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Beaubier dominates MotoAmerica final at Laguna Seca

2020 MotoAmerica

Round 9 – Laguna Seca

Images by Brian J. Nelson


Cameron Beaubier closed out the 2020 season at the MotoAmerica Speedfest at Monterey, winning all three HONOS Superbike races to conclude the season ahead of his move to Moto2. That left him on 436-points, with runner up Jake Gage on 301, and third placed Bobby Fong on 253.

Cameron Beaubier

Beaubier won Race 1 from Toni Elias and Lorenzo Zanetti, with Race 2 seeing Zanetti in second and Elias third, before returning to the original finishing order in Race 3, of Beaubier, Elias and Zannetti.

Sean Dylan Kelly took the Supersport wins, after Richie Escalante crashed in Race 1, with Brandon Paasch and Cory Ventura completing the podium as a result. Escalante was back for Race 2 as runner up, with JD Beach in third.

The result saw Dylan Kelly finish the season on 341 points, 40 behind Escalante, with Paasch third overall on 260-points.

Sean Dylan Kelly was dominant in the Supersport races

Cameron Petersen had already clinched the Stock 1000 championship, but he added another win to his tally in the single race run, with Corey Alexander and Danilo Lewis claiming the final podium positions. Petersen won the championship on 260-points, to Alexander on 204, and Travis Wyman on 148.

Rocco Landers won the Twins race, in a fitting end to a dominant season, although Dominic Doyle gave him a run for his money, just 0.112s off at the line, with Kaleb De Keyrel not far off either 0.376 behind the leader.

Rocco Landers

Landers won the championship with a final tally of 277-points, De Keyrel was runner up on 210, while Hayden Schultz was third on 154.

Landers also won both Junior Cup races on his Kawasaki, from Dominic Doyle and Samuel Lochoff in Race 1, with the same top three in Race 2.

The final Junior Cup standings saw Landers on 435-points, Doyle on 297, and Lochoff on 287.


HONOS Superbike Race 1

Cameron Beaubier demolished the competition on Saturday, leading from pole position over the hill and into turn two with the lead and he never looked back.

Cameron Beaubier

The Monster Energy Attack Performance Yamaha rider slowed in the final corner, did a stand-up wheelie over the finish line and still won by 10.734 seconds for his 14th win of the season – just a day after announcing that he will be leaving the MotoAmerica Series to pursue the Moto2 World Championship.

Cameron Beaubier was dominant over the weekend

Beaubier topped the man he has battled for most of his Superbike career – Toni Elias. Elias, who announced this week that he will not race a Suzuki in next year’s championship, battled through after a rough start to finish second for just his second podium of the season.

Lorenzo Zanetti also struggled in the opening laps in his first race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, but once the tires came in, he moved forward, passing Beaubier’s teammate Jake Gagne in the closing stages to finish third. Gagne looked to have second in the bag after Bobby Fong crashed out of their battle. But Gagne ran into fueling issues that ultimately dropped him to fourth.

Cameron Beaubier topped the podium on Saturday from Toni Elias and Lorenzo Zanetti

Gagne held on for fourth place, some four seconds clear of Kyle Wyman, with Wyman barely beating Westby Racing stand-in rider Niccolo Canepa at the finish line by just .054 of a second.

Superbikes at MotoAmerica Speedfest of Monterey

Josh Herrin bested Cameron Petersen, the South African wrapping up the MotoAmerica Superbike Cup with his eighth-place finish and will earn $25,000 for his efforts. Jayson Uribe rode his Honda CBR1000RR to ninth with Corey Alexander rounding out the top 10.

HONOS Superbike Race 2 & 3

Cameron Beaubier ended his MotoAmerica career in the best possible fashion on Sunday at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, the five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion adding two more wins to bring his season total to 16 victories. Now the 27-year-old can focus his efforts on the next phase of his career – the Moto2 World Championship.

Cameron Beaubier

Beaubier’s two victories on Sunday were dominating. He won the first of the two in iffy conditions by 10.47 seconds and the second by 4.76 seconds. The two wins on Sunday were his 15th and 16th of the year and the 16th tied him with former teammate Josh Hayes for the most wins in a single season in AMA Superbike history.

Cameron Beaubier

“It’s been a whirlwind of a weekend emotionally and just everything, it felt good just to get everything out of the way Friday and get the contract signed and have the press conference in here and let everyone know I’m moving on, just let Yamaha know how thankful I am. Truthfully, it’s bittersweet, like I’ve been saying all weekend. I’m leaving some great people behind here in MotoAmerica. I’m definitely going to look back and cherish these moments, all the good moments we’ve had in the past. I was sitting on the grid today and I was getting a little emotional. I was like, ‘What are you doing? You’ve got to go race. Come on. Pull yourself together.’ I just went out and abused my R1 for a little bit and that made me feel a little better. Came back in and the emotions started coming back, your throat starts getting heavy or whatever.

Cameron Beaubier

“Just this last year has been one of the most fun years of my life at home and at the track with all the guys, just having a good time. When you’re getting good results and you’re not crashing too much, the team is happy and that means the rider is happy. It’s been so fun with them. I’ve said it multiple times, but Yamaha truly is a family to me, and same with all you guys at MotoAmerica. I’m going to miss you guys so much. Everyone goes home and does their thing at home, but we’ll still keep in contact and all that stuff. Then we get to go racing all weekend. It’s sad that’s coming to an end, but it’s not the last time I’ll show my face at the track at MotoAmerica. I’m glad to cap it off with three wins this weekend. I just had pure fun riding my bike this weekend. I just was able to ride free; ride loose and really, really enjoyed this weekend on my bike after having a rough weekend at Indy. It put everything back into perspective for us. I’m not sure if it’s Toni’s (Elias) last race but hats off to Toni for an amazing career. We’ve had our battles on the track and we were at each other’s throat a couple times, but I respect you a lot as a racer and a person. You’re amazing, man. Amazing career. I’m grateful for you coming over here and kicking our butts and putting us in our place. He gave us something to chase. Just really looking forward to getting going next year and hope to make you guys proud.”

Cameron Beaubier

M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Toni Elias also had an emotional weekend at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, the Spaniard telling Suzuki that he wouldn’t be returning to their team in 2021 and that he was looking for a brand change to recharge his career. He then went out and finished on the podium in all three races – finishing third in Race 2 on Sunday and second in Race 3 behind his long-time rival, Beaubier.

Toni Elias

“Yes, very good weekend, I really needed this. It’s been a difficult year for many reasons, not only racing, also personal side. Very nice to end this chapter. I had fun. Of course, it’s not a win, but tastes like a win coming from where we came from. Today, I think this bike is the best bike I ever ride here at Laguna, because my lap times were better than other years, just Cameron (Beaubier) another step he did. It’s incredible. Difficult to be at his level. It’s been amazing. But super happy because I had so much fun. I start to do what I wanted, not lose the initial part of the race, and then passed one rider, then another rider, in my style, in braking areas. I was riding so good, just in case this was the last one. I’m very happy. I feel I’m still very strong and I just need something else. I need fresh air. I need new motivation. I need something to work on, to develop things. We’ll see. As I said before, I let the universe, the destiny (decide). So, I hope come back with something good. But thanks to my team for all the season. Thanks to Suzuki for all these years, and to MotoAmerica to have me, to take me like home like another American. I think I’m half American now. Thanks to Suzuki and you guys I have a family here now, so I’m not going to go away. I’ll stay here forever.

Toni Elias joined Cameron Beaubier on the podium

“The last part I want to, like he said to me, hats off to this guy (Beaubier). I have to say, I battled with many strong riders in World Championship, specialist in 125, specialist in 250, specialist in Moto2, MotoGP, Superbikes. Valentino (Rossi), I think was one of the toughest guys I ever battled but he (Beaubier) is not less than him. I think he (Beaubier) has that level, has level enough to do it. Now is the opportunity. I believe in him and I believe in his opportunity. This way will bring him to MotoGP because he’s good enough. Here you have a friend. We had big battles. We had so much fun. It’s been really cool. Sometimes we play back to each other, we play our cards, but this is racing. And after that we appreciate each other. If you need me, just have the phone and do it. Good luck, man. Thanks to my family. They’ve always been behind me, supporting me. The biggest supporter I have is Kristie (his wife). It’s been a big change in my life discovering new things in life. It’s amazing. I will try to continue some more years and having fun. My next goal would be one day I put Toni (his son) on the podium on the top of the box next time. That would be really good. Is my next goal, so I hope to make it happen.”

The same three men stood on the podium in all three races – Beaubier, Elias and Lorenzo Zanetti. Zanetti ended up second in race two behind Beaubier and third in race three behind Beaubier and Elias. It was the Italian’s fourth, fifth and sixth podiums in his eight starts in the MotoAmerica Series.

In race two, Beaubier’s teammate Jake Gagne was fourth with Stock 1000 Champion Cameron Petersen fifth on the Altus Suzuki GSX-R1000. Westby Racing fill-in rider Niccolo Canepa was sixth with Kyle Wyman a lonely seventh. Josh Herrin, Michael Gilbert and Bobby Fong rounded out the top 10.

Superbikes at MotoAmerica Speedfest of Monterey

In the final race of the season, Fong was fourth ahead of Gagne with Canepa sixth for the second time on the day. Wyman was seventh again, ahead of Petersen, Gilbert and Corey Alexander.

Beaubier ended the season with a massive 135-point lead over Gagne, 437-301. Fong was third, 48 points behind Gagne and 31 ahead of Elias, who topped the injured Mathew Scholtz with his strong effort in the series finale by just a single point.

HONOS Superbike Results


Source: MCNews.com.au

Beaubier crowned 2019 MotoAmerica Superbike Champion

2019 MotoAmerica

Championship of Alabama – Round 10

Images by Brian J. Nelson

Seven points were all that separated Cameron Beaubier from year-long championship leader Toni Elias as the 2019 EBC Brakes Superbike Championship reached a crescendo at Barber Motorsports Park over the weekend.

MotoAmerica Alabama Rnd Cameron Beaubier Garrett Gerloff
Cameron Beaubier and Garrett Gerloff celebrate at the Championship of Alabama

What seemed improbable just three days ago turned into reality for Cameron Beaubier on a sunny Sunday in Alabama, the Yamaha Factory Racing rider winning a fourth MotoAmerica Superbike crown by five points over his rival Toni Elias with a sweep of the two EBC Superbike races at Barber Motorsports Park.

Beaubier did everything he needed to do in the Championship of Alabama. He needed to win both races and for Elias to finish third or worse in both. And he got it with Elias struggling to a fourth-place finish on Sunday to give Beaubier the title.


Superbikes Race 1

Cameron Beaubier kept his championship hopes alive on a sunny Saturday afternoon in Alabama, the three-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion taking his fifth win of the season while everything fell into place behind him.

MotoAmerica Alabama Rnd Sat Superbike Beaubier
Cameron Beaubier needed to pull out all the stops on Saturday’s Race 1

Beaubier knew he needed to win, and he did. He also knew he needed help. And he got it with his teammate Garrett Gerloff finishing second. And, finally, he needed Elias to struggle, which he did, finishing third with his teammate Josh Herrin riding shotgun to the Spaniard in the final laps.

Beaubier’s win combined with Elias’ third place narrows the margin to seven points, 349-342, with just Sunday’s finale remaining in the championship.

Elias was disappointed with third place but hopeful of better things to come tomorrow. He knows that to earn the title, third place isn’t going to be enough. On Saturday, the former Moto2 World Champion was a distant third – 18.8 seconds behind Beaubier and just .033 of a second ahead of Herrin.

MotoAmerica Alabama Rnd Sat Superbike Beaubier Gerloff
Garrett Gerloff and Cameron Beaubier claimed the 1-2 result ahead of Elias on Saturday

Behind Herrin came JD Beach, the Yamaha rider closing in on the Yoshimura duo in the final laps and coming up just short at the finish after starting the race from the fourth row.

Sixth place went to Jake Gagne, just ahead of Kyle Wyman, who was some two seconds clear of Cameron Petersen. David Anthony and Travis Wyman rounded out the top 10 finishers.

Superbikes Race 2

Sunday’s victory was the sixth of the year for Beaubier and the 38th of his AMA Superbike career, but more importantly, it earned him a fourth AMA Superbike title, which puts him in a tie with former teammate Josh Hayes for the second most won in AMA Superbike history. Mat Mladin is at the top of that list with seven AMA Superbike Championships.

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Cameron Beaubier leads the Superbikes

Beaubier’s teammate Garrett Gerloff finished second, the Texan again leading the early laps before playing good soldier and not putting up a fight when his teammate caught up. Beaubier, meanwhile, had made things difficult for himself by running off the track in turn one on the opening lap, but he got the job done.

Cameron Beaubier

“I couldn’t believe what happened off the start. I’ve been feeling so good. My R1 has been working so good all weekend – Friday, Saturday, this morning, warmup, Sunday. I knew what I had to do. I knew I had to get in front and win the race and Toni (Elias) had to get third to win. I thought it was all out the door. I was in the grass. I tried to go around the outside of (Josh) Herrin and everyone knows you don’t go around the outside of Herrin. You end up in the grass. So that’s what happened. I got back on the track. I think I was like around eighth or something like that. These guys were riding so good. They were so hard to pass, and they were trying to pass each other as well. So, I made it really, really tough on myself, but I had nothing to lose. I just put my head down and pushed as hard as I could. I can’t even believe we were in this position going into this race – seven points out of the lead after yo-yo-ing to 30 points back on Toni (Elias), and we’re sitting here with the number-one plate. I just can’t believe it, really. It’s amazing. I just owe it all to my team Yamaha. It really is like a big family. I love all those guys. It’s Rick’s (Hobbs, his crew chief) last year. He’s retiring after this year. He’s been a huge key, if not thekey, to these four championships. I owe a huge portion of it to him. I’m really going to miss that guy.”

MotoAmerica Alabama Rnd Cameron Beaubier Garrett Gerloff
Cameron Beaubier and Garrett Gerloff topped the podium, with Mathew Scholtz third

Gerloff was happy with his performance and his season, a year in which he finished third in the title chase and won four races.

Garrett Gerloff

“This has been a good season for me. I definitely accomplished a lot of goals that I had going into the season. I feel like I had a pretty good year. Definitely some low points, but some really high points also. You can’t have one without the other. I’m really happy with my 2019 season. I really feel like I gelled with the R1 a lot better this year. I never give up and neither does my team. We’ve been working our butts off every weekend since last year to try to get the bike really where I like it and also just working on myself and working on my riding. A big part of that was having Josh Hayes help me out this year. He helped with a lot of different things, bike setup and also some mental stuff and everything. He’s been a huge part. Just can’t thank the whole team enough. I’m always looking for more, so I got bigger and better goals for next year. But just a big congrats to Cam. He’s been riding super consistent all year, super-fast. He’s definitely made me a faster rider. Like he said, it sucks to have a fast teammate sometimes because I was thinking the same thing. If I come in and he’s going a half a second faster than me and I’m like, ‘Dude, where the hell are you pulling this out of?’ But the challenge is always a closed door, but it’s a door that’s waiting to be opened for improvement. That’s the way I look at every challenge that I’ve had. I try to bust through those doors as fast as I can. It’s been a good year. I’m really excited with where we are and just really excited for what the future holds.”

MotoAmerica Alabama Rnd Cameron Beaubier Garrett Gerloff
Garrett Gerloff and Cameron Beaubier

Third place on Sunday went to Mathew Scholtz, the South African some 10 seconds behind the Yamaha duo but almost three seconds ahead of Elias.

Elias was extremely gracious in defeat, especially considering he’d led this championship from the second race until the start of the 20th race.

Toni Elias

“First of all, I want to congratulate Cameron (Beaubier) and Yamaha. They did an amazing end of the season and they deserve this win. For me it is not nice – it’s hard and sad. It will take some days to digest this loss and accept it. We tried hard. We did everything we could. The whole team gave 200 percent. We tried to find grip where there was no grip. I also want to say thank you to my teammate Josh Herrin. He tried to help and did a great job, but it was not enough. I’m very proud of my team, every single person. It’s very difficult for them as well, but we must accept that we tried our best and be content with that fact. We will come back and work harder next year and try to win another championship for Suzuki.”

MotoAmerica Rnd COTA toni elias
Toni Elias

Kyle Wyman was fifth on Sunday, his best result of the season on his Ducati. Wyman was on Elias’s rear wheel as they crossed the line and was just ahead of Cameron Petersen, who also enjoyed his best result of the season in sixth. Josh Herrin faded to finish seventh, less than a second head of Jake Lewis. David Anthony and Max Flinders rounded out the top 10.

Source: MCNews.com.au

Beaubier closes in on Elias at New Jersey MotoAmerica

2019 MotoAmerica

Round 9 – Championship of New Jersey

Images by Brian J. Nelson

The 2019 MotoAmerica Championship of New Jersey saw Garrett Gerloff and Cameron Beaubier share the EBC Brakes Superbike wins, leaving Beaubier within striking distance of championship leader Elias, who missed the podium across both races. Heading into the final round that places Toni Elias on 333-points to Beaubier’s 317, with third places Garrett Gerloff back on 276.

MotoAmerica Rnd New Jersey Sat Gerloff Beaubier BJN P
Garrett Gerloff and Cameron Beaubier shared the weekend’s wins

PJ Jacobsen took both of the weekend’s Supersport wins, relegating championship leader Fong to second place in each race, and narrowing his lead to just 10-points heading into the final.

Rocco Landers meanwhile clinched the Liqui Moly Junior Cup title on Saturday, and followed that up with another win on Sunday, now holding 325-points in the standings, with the closest riders being Kevin Olmedo on 214, and Dallas Daniels on 200.

Alex Dumas took the Twins Cup win in the single race held for the weekend, with Andrew Lee coming out on top for the Stock 1000, winning the 2019 title on Sunday.


Superbike Race 1

Garrett Gerloff continued to hold the hot hand in the MotoAmerica EBC Brakes Superbike Series, the Texan winning race one in the Championship of New Jersey for his fourth win in the last six races.

MotoAmerica Rnd New Jersey Sat Beaubier BJN P
Cameron Beaubier leads – 2019 MotoAmerica – Round 9, New Jersey

Gerloff had his hands full for the entire 23 laps of the New Jersey Motorsports Park race with his teammate Cameron Beaubier, the three-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion ending up 1.7 seconds behind at the finish line. JD Beach rebounded from a tough stretch of races to finish third, his first podium since his victory in race two at VIR the first weekend in May.

The Gerloff, Beaubier and Beach podium gave Yamaha a one-two-three for the first time this season. Gerloff and Beaubier used their strong finishes to gain some points on championship leader Toni Elias, the Yoshimura Suzuki rider ending up a distant fourth on the day – some 25 seconds behind Gerloff.

MotoAmerica Rnd New Jersey Sat Garrett Gerloff BJN P
Garrett Gerloff – 2019 MotoAmerica – Round 9, New Jersey

With only race two and the two races at Barber Motorsports Park for the season finale remaining, Beaubier trails Elias by 28 points, 320-292, with Gerloff 44 points in arrears in third. Beach strengthened his hold on fourth in the championship with a 13-point gap over Josh Herrin, who was seventh in race 1 on the second Yoshimura Suzuki.

Although he didn’t win, Beaubier clawed back valuable points on Elias, while Beach was happy with a return to the podium, the two-time Supersport Champion and the Attack team finding a cure for the chatter issue that has slowed him of late.

With Elias a distant fourth, he had some three seconds on Mathew Scholtz, the South African holding off Jake Lewis by just .060 of a second for fifth place. Herrin, in turn, hands his full with SJake Gagne with the Yoshimura Suzuki besting the BMW by 0.169 of a second. Kyle Wyman finished ninth with David Anthony rounding out the top 10.

MotoAmerica Rnd New Jersey Sat SBK Podium BJN P
Saturday Superbike Podium – 2019 MotoAmerica – Round 9, New Jersey

Superbike Race 2

Cameron Beaubier at least has a chance n the final round at the 2019 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship at Barber Motorsports Park in two weeks after winning the second EBC Brakes Superbike race on Sunday.

Beaubier, who finished second on Saturday and won on Sunday to claw back into championship contention with just the two races at Barber left on the 2019 schedule, trails Toni Elias by 16 points, 333-317. Elias had an off-weekend and finished fourth in both races, giving up 19 points to his rival Beaubier.

On Saturday, Beaubier lost out to his teammate Garrett Gerloff and on Sunday he had his hands full with JD Beach. Gerloff, meanwhile, was declared unfit to race after a big crash in the morning warm-up session that left him concussed.

MotoAmerica Rnd New Jersey Sun Cameron Beaubier BJN P
Cameron Beaubier leads – 2019 MotoAmerica – Round 9, New Jersey

Beaubier and Beach were joined up front by Mathew Scholtz, but the South African ended up finishing third, some seven seconds behind Beaubier. Beaubier was also able to gap Beach in the closing laps, besting the two-time Supersport Champion by 1.44 seconds after 23 laps for his fourth win of the season and the 36thof his Superbike career.

Cameron Beaubier

“At the beginning I was pretty confident going in just because I felt like I had pretty good pace there at the beginning of the race yesterday, and then after latching onto (Garrett) Gerloff he kind of pulled us three away from the field. Then at the end it was us two. I was pretty confident that my bike was going to be better than it was yesterday, but I was struggling pretty bad at the beginning when the tires were new. I feel like we’ve been fast at every round, one of the fastest guys if not the fastest, but we just have not been able to put it together when it counts. So today feels really good. Obviously, I’m bummed for my teammate that he couldn’t line up with us today. I think for sure obviously his pace has been incredible all weekend. He definitely would have been another Yamaha in the mix. I feel really good going into Barber. We’re still in striking distance. We’re closing the points down. Just going to keep my head down and see what happens.”

MotoAmerica Rnd New Jersey Sun Cameron Beaubier BJN P
Cameron Beaubier leads – 2019 MotoAmerica – Round 9, New Jersey
JD Beach

“Going into the race, I told Cameron what my race plan was so he would know. We got going and it started off great. Then he kind of was screwing the plan up. So, I had to get out front. I led a few laps. The bike was feeling really good today. We were just trying to go. Towards the end Cameron got back by me. I started to lose the front just a little bit, and he picked the pace up just a bit. I just kind of lost touch a little bit. For half the year, how it’s been going, it’s been tough. To get a third and a second in the same weekend is great. I just got to thank my whole Attack Performance Estenson Racing team. We’ve still got one more round to go, so we’ll see what we can do.”

Elias was at the opposite end of the spectrum. He was happy. But only happy to have New Jersey in his rear-view mirror after a difficult weekend.

Toni Elias

“It was a tough weekend, maybe the toughest I’ve had in a long time. We tried to improve and change things, but it seemed it was impossible to improve. I went six seconds faster in the race today than yesterday, but still it was not enough to improve my position.I see things in positive way, and we are still leading the championship by 16 points going into the final round. I’d rather be ahead than be behind. We will analyze and if we have to change our setup completely, okay, we will do it. We will go and play as hard as we can at Barber and see what happens.”

Jake Lewis finished fifth, one spot better than on Saturday, and ahead of sixth-placed Kyle Wyman. Josh Herrin was seventh with Jake Gagne ending his weekend with an eighth-place finish. David Anthony and Cameron Petersen rounded out the top 10.

With Beaubier now trailing Elias by 16 points, Gerloff holds on to third though he’s dropped to 41 points behind after missing Sunday’s race. Beach is 20 points adrift of Gerloff in fourth place and 24 points ahead of Herrin, who is now just three points in front of Scholtz.

Source: MCNews.com.au

Gerloff & Elias top MotoAmerica Pittsburgh

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.

MotoAmerica Rnd Pittsburgh Sunday Superbike Toni Elias
Championship of Pittsburgh – 2019 MotoAmerica Round 8

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.

MotoAmerica Rnd Pittsburgh Sunday Crowd
Championship of Pittsburgh – 2019 MotoAmerica Round 8

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.

MotoAmerica Rnd Pittsburgh SBK Start
Championship of Pittsburgh – 2019 MotoAmerica Round 8

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.

MotoAmerica Rnd Pittsburgh Sat Superbike Toni Elias
Championship of Pittsburgh – 2019 MotoAmerica Round 8

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.

MotoAmerica Rnd Pittsburgh Sat Superbike crash
Championship of Pittsburgh – 2019 MotoAmerica Round 8

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.

MotoAmerica Rnd Pittsburgh Garrett Gerloff
Championship of Pittsburgh – 2019 MotoAmerica Round 8

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.

MotoAmerica Rnd Pittsburgh Sunday Superbike Garrett Gerloff
Championship of Pittsburgh – 2019 MotoAmerica Round 8

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.

MotoAmerica Rnd Pittsburgh Garrett Gerloff
Championship of Pittsburgh – 2019 MotoAmerica Round 8

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.”

MotoAmerica Rnd Pittsburgh Sunday Superbike Toni Elias
Championship of Pittsburgh – 2019 MotoAmerica Round 8

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

Gerloff & Beaubier take win a-piece at Sonoma MotoAmerica

2019 MotoAmerica

Round 7 – Championship of Sonoma

Images by Brian J. Nelson

The 2019 Championship of Sonoma, Round 7 of the MotoAmerica Superbike Championship, saw Garrett Gerloff take the Saturday race win, with Toni Elias in tow, while Beaubier was a non-finish in a result that looked set to decide the Superbike championship.

MotoAmerica Rnd Sonoma Gerloff Beaubier
Garrett Gerloff and Cameron Beaubier celebrated a Yamaha double-win at Sonoma Raceway

Sunday’s Race 2 proved that anything can happen however, with Toni Elias crashing out and Beaubier taking the win, leaving Elias with a strong but not insurmountable lead, while Gerloff and Beaubier are separated by only six-points in the standings.

In the Supersport class Hayden Gillim took out the Race 1 win on Saturday from Bobby Fong and PJ Jacobsen, while Sunday Jacobsen claim the win from Fong and Bryce Prince, with Gillim having to settle for fourth. Andrew Lee claimed victory in the single Stock 1000 race of the weekend.

In the Liqui Moly Junior Cup Rocco Landers continued to build his lead with Kevin Olmedo his closest competitor over the weekend. Alex Dumas meanwhile took a clean win in the Twins Cup class, with a single race run and the rider holding a 12-second lead over second placed Draik Beauchamp.

Superbikes – Saturday

Toni Elias took a giant step towards winning his second MotoAmerica EBC Brakes Superbike title in the Championship of Sonoma at Sonoma Raceway, the Spaniard finishing second to Garrett Gerloff while his main championship rival Cameron Beaubier crashed out of the race on lap two.

MotoAmerica Rnd Sonoma Toni Elias Saturday
Toni Elias – MotoAmerica 2019 Round 7, Sonoma Raceway

Elias’ second-place finish combined with Beaubier’s non-finish gives him a 59-point lead in the championship heading into Sunday’s second EBC Brakes Superbike race, 266-207.

While Elias may have gained the most on a sunny Saturday in Northern California’s wine country, the day belonged to Gerloff. Hot off his win in race two at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca a month ago, the Texan bested Elias by 10.3 second to take his second career EBC Brakes Superbike race win.

Gerloff was quick all day, ending up the second fastest qualifier behind his teammate Beaubier, the three-time series champion who had won the last four Superbike races held at Sonoma. Gerloff didn’t waste much time in taking the lead from Elias after Beaubier crashed out of the lead on the second lap – just moments after passing Elias.

MotoAmerica Rnd Sonoma Garrett Gerloff Saturday
Garrett Gerloff – MotoAmerica 2019 Round 7, Sonoma Raceway

In addition to taking his second win, Gerloff also took big gains in the title chase and is now just a single point behind Beaubier in third place with 206 points.

Third place today went to Mathew Scholtz, the South African besting JD Beach. Fifth place went to Jake Gagne in his best finish of the season. Max Flinders had his best career Superbike finish in sixth. Sam Verderico finished seventh in the race that featured an exorbitant amount of non-finishers. The non-finishers included Beaubier, Josh Herrin, Kyle Wyman, David Anthony, Jake Lewis and Cameron Petersen.

EBC Brakes Superbike Result – Saturday

  1. Garrett Gerloff (Yamaha)
  2. Toni Elias (Suzuki) +10.369
  3. Mathew Scholtz (Yamaha) +21.193
  4. JD Beach (Yamaha) +27.084
  5. Jake Gagne (BMW) +50.380

Superbike – Sunday

Sunday’s race in the Cycle Gear Championship of Sonoma was further proof that it truly ain’t over till it’s over. With most series observers, including Cameron Beaubier, thinking the 2019 MotoAmerica EBC Brake Superbike Championship was a foregone conclusion after Beaubier crashed out of Saturday’s race and championship leader Toni Elias won, suddenly it wasn’t.

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Sunday SBK Start – MotoAmerica 2019 Round 7, Sonoma Raceway

Elias crashed out of Sunday’s race early and Beaubier rode to victory, his fifth in the last six Superbike races at Sonoma Raceway, and his third of the season. And just like that, the championship is back on with Elias leading Beaubier and his YZF-R1 by 34 points with three rounds and six races left in the title chase.

With fast-starter Beaubier leading, Elias crashed out of second place on the third lap. From there it was yesterday’s race winner Garrett Gerloff giving chase to Beaubier, the Texan putting up an admirable fight until losing front tire grip that forced him to slow his pace. That allowed Beaubier to cruise to a 5.281-second win, pocketing the 25 championship points that come with it.

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Sunday Superbike podium – MotoAmerica 2019 Round 7, Sonoma Raceway
Cameron Beaubier

“It just feels really good to get a win today after crashing three laps in yesterday, especially just after kind of being in a rut lately. I saw plus 3.5 on my board and I was like, ‘Let’s just take this home.’ It feels really good. Obviously, it’s unfortunate I crashed yesterday. I thought it was pretty much all over points-wise going into today. I think it was good for me,though, because I just went out with the intention to win. Don’t go ride careful or nothing like that. Just put your head down and go race. Go race to win. I felt like I rode loose. I felt like I rode good. We’re back in it.”

MotoAmerica Rnd Sonoma Cameron Beaubier Superbike
Cameron Beaubier – MotoAmerica 2019 Round 7, Sonoma Raceway

Gerloff had a solid weekend at Sonoma and leaves Northern California with a win and a second place.

Garrett Gerloff

“My team gave me an awesome bike today, I really felt good on it. Wasn’t too different from yesterday. Yesterday I ran the softest front compound there was, and it ended up shredding on me at the end of the race. I tried the little bit harder compound this morning and just hated it. I didn’t like it. I was hoping that with the higher temperature today and stuff that the soft would maybe go a little bit longer, and I think it did but just not the whole race. It sucks. I wish I could have adapted a little bit better to the green tire this morning, but we just didn’t want to take the chance. I felt good at the beginning of the race. Ran off in the chicane on the fifth lap or sixth lap, which helped him (Beaubier) get out a little bit farther in front. Just did everything I could to try to kind of reel him back in. Felt like I was, to a certain extent, but then with like nine laps to go, my front was just so gone that I had trouble just turning the bike into the chicane and the last corner. Just really heavy braking front load corners. That was it. Kind of sucks, but we learned a lot this weekend. It was still a good weekend. First and second is not too bad. It’s cool that we’re right there in the championship, more or less. It feels good. Just try to keep taking steps forward. I’m really excited for Pittsburgh. It’s a track I really like. See how it goes there.”

Third place on Sunday went to Josh Herrin, the Yoshimura Suzuki rider making up for yesterday’s first-lap crash.

Josh Herrin

“It feels good, it sucks coming in being on a factory team and seeing these guys that are expecting a win and not doing good. Not to say that third is great, but I think all of us could say at the team that it feels pretty good today. This weekend hasn’t been good at all. A lot of people have been struggling, besides these two. Like I said, it feels really good. I’m happy to be up here. Hopefully Pittsburgh treats me a little bit better and we can be fighting up there with these guys at least. That would feel really good if we could at least see them at the end of the race. Thanks to the entire team for putting in all the work. I know it sucks being out in the heat and then having to repair a bike all night, so thank you to Jimmy, Frenchie, Ollie, Davey, all the guys, Scott, for putting in the work. Congrats to these guys. I look forward to going to Pittsburgh.”

As much as he gained in Saturday’s race, Elias lost in Sunday’s.

Toni Elias

“We made a little change to the front fork, I was feeling comfortable because I went with the medium tire and I was expecting a great race from mid-race to the end. I was in a good rhythm behind Cameron (Beaubier). I didn’t feel like I was pushing. I didn’t feel like I made a mistake or braked too late, but maybe with the change I did in the front, it was too hard and I just lost the front in one of the bumps. I’m sorry for the team, but I want to look in a positive way. We still have a 34-point lead. It’s not 59 like it was yesterday, but it’s still 34. We still have six races and we’ll see what happens.”

Fourth place went to Mathew Scholtz, the South African finishing third on Saturday. Scholtz battled with Herrin for most of the race and also had JD Beach nipping at his heels for the duration. Beach ended up just over a second behind in fifth place, a day after the Kentuckian finished fourth.

Jake Gagne was sixth, some four seconds ahead of Cameron Petersen. David Anthony rebounded from a crash in yesterday’s race to finish eighth. Jeremy Coffey and Sam Verderico rounded out the top 10.

MotoAmerica Rnd Sonoma Cameron Beaubier Superbike
Cameron Beaubier – MotoAmerica 2019 Round 7, Sonoma Raceway

With the series heading to Pittsburgh International Race Complex in two weeks, Elias leads the title chase, 266-232, over Beaubier with Gerloff third on 226. Beach is fourth with 159 points, 11 better than Herrin.

EBC Brakes Superbike

  1. Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha)
  2. Garrett Gerloff (Yamaha) +5.281
  3. Josh Herrin (Suzuki) +21.832
  4. Mathew Scholtz (Yamaha) +26.470
  5. JD Beach (Yamaha) +27.796

EBC Brakes Superbike Standings

  1. Toni Elias 266
  2. Cameron Beaubier 232
  3. Garrett Gerloff 226
  4. JD Beach 159
  5. Josh Herrin 148
  6. Mathew Scholtz 139
  7. Jake Lewis 121
  8. Cameron Petersen 90
  9. David Anthony 84
  10. Jake Gagne 83
  11. Max Flinders 65

Supersport – Saturday

After the Supersport race was red-flagged because of a crash on the first lap, it was re-started, and Hayden Gillim went to the front and hung on to a narrow lead to capture his fifth win of the season.

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PJ Jacobsen – MotoAmerica 2019 Round 7, Sonoma Raceway

Second-place finisher and current championship leader Bobby Fong closed the gap to Gillim as the laps wound down and brought his M4 ECSTAR Suzuki home in second. As a result, Gillim closed the points gap to just 13 behind Fong. Third place went to PJ Jacobsen.

MotoAmerica Rnd Sonoma Hayden Gillim Saturday
Hayden Gillim – MotoAmerica 2019 Round 7, Sonoma Raceway

Supersport Race Result – Saturday

  1. Hayden Gillim (Yamaha)
  2. Bobby Fong (Suzuki) +0.102
  3. PJ Jacobsen (Yamaha) +3.089
  4. Bryce Prince (Yamaha) +7.213
  5. Joshua Hayes (Yamaha) +10.692

Supersport – Sunday

In Sunday’s Supersport race, PJ Jacobsen notched his second win of the season after passing Bobby Fong late in the race. Fong, who is leading the championship, tried a couple of times to get back around Jacobsen, but he used discretion to maintain his second-place position rather than put valuable points in jeopardy. Bryce Prince put his Yamaha on the podium in third.

PJ Jacobsen

“Right from the beginning with the bike I felt really good. It was weird. In the beginning, everyone was running low 40s, high 39s. The pace was really slow. When that was happening, I felt really good. So, I just wanted to move to the front. I haven’t been there so much, but I just decided I wanted to go to the front and just try to lead this thing until the end, and I just pushed as hard as I could. The team, Celtic HSBK Racing, gave me a great bike today. We made some changes overnight, really just with some gearing and a little bit of the suspension. It was working really good. I’m pretty pumped. Also, Jake Zemke helped me with some line choices. I was struggling in the esses with these guys yesterday. So, I think I got everything pretty right today.”

MotoAmerica Rnd Sonoma PJ Jacobsen Sunday
PJ Jacobsen – MotoAmerica 2019 Round 7, Sonoma Raceway

Supersport

  1. PJ Jacobsen (Yamaha)
  2. Bobby Fong (Suzuki) +8.196
  3. Bryce Prince (Yamaha) +10.988
  4. Hayden Gillim (Yamaha) +11.737
  5. Joshua Hayes (Yamaha) +15.613
MotoAmerica Rnd Sonoma PJ Jacobsen BJN P
Supersport Podium – MotoAmerica 2019 Round 7, Sonoma Raceway

Supersport Standings

  1. Bobby Fong 200
  2. Hayden Gillim 180
  3. P.J. Jacobsen 164
  4. Richie Escalante 136
  5. Sean Dylan Kelly 125
  6. Bryce Prince 117
  7. Joshua Hayes 105
  8. Jason Aguilar 84
  9. Nick McFadden 83
  10. Lucas Silva 58

Liqui Moly Junior Cup – Saturday

In Liqui Moly Junior Cup race one, Rocco Landers won his eighth race out of 10 so far this season, and though he notched the victory in dominant fashion, it was not without drama.

MotoAmerica Rnd Sonoma Rocco Landers Sunday
Rocco Landers – MotoAmerica 2019 Round 7, Sonoma Raceway

The Californian had a couple of “moments” during the nine-lap event where he and his Kawasaki were not in sync, but the talented 14-year-old maintained his composure to take the checkers by a little over one and a half seconds over second-place finisher Kevin Olmedo. Third place went to Marc Edwards, the local rider also aboard a Kawasaki.

Liqui Moly Junior Cup Race 1

  1. Rocco Landers (Kawasaki)
  2. Kevin Olmedo (Kawasaki) +1.513
  3. Marc Edwards (Kawasaki) +1.584
  4. Josh Serne (Kawasaki) +1.659
  5. Brenden Ketelsen (Kawasaki) +7.089

Liqui Moly Junior Cup – Sunday

Sunday’s Liqui Moly Junior Cup race-two podium was a carbon copy of Saturday’s result. Rocco Landers tallied his ninth win out of 11 races so far this season, but the 12-lap event was a battle between him and Kevin Olmedo, who led the majority of the laps.

MotoAmerica Rnd Sonoma Rocco Landers Saturday
Rocco Landers – MotoAmerica 2019 Round 7, Sonoma Raceway

Landers seemed to be biding his time, and on the final lap, he pounced and passed Olmedo for the lead, and ultimately, the win. Local rider Marc Edwards matched his third-place finish on Saturday with another third place on Sunday aboard his Kawasaki.

Rocco Landers

“I didn’t have an exact plan as to what corner I’d pass him in, but the couple laps to the end, I just started trying to see what was going on, just tried to step back and think about it, I really wanted to see what I could do. On the last lap there, I was just following him a little bit. Coming up towards the end, I was like, ‘I got a good run. Just see what happens here.’ I came up on him and got by him. It was a very fun race. He was going so fast, and so was everyone.”

MotoAmerica Rnd Sonoma Rocco Landers Sun BJN P
Rocco Landers – MotoAmerica 2019 Round 7, Sonoma Raceway

Liqui Moly Junior Cup

  1. Rocco Landers (Kawasaki)
  2. Kevin Olmedo (Kawasaki) +0.219
  3. Marc Edwards (Kawasaki) +19.408
  4. Brenden Ketelsen (Kawasaki) +20.161
  5. Josh Serne (Kawasaki) +30.698

Liqui Moly Junior Cup Standings

  1. Rocco Landers 250
  2. Dallas Daniels 174
  3. Kevin Olmedo 153
  4. Gauge Rees 98
  5. Dominic Doyle 81
  6. Jackson Blackmon 79
  7. Damian Jigalov 72
  8. Marc Edwards 63
  9. Samuel Lochoff 62
  10. Brenden Ketelsen 57

Stock 1000 – Sunday

The weekend’s Stock 1000 race saw local rider, defending class champion, and current points leader Andrew Lee get his fourth victory of the season with a dominant performance that saw him start from the pole, get the holeshot into turn one, and lead every one of the 14 laps to the checkers aboard his Kawasaki.

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Stock 1000 – MotoAmerica 2019 Round 7, Sonoma Raceway

Michael Gilbert also rode his Kawasaki to second place after getting by Geoff May with just two laps to go in the race. May finished third to round out the podium.

Andrew Lee

“The Franklin Armory/Graves Kawasaki crew has been working really hard lately, getting a bike underneath me that I can go out there and ride to my full potential today. The bike was just feeling really great. I got a good start, and I knew these guys were going to be breathing down my neck. After qualifying, I felt like I had some pretty good pace underneath me. I was looking at the pit board and I was like, ‘Man.’ The grip wasn’t great for me. I was just clicking my markers and getting lap in, lap out, just trying to stay consistent. I’m just happy to come away with three wins in a row. So, hopefully, moving forward we can keep it going.”

MotoAmerica Rnd Sonoma Andrew Lee Sunday
Andrew Lee – MotoAmerica 2019 Round 7, Sonoma Raceway

Stock 1000 Race Results

  1. Andrew Lee (Kawasaki)
  2. Michael Gilbert (Kawasaki) +7.608
  3. Geoff May (Kawasaki) +11.472
  4. Stefano Mesa (Kawasaki) +17.123
  5. Travis Wyman (BMW) +23.288
MotoAmerica Rnd Sonoma Andrew Lee podium BJN P
Stock 1000 podium – MotoAmerica 2019 Round 7, Sonoma Raceway

Stock 1000 Standings

TBA


Twins Cup – Sunday

The Twins Cup race saw a big shakeup in the championship after points leader Michael Barnes’ Ducati had a technical issue, which took him out of the race lead, out of the race, and unfortunately, out of the championship lead.

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Twins Cup – MotoAmerica 2019 Round 7, Sonoma Raceway

Alex Dumas then took over the lead, put his head down, and stretched out a gap of more than 12-seconds by the time he took the checkers. Second place went to Draik Beauchamp, while Joseph Blasius finished a close third.

The race result vaulted Beauchamp into the championship lead with 108 points, Dumas is in second with 107-points, and Barnes was shuffled down to third in the standings. But, he has 106-points, so only three points separate the top three title contenders.

Alex Dumas

“Michael (Barnes) passed me on the first lap coming into the last corner, he was going pretty fast. I followed him for two or three laps until he had a problem. I didn’t know if I could win. I was catching him at some places on the track where I was faster, and he was pulling a gap on me at other places. It was really hard to just keep up with him and stay behind him really close to make a pass. It was pretty much a lonely race at the end. I just took it home, and I’m really happy.”

MotoAmerica Rnd Sonoma Alex Dumas Sunday
Alex Dumas – MotoAmerica 2019 Round 7, Sonoma Raceway

Twins Cup Race Result

  1. Alex Dumas (Suzuki)
  2. Draik Beauchamp (Yamaha) +12.521
  3. Joseph Blasius (Suzuki) +13.334
  4. Kris Turner (Suzuki) +24.891
  5. Jason Madama (Yamaha) +31.790

Twins Cup Standings

  1. Draik Beauchamp 108
  2. Alex Dumas 107
  3. Michael Barnes 106
  4. Curtis Murray 89
  5. Chris Parrish 78
  6. Joseph Blasius 66
  7. Jason Madama 58
  8. Kris Turner 42
  9. Jeffrey Tigert 40
  10. Cooper McDonald 38

Source: MCNews.com.au

Toni Elias & Josh Herrin share Road America victories

2019 MotoAmerica

Round 4 – Road America

Images by Brian J. Nelson

Toni Elias and Josh Herrin have shared the EBC Brakes Superbike race wins at Road America’s Round 4, with Elias heading to Round 5 in the championship lead. In Supersport Hayden Gillim and Bobby Fong shared the wins, while Rocco Landers dominated the Liqui Moly Junior Cup races.

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MotoAmerica head to Road America for Round 4 of the 2019 Championship

Stock 1000 saw Geoff May take the Race 1 win, while Stefano Mesa claimed Race 2 victory. The Twins Cup only held one race over the weekend, on Sunday, with Draik Beauchamp taking the win.

Superbikes Saturday

Yoshimura Suzuki’s Toni Elias won his third race of the season today in the Championship at Road America, the fourth round of the 10-round MotoAmerica EBC Brakes Superbike Championship held in changing conditions in Wisconsin.

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Toni Elias – Road America 2019

Elias came out on top of a battle that featured as many as seven riders at times and whittled down to four riders by the end of the race. At the finish line, Elias was .253 of a second ahead of his championship rival Cameron Beaubier to pull 29 points clear of the rider with six rounds and 12 races left in the title chase. Elias has 151 points to Beaubier’s 122.

Elias also earned his second pole position of the season earlier in the day during Superpole, doubling his amount of poles from a season ago. The win was the 28th Superbike victory of Elias’ career and it moved him into a tie with Ben Spies for fifth on the all-time list.

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Toni Elias – Road America 2019

Beaubier’s teammate Garrett Gerloff was a shadow third, just .787 of a second behind Elias. He was some two seconds clear of Elias’ teammate Josh Herrin, the Georgian in the mix until the final laps when he and Elias nearly clashed, and Herrin got the worst of it. Herrin was visibly upset after the race, gesturing at his teammate on the cool-down lap. Herrin ran wide on the final lap while trying to beat Gerloff and slipped to fourth.

Mathew Scholtz was fifth, some four seconds behind Herrin and racing alone as he had a 4.3-second lead on his South African countryman Cameron Petersen on the Omega Moto Yamaha YZF-R1.

Seventh place went to JD Beach, the rider in the mix at the front until his bike shut off with a few laps to go. Beach was able to get it going again, but then ran into clutch issues and slipped back to seventh.

Scheibe Racing BMW’s Jake Gagne was eighth with David Anthony ninth. Jake Lewis rounded out the top 10.

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Toni Elias on the Saturday Superbike podium – Road America 2019

EBC Brakes Superbike Race 1 Result (Saturday)

  1. Toni Elias (Suzuki) 27:17.351
  2. Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha) +0.253
  3. Garrett Gerloff (Yamaha) +0.787
  4. Josh Herrin (Suzuki) +2.805
  5. Mathew Scholtz (Yamaha) +6.890

Superbikes Sunday

Josh Herrin won Sunday’s EBC Brakes Superbike race in the Championship at Road America, but it was Cameron Beaubier who may have come away the biggest winner.

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EBC Brakes Superbikes Race 2 – Road America 2019

Herrin was solid throughout the 13-lap EBC Brakes Superbike race and it resulted in his second win of the year and the eighth of his AMA Superbike career, the Georgian holding off Beaubier by .506 of a second at the finish.

Herrin’s win moved him into a tie for 22nd with Tommy Hayden and Wes Cooley on the all-time AMA Superbike win list.

Josh Herrin

“I was comfortable sitting behind Toni (Elias). From just the glance I get at the monitors (JumboTron), it’s nicer to take a glance at the monitors than it is the pit board because it just shows you exactly where they are. I could see that we had a little gap on Cameron (Beaubier), I thought. I was just drafting Toni and then I’d kind of pull up alongside of him. One of the laps, I think he thought I was trying to race him down the back straight and maybe beat him on the brakes. I saw him shake his head and maybe getting frustrated. He just rolled off, like just go. That’s not what I wanted. I wanted to keep doing what you were doing and trying to break those guys because I know our bikes were running fast this year. But somehow it ended up working out in the end. I just knew that on the last lap I wanted to make a pass somewhere that for sure he wasn’t expecting it. I think where I did it was perfect and enough to kind of get him flustered. Then his whole plan kind of goes out the window. He was probably expecting me to go in on Canada Corner and come in a little hot and then cross back underneath him. So, it worked out perfect for me. It kind of felt like COTA all over again. I thought I was going to be able to break him after he made a mistake with three to go. I put my head down and did a couple 12.5s, but it wasn’t enough. I’m super happy with the result, obviously. But frustrated that it’s only my second podium of the year. Two wins are great, but we need more podiums. We’re far back in the points so the rest of the year we really got to put our head down. Now that I’m comfortable on the bike we just got to put our head down and hope for the best.”

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Josh Herrin – Road America 2019

Beaubier had been in the lead trio for the majority of the race and was handed second place on a platter when Herrin’s teammate Toni Elias, the winner of Saturday’s race, crashed out of the battle in the final corner. Elias’ miscue not only gifted Beaubier second, it also put the battle back into championship battle as Beaubier gained 20 points on the championship leader and now trails Elias by just nine points, 151-142.

Cameron Beaubier

“Coming into this round I had a lot of confidence, to be honest, just given the record that we’ve had here the last few years, we’ve won quite a few races. I think I have six or seven Superbike wins here. I just love this place. I love this track. It suits my R1 really well. It suits my riding style really well. We’ve just kind of been a little off all weekend. Like I said, I really wanted to win this weekend, but coming out of here with two seconds and riding as hard as I could, like I said earlier I left it all out on the track. I did everything I could just to stay on Josh and Toni’s wheel in the race today. I can be happy with that. Unfortunately for Toni, he crashed but gave us a pretty good chunk in points because we were pretty far back going into the race this afternoon. So now I think it’s nine points, so it’s going to be a dog fight the rest of the season. Both these guys are riding incredible, along with JD (Beach) and Matty (Scholtz) and a couple other guys going into some of the rest of the tracks this year. So, it’s going to make for some really good, exciting racing and I’m looking forward to it.”

Beaubier’s teammate Garrett Gerloff finished third for the second day in a row, the Texan ending up 6.172 seconds behind Herrin. In turn, Gerloff was five seconds ahead of Attack Performance Estenson Racing Yamaha’s JD Beach.

Garrett Gerloff

“Honestly, I’ve got to watch the race over again because I don’t know what happened, it was literally like I was there, felt good, dicing. We were all doing good times. Then just lost the draft. I can’t even remember where. I think it was three. I kind of ran a little bit wide in three and got just a few more bike lengths in-between me and Cameron and the draft was gone and that was it. Just shot off the back. It was kind of unexpected, I guess. It’s frustrating because I felt good. I felt like I had a good bike. Then for that to happen it just sucks. At least I was able to stay there. I figured something might happen on the last lap between these guys and it ended up being Toni’s own fault, I guess. Glad I was able to just keep it on two wheels and to get lucky today and be on the podium. Not ideal, but I’ll take it.”

Mathew Scholtz finished fifth for the second straight day, the South African ending up right on Beach’s tail.  Kyle Wyman matched his best finish of the season, the New Yorker finishing sixth – just .069 of a second ahead of Jake Gagne, who had Jake Lewis hot on his heels. Cameron Petersen and Sam Verderico rounded out the top 10 finishers.

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Toni Elias – Road America 2019
Toni Elias

“We had a great win on Saturday and then I had the crash today because I flinched in the final turn when Cameron (Beaubier) came in, I could not finish because the handlebar broke off. I congratulate Josh for his win. He has worked hard and is very deserving of this. I am sorry to my team for my mistake, but we will come back and fight again to build back our lead.”

EBC Brakes Superbike Race 2 Result (Sunday)

  1. Josh Herrin (Suzuki) 28:53.289
  2. Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha) +0.506
  3. Garrett Gerloff (Yamaha) +6.172
  4. JD Beach (Yamaha) +11.111
  5. Mathew Scholtz (Yamaha) +11.538
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Josh Herrin tops the Superbike podium on Sunday’s Race 2 and claims the Round win

EBC Brakes Superbike Standings

  1. Toni Elias 151
  2. Cameron Beaubier 142
  3. Garrett Gerloff 104
  4. JD Beach 100
  5. Josh Herrin 96
  6. Mathew Scholtz 80
  7. Jake Lewis 76
  8. Cameron Petersen 65
  9. David Anthony 59
  10. Wyman 48

Supersport Saturday

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Hayden Gillim – Road America 2019

Supersport polesitter Hayden Gillim grabbed his third victory of the season aboard his Rickdiculous Racing Yamaha, and in what has been a consistent theme in MotoAmerica’s middleweight class, the win did not come easily.

Gillim had to fight off a fierce challenge from Bobby Fong and Sean Dylan Kelly. Fong finished second while Kelly finished third, which was the rookie Supersport rider’s third podium result of his season.

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Hayden Gillim – Road America 2019

Supersport Race 1 Result (Saturday)

  1. Hayden Gillim (Yamaha) 26:05.871
  2. Bobby Fong (Suzuki) +0.646
  3. Sean Dylan Kelly (Suzuki) +0.687
  4. Richie Escalante (Yamaha) +7.115
  5. Bryce Prince (Yamaha) +13.693

Supersport – Sunday

In Supersport, Team Hammer’s M4 ECSTAR Suzuki squad had the measure of the field on Sunday, and its teammates Bobby Fong and Sean Dylan Kelly had a rousing battle for the win between themselves and also with Hayden Gillim.

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Supersport Start – Road America 2019

All three led the 11-lap event, and in the end, Fong maneuvered his bike onto the final straight in order to break Gillim’s draft, while Kelly drafted past Gillim. Fong took the checkers and Kelly barely squeaked past Gillim to take second and shuffle Gillim to third.

Bobby Fong

“I thought it was a real good race, I knew Hayden was going to be up there. He’s real strong. He has more confidence in his front end than anybody I’ve ever raced with, so I knew he was going to be up there. He’s a hard charger. I knew my teammate would be up there. I knew I wasn’t going to pull away. I was just trying to hit my marks and just tried to ride a smooth race. The last lap, I was trying to ride defensive and go inside. Fortunately, we got the win today and we got 25 points, but I’m looking forward to a lot more battles this year.”

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Bobby Fong – Road America 2019

Supersport Race 1 Result (Sunday)

  1. Bobby Fong (Suzuki) 25:44.504
  2. Sean Dylan Kelly (Suzuki) +0.357
  3. Hayden Gillim (Yamaha) +0.379
  4. PJ Jacobsen (Yamaha) +6.856
  5. Brandon Paasch (Yamaha) +12.397

Supersport Standings

  1. Hayden Gillim 97
  2. Bobby Fong 90
  3. Richie Escalante 81
  4. Sean Dylan Kelly 78
  5. P.J. Jacobsen 76
  6. Bryce Prince 55
  7. Joshua Hayes 54
  8. Nick McFadden 45
  9. Jason Aguilar 43
  10. Braeden Ortt 34

Liqui Moly Junior Cup Saturday

In Liqui Moly Junior Cup, early-season over-dog Rocco Landers notched his fourth victory in five races over his rival Dallas Daniels, who has finished second in all four of the races that Landers has won.

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Rocco Landers takes the win – Road America 2019

Landers, who started from the pole aboard his Kawasaki, got the holeshot, with Daniels close behind. The pair of Ninja warriors battled each other throughout the entire seven-lap sprint, and with Daniels was in the lead on the final lap. Landers made a perfect draft pass around Daniels on the run up the hill to the finish line to take the checkered flag in dramatic fashion.

Meanwhile, Kevin Olmedo was in a battle with Damian Jigalov, and Olmedo prevailed to round out the podium in third.

Liqui Moly Junior Cup Race 1 Results (Saturday)

  1. Rocco Landers (Kawasaki) 19:27.143
  2. Dallas Daniels (Kawasaki) +0.095
  3. Kevin Olmedo (Kawasaki) +5.380
  4. Damian Jigalov (Kawasaki) +5.386
  5. Dominique Doyle (Kawasaki) +5.528

Liqui Moly Junior Cup – Sunday

In Sunday’s Liqui Moly Junior Cup race, the odds-on favorite to win was Saturday’s victor Rocco Landers, and the Kawasaki rider lived up to the hype by drafting into the lead on the final stretch to the finish line.

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Rocco Landers leading the Liqui Moly Junior Cup – Road America 2019

Dallas Daniels led throughout the majority of the seven-lap contest, but he fell victim to Landers’ draft maneuver for the second day in a row, and on Sunday Kevin Olmedo also snuck past Daniels, which resulted in Olmedo finishing second and Daniels taking third.

Rocco Landers

“Today, I did have a plan from about two laps till the end. Right after they passed me, I was just going to try to hang in there and see what was going to happen. Then, after I got past Dallas, I was just going to try to get as good of a run out of the last corner to get to him. It was a great race.”

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Dallas Daniels leads Rocco Landers – Road America 2019

Liqui Moly Junior Cup Race 2 Results (Sunday)

  1. Rocco Landers (Kawasaki) 19:07.887
  2. Kevin Olmedo (Kawasaki) +0.092
  3. Dallas Daniels (Kawasaki) +0.152
  4. Damian Jigalov (Kawasaki) +9.400
  5. Dominic Doyle (Kawasaki) +12.381

Liqui Moly Junior Cup Standings

  1. Rocco Landers 130
  2. Dallas Daniels 109
  3. Kevin Olmedo 65
  4. Dominic Doyle 56
  5. Damian Jigalov 56
  6. Gauge Rees 55
  7. Jackson Blackmon 53
  8. Samuel Lochoff 46
  9. Cameron Jones 34
  10. Teagg Hobbs 33

Stock 1000 – Saturday

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Geoff May – Road America 2019

Saturday’s Stock 1000 race saw the return of former factory Superbike contender and World Superbike rider Geoff May to the top step of the podium. It had been 11 years since the Georgian had won an AMA-sanctioned road race, and he was understandably emotional in the winner’s circle.

May, who was aboard a Kawasaki sponsored by his “day-job” employer Ameris Bank, for whom he is a mortgage banker, held off Stefano Mesa to get the win. Third place went to Andrew Lee.

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Geoff May – Road America 2019

Stock 1000 Race 1 Results (Saturday)

  1. Geoff May (Kawasaki) 18:23.735
  2. Stefano Mesa (Kawasaki) +0.015
  3. Andrew Lee (Kawasaki) +15.466
  4. Travis Wyman (BMW) +15.578
  5. Michael Gilbert (Kawasaki) +20.087

Superstock 1000 – Sunday

In MotoAmerica’s Stock 1000 class on Sunday Stefano Mesa moved up a spot from the second-place result that he got in Saturday’s race to grab the victory on Sunday.

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Andrew Lee – Road America 2019

Andrew Lee finished second and Kawasaki rider Corey Alexander was third. Ironically, neither Mesa nor Alexander have been regulars in the MotoAmerica series, and both of them finished on the AMA Supersport podium at Road America seven years ago when Mesa won.

Stefano Mesa

“The bike and I worked very well this weekend, so we’re happy with the progress,” Mesa said. “Hopefully, we can keep going this season, since we’re leading the championship now.”

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Stefano Mesa – Road America 2019

Stock 1000 Race 2 Result (Sunday)

  1. Stefano Mesa (Kawasaki) 18:29.506
  2. Andrew Lee (Kawasaki) +0.174
  3. Corey Alexander (Kawasaki) +12.573
  4. Miles Thornton (Suzuki) +33.482
  5. Aaron Risinger (BMW) +33.492

Stock 1000 Standings

  1. Stefano Mesa 81
  2. Andrew Lee 74
  3. Michael Gilbert 56
  4. Travis Wyman 42
  5. Rhett Norman 34
  6. Corey Alexander 26
  7. Geoff May 25
  8. Miles Thornton 22
  9. Bradley Ward 21
  10. Garrick Schneiderman 21

Twins Cup

At a track that favors top speed and horsepower, the expectation in MotoAmerica’s Twins Cup class was that Michael Barnes and his Quarterley Racing Ducati Monster 797 would dominate Sunday’s race. As it turned out, Barnes was at a disadvantage against the smaller-displacement bikes due to their ability to draft past the Ducati.

Draik Beauchamp got a great jump at the start and kept himself in the lead pack throughout the eight-lap sprint. He was challenged by both Barnes and Alex Dumas. Beauchamp took the lead and kept it to record his first career Twins Cup victory, while Dumas’ second-place finish was his first career Twins Cup podium, while Barnes finished third.

Draik Beauchamp

“I started off on the second row in sixth. My main goal was just to get up there and be part of the fight and have something for the guys out front. I got up there and I actually had more pace than I thought. I was like, okay, let’s get up there early and just keep them behind me at that point. I ran that strategy. Kept them behind me. I was like, let’s run this all the way home. So I did and we got the job done. I want to thank my team, my sponsors, everybody, my dad for busting his butt out here. I’m looking forward to the rest of the season and hopefully sitting back in this seat again.

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Draik Beauchamp – Road America 2019

Twins Cup Race Result (Sunday)

  1. Draik Beauchamp (Yamaha) 20:19.647
  2. Alex Dumas (Suzuki) +0.319
  3. Michael Barnes (Ducati) +0.372
  4. Kris Turner (Suzuki) +0.459
  5. Darren James (Yamaha)  +4.620

Twins Cup Standings

  1. Chris Parrish 69
  2. Michael Barnes 66
  3. Draik Beauchamp 64
  4. Curtis Murray 63
  5. Alex Dumas 41
  6. Joseph Blasius 31
  7. Jason Madama 30
  8. Jeffrey Tigert 30
  9. Robert Fisher 25
  10. Chris Bays 25

Source: MCNews.com.au