was up to speed and ready to start his time attack, Alex Barros crashed and the session was red flagged, with the session not restarted and West relegated to fourth on the grid.
Sunday morning greeted riders with a steady rain that drenched the track, while the schedule only allowed for a single ten-minute warm up session, which was all the team had to test a wet setting that they developed without any on track testing over the weekend.
Superbike Race Start – Interlagos
West managed to finish the warm up session in P1, two seconds clear of second place as the weather continued to wreak havoc on the team’s plans, before the rain stopped and the track quickly started drying, leaving teams to decide what tyres to race on.
When it came time for West to head to the grid, the team discussed switching to slicks from wets, however in the final moments before the race, the sky dropped a little more water and the team decided the safe decision was to stay on wets. Only one rider gambled on dry tyres.
Small problems plagued Ant during the race, most noticeably, a severely overheating engine and a lack of rear grip as the rear wet disintegrated on the abrasive Interlagos tarmac.
Superbike Race Start – Interlagos
Ant was able to defend his podium position and championship points lead when he crossed the line in third position. After receiving the checkered flag, the engine came to an abrupt halt when it locked up due to severe overheating.
Anthony West
“Well… That weekend did not go to plan. It seemed like we were fighting issues from before the official weekend even started. Thursday testing was cancelled, we missed an entire session with a quickshifter failure, the rain came Sunday morning and the track was drying for the race. The good news is the team never stopped working towards finding solutions and we just kept trying. During the race, I realised my engine was overheating and I tried to salvage as many points as I could. I was able to hold on to third place and the championship points lead. After I finished the race, the motor made a horrible noise and just stopped. I parked my bike and had to jump on the back of a competitors bike for a ride to parc ferme.”
Anthony WestBrazilian Superbike Round 2 – Interlagos
You couldn’t have written a better script for Suzuki in the combined MotoGP/MotoAmerica weekend at the Circuit of the Americas. At the biggest motorcycle racing event in America, the Yoshimura Suzuki Factory Racing team came away both MotoAmerica Superbike race wins and Superpole.
Toni Elias and Josh Herrin duke it out at COTA MotoAmerica
Icing on the cake came in the form of Team SUZUKI ECSTAR also winning the MotoGP race, with Alex Rins and his GSX-RR giving Suzuki a clean sweep of all races it participated in this weekend.
Toni Elias got the Texas party started by winning MotoAmerica Superpole aboard his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000. He then followed up with a thrilling victory in Superbike Race One on Saturday, with a last-lap, last-turn pass on rival Cameron Beaubier, bringing the crowd to their feet.
Elias and Herrin shared the COTA wins
Then in Sunday’s Superbike Race Two, it was Yoshimura Suzuki finishing 1-2, with newest team member Josh Herrin breaking through to score his first win of the season. Elias was second.
MotoAmerica COTA Race 1
Elias won a scintillating battle with Cameron Beaubier to win his sixth out of seven starts in Texas. After 15 laps of the 3.426-mile Circuit of The Americas, Elias beat Beaubier by just .089 of a second after a battle that went to the final two corners. And Beaubier’s teammate, Garrett Gerloff, was just .248 of a second behind in third place – despite starting the race from the back of the grid.
Toni Elias – Image by Brian J. Nelson
Josh Herrin, who led at times early in the race, ended up fourth, 1.9 seconds behind his teammate Elias. JD Beach rode to fifth, some four seconds clear of fellow Kentuckian Jake Lewis.
Mathew Scholtz ran off the track once, crashed and remounted to finish seventh, barely besting David Anthony and Cameron Petersen with the trio separated by just .454 of a second. Kyle Wyman rounded out the top 10 finishers.
Toni Elias claims the win from Beaubier & Gerloff
EBC Brakes Superbike Race 1
Toni Elias (Suzuki)
Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha) +0.089
Garrett Gerloff (Yamaha) +0.248
Josh Herrin (Suzuki) +1.913
JD Beach (Yamaha) +15.560
Jake Lewis (Suzuki) +19.165
Mathew Scholtz (Yamaha) +35.247
David Anthony (Kawasaki) +35.344
Cameron Petersen (Yamaha) +35.798
Kyle Wyman (Ducati) +48.056
MotoAmerica COTA Race 2
Yoshimura Suzuki won its second straight race at Circuit of The Americas on Sunday, but it wasn’t the one ridden by yesterday’s winner Toni Elias. This time it was Josh Herrin on the top step of the podium after winning the seventh AMA Superbike race of his career in the MotoAmerica Championship of Texas.
Josh Herrin – Image by Brian J. Nelson
Herrin battled for 13 of the 15 laps with his teammate Elias, with Cameron Beaubier always within striking distance. In the final two laps, Herrin was able to put his head down and he crossed the line .958 of a second ahead of Elias with Beaubier 1.6 seconds behind in third.
Fourth place went to Beaubier’s teammate Garrett Gerloff, the Texan coming on strong at the end of the race to finish 3.2 seconds behind Herrin. Gerloff, in turn, was well clear of fifth-placed Jake Lewis.
Cameron Petersen finished sixth, some three seconds ahead of Kyle Wyman. David Anthony, Travis Wyman and Max Flinders rounded out the top 10 finishers.
Toni Elias now leads the standings
Elias now has a 13-point lead over Beaubier, 90-77, with Herrin moving past Scholtz and into third with 49 points to Scholtz’s 45. Beach and Lewis are tied for fifth with 40 points each.
Josh Herrin
“Just mentally, I feel like I was a lot more prepared today. We spent a lot of time at the track last night. We ran a different tire today, but it’s two totally different weather conditions today, so I don’t think that really had much to do with it for us. Just made the right choice, I guess. It’s just been, like Toni said, every day I think I get more comfortable on the bike. Each time I can race it and actually put in those hard laps I learn a lot. We have a lot of data to look at and I can learn what I’m doing wrong, what I’m improving on. Like I said on the podium, it’s been such a crazy off-season. I had super highs coming into it and then, once the season started, I was bumming pretty hard because I just wasn’t riding like myself. I think I was just getting so excited at the beginning of the races that I was kind of blowing it for myself, riding like a rookie a little bit. I just had to kind of reset my brain and just relax a little bit. It feels so good to be able to get a win for Suzuki. Two wins this weekend. They won a MotoGP race, so it’s a big day for them. Thank you to everybody at Suzuki and Yoshimura for believing in me.”
Herrin, Rins and Elias celebrate
Toni Elias
“I just was trying to do my race, my pace. There is still something I am missing, because it’s me. Riders we have to choose the tires, the things. Mistake a little bit before the race. I choose the same tire as yesterday, when yesterday I wasn’t happy. I choose it again because I was thinking today with more temperature was better but is the same tire. Last year in Barber I had some bad feeling, too. So, I think today it’s been a good advice to cancel the tire for the future. I’m not going to use it anymore, for sure. But anyway, I was there. I was doing my pace. The team is working so good. We don’t change anything on the bike, just the track condition was much better than yesterday. But I didn’t expect at the end to have this little issue with the shifter. After that, I lost everything, and I couldn’t fight. It’s okay. These things happen in race. A little bit pissed off because I could fight a little bit more. Maybe we could have a big battle with Josh. But anyway, I’m happy for him. 1-2 for Suzuki is so, so good. He deserves this more than anyone. So, very happy for him, for the team, too. After all, I’m happy to take this second place. Let’s continue like this. This is going to be long. Let’s see.”
Toni Elias
Cameron Beaubier
“I gave 110 percent that race just to hang onto those guys. They were riding so good. The pace was a second and a half faster than it was yesterday. I don’t know where the hell they found that. I was just hanging on for dear life. All in all, I’m really happy that I was even able to keep pace with the Yosh boys this weekend. This is always a pretty tough track for us. It just gives me confidence going into the rest of the year. Hats off to both these guys. I’m excited for a really tough year and battling it up with these guys.”
Josh Herrin takes a well earnt win in Race 2
EBC Brakes Superbike Race 2
Josh Herrin (Suzuki)
Toni Elias (Suzuki)
Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha)
Garrett Gerloff (Yamaha)
Jake Lewis (Suzuki)
Cameron Petersen (Yamaha)
Kyle Wyman (Ducati)
David Anthony (Kawasaki)
Travis Wyman (BMW)
Max Flinders (Yamaha)
EBC Superbike Championship Standings
Toni Elias 90
Cameron Beaubier 77
Josh Herrin 49
Mathew Scholtz 45
JD Beach 40
Jake Lewis 40
Garrett Gerloff 36
David Anthony 36
Cameron Petersen 30
Kyle Wyman 25
Riders head back east to Virginia International Raceway for round three of the MotoAmerica Superbike Championship in Alton, Virginia, on May 4-5th.
Landers dominates Junior Cup – Barnes does the Twins Cup double
Andrew Lee tops Superstock 1000 opener
Images by Paul Carruthers/MotoAmerica
EBC Brakes Superbike – Saturday
Toni Elias didn’t know what it was like to lose the series opener and Cameron Beaubier didn’t know what it was like to win one. Now they both know. Beaubier beat Elias by 2.732 seconds today at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, the Californian ending Elias’ perfect streak of winning every season opener since the Spaniard came to the MotoAmerica Series in 2016.
Cameron Beaubier – 2019 MotoAmerica Round 1 – Atlanta
Beaubier was happy to start the season so well, given that it’s not the norm. The first EBC Brakes Superbike race was everything we thought it would be with six riders fighting at the front until two of the front runners crashed out.
Pole sitter Garrett Gerloff crashed on the third lap while battling for the lead and Josh Herrin followed suit on the 11th lap while also battling at the front.
That left four to battle with JD Beach and Mathew Scholtz in the fight at the front with Beaubier and Elias. The battle for victory would come down to Beaubier vs. Elias with Elias running off track in the final corner with four laps to go, handing the win to his rival. The miscue dropped Elias to fourth, but he battled back to finish second, passing Beach right at the finish line.
Toni Elias – 2019 MotoAmerica Round 1 – Atlanta
Elias thought the Yoshimura Suzuki teammates would have been better off not racing each other and slowing each other down. Beach may have been beaten at the line by Elias, but it was still his first-ever Superbike podium in his MotoAmerica Superbike debut.
Scholtz ended up fourth, some four seconds behind Beach with David Anthony fifth on his Kawasaki ZX-10R. Kyle Wyman, Jake Lewis, Jake Gagne, Cameron Petersen and Geoff May rounded out the top 10.
EBC Brakes Superbike – Saturday
Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha)
Toni Elias (Suzuki) +2.732
JD Beach (Yamaha) +2.733
Mathew Scholtz (Yamaha) +6.906
David Anthony (Kawasaki) +31.018
EBC Brakes Superbike – Sunday
Toni Elias won his first race of the 2019 Series on Sunday, the Spaniard besting Mathew Scholtz by 1.839 seconds under sunny skies in the Suzuki Championship at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.
Toni Elias – 2019 MotoAmerica Round 1 – Atlanta
The win, combined with his second place from Saturday, gives Elias the early lead in the EBC Brakes Superbike Championship with 45 points – four more than Saturday’s race winner Cameron Beaubier, who was third today.
As was the case yesterday, the Superbike race began with six riders running together at the front with those three – Elias, Scholtz and Beaubier – joined by Beaubier’s teammate Garrett Gerloff, JD Beach and Josh Herrin.
Cameron Beaubier – 2019 MotoAmerica Round 1 – Atlanta
Gerloff was the first to have issues, the Texan slowed by a front fender flapping in the wind. Despite repeated attempts at kicking the bodywork off his bike, Gerloff eventually had to pull over to remove the fender. He would continue onward and eventually finish ninth.
Herrin, meanwhile, lacked the pace to stay with the top four with the race coming down to just three in the final laps as the trio pulled slightly clear of Beach. Then both Beaubier and Scholtz were bauked badly by a back marker with two laps to go, costing them any shot at Elias and also allowing Beach to move to the tail of the battling duo. Scholtz ended up getting the edge on Beaubier to take second with Beach finishing just .3 of a second off the back of the defending MotoAmerica Superbike Champion.
Apparently, the birth of his son just a few weeks ago hasn’t slowed Elias who leaves the opening round with the points lead for the fourth straight season.
Toni Elias
“This winter the team worked so good. But, honestly, I was thinking to be more comfortable in these first rounds. Last year to be more competitive we took a good direction. I was thinking this would change a little bit… but then we arrive here and seems different… all the time the bike is moving a lot around. We were going to do some changes for this morning, but we couldn’t try anything. For everybody it was the same. Same tire. Harder than yesterday. I was not thinking yesterday to do that slow pace. I think it’s the race. A little bit frustrated. I couldn’t do what I wanted. In the mid part of the race I start to lose a lot of grip, maybe less than JD and Mathew. But Cameron was so strong. I missed something there. Anyway, for today I was going to use the same tire as Dunlop wanted, and it was really good. The tire has been super consistent all the race, but we still have to improve in some areas. Anyway, yesterday 20 points. Could be zero. Now 25 (points), so perfect Sunday.”
Toni Elias – 2019 MotoAmerica Round 1 – Atlanta
Scholtz was much happier on Sunday, the South African putting his Yamaha second after fighting with Elias for most of the race. Based on his past results in the season opener, Beaubier was also pleased with how things went over the course of the weekend and he leaves with a solid point score of 41 after a win and third-place finish.
Herrin ended up fifth in his second race on the Yoshimura Suzuki, the Georgian having crashed out of Saturday’s race. Jake Lewis was sixth, well behind Herrin and ahead of David Anthony, the team owner rider having a solid weekend with sixth- and seventh-place finishes.
Geoff May finished eighth with Gerloff and Cameron Petersen rounding out the top 10. Kyle Wyman and Jake Gagne both failed to finish. Wyman crashed the KWR Ducati and Gagne had mechanical issues with the Scheibe Racing BMW.
EBC Brakes Superbike – Sunday
Toni Elias (Suzuki)
Mathew Scholtz (Yamaha) +1.839
Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha) +2.096
JD Beach (Yamaha) +2.393
Josh Herrin (Yamaha) +17.180
EBC Brakes Superbike
TBA…
Supersport – Saturday
Saturday’s Supersport riders put on quite a show for the fans at Road Atlanta in race one, with polesitter Bobby Fong, who competes for the M4 ECSTAR Suzuki team, having a battle royale with last year’s class championship runner-up Hayden Gillim.
Hayden Gillim – 2019 MotoAmerica Round 1 – Atlanta
At the start, Fong got the holeshot and Gillim streaked forward from the second row and into second place right on Fong’s tail. The two riders passed and re-passed each other, touched fairings on several occasions, and even used a little bit of “body English” on each other to try to gain an advantage.
As the race wound down, Fong had a couple of missed shifts, which enabled Gillim to pull a little bit of a gap. At the checkers, Gillim won by a little more than four-and-a-half seconds over Fong. Sixteen-year-old Sean Dylan Kelly, Fong’s M4 ECSTAR Suzuki teammate, finished third in his MotoAmerica debut.
For Gillim and Fong, apparently all’s fair in love and motorcycle road racing because the two were all smiles after the race.
Supersport – Saturday
Hayden Gillim (Yamaha)
Bobby Fong (Suzuki) +4.624
Sean Dylan Kelly (Suzuki) +12.194
Richie Escalante (Yamaha) +12.780
Bryce Prince (Yamaha) +13.116
Supersport – Sunday
In Supersport, Saturday’s second-place finisher Bobby Fong came back strong on Sunday and notched the race win aboard his M4 ECSTAR Suzuki.
Hayden Gillim – 2019 MotoAmerica Round 1 – Atlanta
Second-place finisher PJ Jacobsen kept Fong honest throughout the majority of the 18-lap race to record his first MotoAmerica podium result in his second race aboard his Celtic HSBK Racing Yamaha.
Yamaha rider Richie Escalante finished third and dedicated the race to his grandfather after getting the sad news earlier in the day that he had passed away.
Bobby Fong
“I’m definitely excited. It’s good to be on top of the box for sure. After yesterday’s misfortune, it’s good to be back up here. PJ rode a great race. I was just trying to do consistent laps out there. I knew I could stay in the 28s for the whole race, and that’s the goal. Late last night, I couldn’t even sleep because all I was thinking about was strategizing how am I going to out-brake Hayden Gillim? Unfortunately, he wasn’t there. I saw PJ and I didn’t expect to see PJ there for sure. I knew he was going to be in the group, but I didn’t know that when I hit the false neutral during the race, and I actually hit another false neutral in the last turn, that he was going to be right there. I thought for sure Hayden was just going to slam me right off the track. But it was good battling with PJ. Our bike definitely jumped off the corners compared with theirs. We definitely used our advantages today.”
Hayden Gillim – 2019 MotoAmerica Round 1 – Atlanta
Supersport – Sunday
Bobby Fong (Suzuki)
PJ Jacobsen (Yamaha) +2.373
Richie Escalante (Yamaha) +15.658
Jason Aguilar (Yamaha) +16.598
Bryce Prince (Yamaha) +19.686
Supersport Standings
Bobby Fong 45
Hayden Gillim 31
P.J. Jacobsen 30
Richie Escalante 29
Sean Dylan Kelly 26
Jason Aguilar 22
Bryce Prince 22
Xavier Zayat 17
Nick McFadden 11
Lucas Silva 11
Liqui Moly Junior Cup – Saturday
In Liqui Moly Junior Cup, MotoAmerica’s class with the youngest riders, 14-year-old Rocco Landers took the field to school with a start-to-finish victory in his very first MotoAmerica race.
Rocco Landers – 2019 MotoAmerica Round 1 – Atlanta
The polesitter, who competes aboard a Landers Racing Kawasaki, got a great jump off the line and pressed his advantage all the way to the checkers to win by more than 16 seconds over Dallas Daniels. South African Sam Lochoff, who was also making his MotoAmerica debut, finished third aboard his Westby Racing Yamaha.
Liqui Moly Junior Cup – Saturday
Rocco Landers (Kawasaki)
Dallas Daniels (Kawasaki) +16.226
Samuel Lochoff (Yamaha) +17.852
Teagg Hobbs (Kawasaki) +18.144
Dominic Doyle (Kawasaki) +18.245
Liqui Moly Junior Cup – Sunday
Rocco Landers did the double and took the round win on Sunday. Almost a carbon copy of Saturday, he got a great jump off the line from the pole position, led the 11-lap race from start to finish, and pulled a gap of nearly five seconds.
Rocco Landers – 2019 MotoAmerica Round 1 – Atlanta
Dallas Daniels, the second-place finisher from Saturday’s race, once again finished second on Sunday. Altus Motorsports rider Kevin Olmedo finished third to complete the podium.
Rocco Landers
“It felt faster, honestly. I could see the times and stuff, but (we) were flying. I could see on the first lap he got by me and I was like, this is going to be a battle. I enjoyed it a lot.”
Rocco Landers – 2019 MotoAmerica Round 1 – Atlanta
Liqui Moly Junior Cup – Sunday
Rocco Landers (Kawasaki)
Dallas Daniels (Kawasaki) +4.924
Dominic Doyle (Kawasaki) +21.548
Gauge Rees (Kawasaki) +30.647
Damian Jigalov (Kawasaki) +30.753
Rocco Landers – 2019 MotoAmerica Round 1 – Atlanta
Liqui Moly Junior Cup Standings
Rocco Landers 50
Dallas Daniels 40
Dominic Doyle 27
Gauge Rees 21
Damian Jigalov 20
Samuel Lochoff 16
Jackson Blackmon 15
Toby Khamsouk 15
Teagg Hobbs 13
Kevin Olmedo 10
Twins Cup – Saturday
The MotoAmerica Twins Cup class has had a major influx of entrants this season, and there is a large disparity in the age of the competitors: from 16 all the way to 50. In Saturday’s race one, those riders at the upper end of the age range showed their prowess, and the oldest of the group won the race.
Michael Barnes – 2019 MotoAmerica Round 1 – Atlanta
Fifty-year-old Michael Barnes, whose motorcycle road racing career has spanned three decades, won the race aboard his Quarterley Racing Ducati. He bested Curtis Murray, who finished second, and 42-year-old defending class champion Chris Parrish.
Twins Cup – Saturday
Michael Barnes (Ducati)
Curtis Murray (Suzuki) +4.641
Chris Parrish (Suzuki) +4.709
Jeffrey Tigert (Suzuki) +9.458
Alex Dumas (Suzuki) +18.292
Twins Cup – Sunday
The same podium finishers in Saturday’s Twins Cup race were again on the podium in Sunday’s race, and Quarterley Racing Ducati rider Michael Barnes was the race winner for the second day in a row.
Michael Barnes – 2019 MotoAmerica Round 1 – Atlanta
Barnes once again showed that experience (age) is the secret to success as he had the measure of his competitors. Defending class champ Chris Parrish improved on his Saturday third-place result by finishing second on Sunday aboard his Ghetto Customs Suzuki, and RBoM Racing’s Curtis Murray rounded out the podium in third.
Michael Barnes
“I got a horrible start, popped a wheelie off the start and just got eaten up in turn one. It was just everybody was coming around me and I was just dodging everybody from every angle. The Ducati really does run off the corner, but I was looking at the mile an hour and those little Suzuki’s seemed to be okay mile-an-hour-wise. So I wouldn’t say I had that much of an advantage in horsepower when it just seems to come off the corner a little bit better. Maybe I’m picking up the throttle earlier, I don’t know. Regardless, the Moto Corse Performance Quarterly Racing Ducati is really good. Like I said on the podium, I think you might see more Ducati’s on the grid after this first round. I just couldn’t be more pleased with coming back and doing a double.”
Michael Barnes – 2019 MotoAmerica Round 1 – Atlanta
Twins Cup – Sunday
Michael Barnes (Ducati)
Chris Parrish (Suzuki) +2.860
Curtis Murray (Suzuki) +7.557
Draik Beauchamp (Yamaha) +21.663
Alex Dumas (Suzuki) +22.251
Twins Cup Standings
Michael Barnes 50
Chris Parrish 36
Curtis Murray 36
Draik Beauchamp 23
Alex Dumas 21
Jeffrey Tigert 21
Jason Madama 20
Joseph Blasius 15
Chris Bays 14
Hofman 10
Stock 1000 – Sunday
Last year’s Stock 1000 champion Andrew Lee got his 2019 season off to a flying start with a win in Sunday’s race. The Northern Californian is defending his title, stalking second-place finisher Michael Gilbert, who led the majority of the race until Lee made his decisive move and took the checkers. Stefano Mesa came in third, making it a Kawasaki podium sweep.
Andrew Lee
“I knew coming into this year with the number-one plate that I was going to have a big target on my back, especially with these two guys next to me. They’re both riding phenomenally.”
Ant West goes wild in Brazil with Superbike opener win
Still engaged in the fight for his race licence with the FIM, Anthony West has grabbed an opportunity to race in Brazil with the Kawasaki Racing Team Brasil, and hopes to complete the entire 10-round season. Brazil is outside FIM jurisdiction.
Anthony West – Brazilian Superbike Championship 2019
West has been nicknamed ‘The Gringo’ by the local racers after a rider briefing, a name he’s adopted with pride and now has plastered across the back of his leathers.
Anthony West
“I’m excited to get back on a superbike. After everything the FIM has done to try and stop my career, I jumped at the chance to ride the ZX-10R in the Brazilian Superbike championship. I was here and able to meet the team and ride the bike at the Interlagos circuit for the pre-season test. After riding the bike, I was more determined then ever to race again in 2019. Thanks to everyone at JC Racing and Kawasaki Brasil for making this happen. Thanks to Arai helmets and Fusports boots for sticking with me everywhere I go. And thanks to all fans who support me every step of the way. I figured after seeing how fast Alex Barros is at 48 and Troy Bayliss at 49 and still carving up younger riders that gives me hope I still have more then 10 years left in the sport. You’re not getting rid of me that easy.”
Anthony West’s Kawasaki Brasil ZX-10R – Brazilian Superbike Championship 2019
West kicks off Brazilian Championship tilt at Interlagos Circuit
Westy and team arrived at the Interlagos Circuit outside Sao Paolo, on Thursday morning with a full schedule of testing prepared ahead of competing in the opening round of the Brazilian Superbike Championship.
Unfortunately the weather wreaked havoc on these plans, with light rain all day and a damp the trac, but not wet enough for rain tyres and no dry line for slick tyres, the entire test program was scrapped and would have to wait until FP1.
Friday saw the team struggling with various electronics issues that were upsetting the bike on corner entry. The team were able to come up with a number of electronic strategies and chassis settings that allowed Ant to extract all the performance out of the Pirelli control tyres, they were rewarded on Saturday with a front row starting position.
Anthony West – Brazilian Superbike Championship 2019
Sunday morning arrived with clear skies and warm temperatures. By the time the lights went out for the start of the race, the air and track temperatures were hotter than the team had experienced all weekend.
With the demanding track layout of the Interlagos circuit, and the highest temperatures the team had seen all weekend, tyre wear was on everyone’s mind. This left Ant having to ride the bike without traction control, while the team was never able to complete a race simulation on Friday or Saturday to check for tyre life.
Anthony West claims a narrow victory from Alex Barros – Brazilian Superbike Championship 2019
Ant was able to get a great start and led the field into turn one with ex Grand Prix star Alex Barros right behind him. Polesitter Eric Granado had a problem off the line and pulled into the pits with a mechanical failure. That left just Ant and Barros to battle it out at the front over the entire race distance, swapping the lead multiple times while leaving the rest of the field in their wake.
When the checkered flag flew, Ant crossed the stripe first with Barros a whisker behind him.
Anthony West – P1
“That was fun. From not being sure if I was going to be able to race this year, to standing on the top of the podium in my first race in the Brazilian Superbike championship, I couldn’t be happier. We lost a whole day of testing to the weather, we struggled with electronic issues, setup issues, and I injured my foot on the farm back in Australia. We just kept working and steadily made the bike better. It feels great to win a race and I can’t wait for the next round of the championship.”
Anthony West- Brazilian Superbike Championship 2019
The next round of the championship is back at Interlagos on April 14th.
Anthony West and the FIM Drug tests saga
The following statement from the FIM was released in November 2018, with no further updates since. The FIM originally notified Anthony West September 13, 2018, even though the FIM Anti-Doping Department were first notified of an “adverse analytical finding” from the testing facility in Germany on July 30, 2018. The FIM Medical Director notified the FIM Legal Department Director on August 24, 2018. The FIM Legal Department waited over two weeks to notify Anthony West, despite being required to give riders prompt notification of these findings.
“[Anthony] West remains banned from competing in any FIM motorcycling competition or activity until further notice. His ban is pending a final decision on the merits of the case.”
West’s latest statement on his continued battle for his race licence is as follows:
Anthony West
“FIM never responds to emails and does not want to talk on the phone. I’m still fighting. I do not know how long it will take.”
MotoAmerica President Wayne Rainey is confident that the 2019 MotoAmerica Series will be the best yet – both on and off the track. Here he previews the season ahead for what is the American Superbike Championship, these days referred to as MotoAmerica.
For starters, we are very close to announcing a new television package for the 2019 season and we’re taking the production of the TV and digital package in house. It will be a lot of work, but it will give us complete control of what we’re doing and how our content looks, and it will be more accessible than it’s ever been. Since the very first announcement of MotoAmerica taking over the AMA Superbike Series in 2014, this is the biggest thing we’ve ever announced. It’s the next step and we can’t wait to tell you about it.
We are keeping our class structure the same for the coming season with Superbike, Supersport, Liqui Moly Junior Cup, Stock 1000 and Twins Cup back again. We’ve made a few small tweaks to some of the rules and those changes should make the classes even more competitive.
Josh Herrin & Cameron Beaubier lead the Superbikes at NJMP in 2018
It’s also been good to see some of the rider announcements that have come out lately. Of course, the biggest one was the second Yoshimura Suzuki seat that went to Josh Herrin. Throw in the fact that we get to see two-time MotoAmerica Supersport Champion JD Beach in the Superbike class and you can see why our fans are chomping at the bit for us to get started. We are as well.
Look at the Superbike grid and you’ll find defending champion Cameron Beaubier, his Monster Yamaha teammate Garrett Gerloff; the two Yoshimura Suzukis with Toni Elias and Herrin, the Westby Yamaha with Mathew Scholtz, the Estenson Racing/Attack Performance Yamaha ridden by Beach, the M4 ECSTAR Suzuki of Jake Lewis… and the list goes on. We also know more rider/team announcements are coming soon and it will be the strongest Superbike grid MotoAmerica has had in its five-year existence.
MotoAmerica Supersport at Barber in 2018
Supersport will again be hard fought. Just when Hayden Gillim might have thought things would get easier with his friend Beach moving to Superbike, along comes word that PJ Jacobsen will be doing the series on a Celtic Racing/HSBK Yamaha. As is always the case with racing, there’s always someone who is going to step up and compete and those two likely won’t have it all their way. Also, it’s good to see some of the kids moving to Supersport with Cory Ventura making the jump from Liqui Moly Junior Cup to Supersport, and Sean Kelly set to make his MotoAmerica Supersport debut for the M4 ECSTAR Suzuki team.
We have already seen our entries to continue to grow in the two classes we introduced last year – Stock 1000 and Twins Cup – after seeing the success of those by the end of last year. In fact, we are already seeing a substantial increase in entries across all classes. Liqui Moly Junior Cup will be a slugfest as always and we’ll start the season with the parity that we saw by the end of last season with all the manufacturers having a chance to win.
MotoAmerica 2018 Round Ten – Barber – JD Beach
While the racing portion of our weekend remains number one, we are continuing our efforts to make the MotoAmerica weekends about much more than just racing. And that means more entertainment for our fans, more things for them to do when they’re not watching what’s happening on track. Last year at Sonoma Raceway we worked hard to make that event family friendly and we included a carnival that proved to be extremely popular. So much so that we’ve decided to go with that at the majority of our races this season.
JD Beach – MotoAmerica 2018 Round 9 New Jersey
To go with the extra family friendly activities, we’re also offering Free Fridays this year at most tracks. We will also offer a kids 16 and under for free with a paid adult ticket pricing at most of our venues. We’d love to have more families at our races so we’re going to make it as affordable as possible for families to attend.
It’s funny how at times the offseason seems to go quickly and at other times it tends to drag. We’ve been busy so time has gone quickly, but I still wish the racing started next week. I watch the countdown clock on our website and I eagerly await the start of the season at Road Atlanta the first weekend of April. I hope to see you all there.
Supersport in wet conditions – MotoAmerica 2018 Round 9 New Jersey
