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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.

MotoAmerica Rnd Sonoma SBK Sun Start BJN P
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.

MotoAmerica Rnd Sonoma Podium Sunday Superbike
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.

MotoAmerica Rnd Sonoma PJ Jacobsen BJN P
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.

MotoAmerica Rnd Sonoma STK Field Sunday BJN P
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.

MotoAmerica Rnd Sonoma Twins Cup BJN P
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 does the double at MotoAmerica Utah

2019 MotoAmerica

Round 5 – Championship of Utah

Images by Brian J. Nelson

Toni Elias claimed the round win at the MotoAmerica Championship of Utah, with Cameron Beaubier having to settle for second in Race 2 after a red flag saw the race restarted as a sprint. In Supersport Hayden Gillim and Bobby Fong shared the wins, with each taking to the top spot on the podium as well as claiming a runner up position.

Rocco Landers took the Race 1 win in the Liqui Moly Junior Cup, but in Race 2 it was Dallas Daniels on the top step, with his first win of the season. In the Stock 1000 class it was defending champ Andrew Lee who took the win, while in the Twins Cup – which also only ran a single race on Sunday – Alex Dumas, who recently moved up from the Junior Cup, took the win.

EBC Brakes Superbike Race 1 (Saturday)

Toni Elias lost a boatload of points when he crashed out of race two at Road America two weeks ago, but he almost made all of those back with a thrilling victory in Race 1 of the Championship of Utah at the Utah Motorsports Campus.

MotoAmerica Utah Rnd Sat Superbike
2019 MotoAmerica – Championship of Utah

In a race that featured as many as eight riders in the lead pack for nearly the duration, Elias emerged from the pack to win by 1.9 seconds after dropping as far back as seventh early in the race. But his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 got better as the race wore on and he was where he needed to be when it counted, earning the 29th victory of his MotoAmerica Superbike career – a mark that moves him to fifth on the all-time win list.

Once he worked his way to the front, he was able to pull a slight gap over the rest fighting behind him. In the end, the battle for the final podium positions went to Mathew Scholtz and Garrett Gerloff.

Scholtz’s race was a lot like Elias’ in that he also was back in the pack early in the race but was able to move his way forward. Both Scholtz and Elias were also helped a bit by Gerloff’s pass on JD Beach, with Gerloff forcing Beach and himself wide which allowed Elias and Scholtz to pass. Scholtz also had a come-together with Josh Herrin on his way through the pack.

MotoAmerica Utah Rnd Superbike
2019 MotoAmerica – Championship of Utah

Gerloff was having issues with his bike midrace and it cost him. Still, he ended up on the podium after passing his teammate Cameron Beaubier late in the race. Defending three-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion and pole-sitter Beaubier ended up fourth after leading the early laps.

Elias now leads the title chase by 21 points over Beaubier, 176-155. He came into the weekend just nine points ahead of Beaubier after his Road America race-two debacle.

EBC Brakes Superbike Race 1

  1. Toni Elias (Suzuki) 35:10.727
  2. Mathew Scholtz (Yamaha) +1.969
  3. Garrett Gerloff (Yamaha) +2.463
  4. Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha) +5.473
  5. Jake Lewis (Suzuki) +22.984

EBC Brakes Superbike Race 2 (Sunday)

Toni Elias knew he was beaten by Cameron Beaubier in the first half of the EBC Brakes Superbike race and he was just about to do the unheard of – settle for second place. But things changed when the red flag came out on the 13th lap, giving new life to the Spaniard who took full advantage to hold off Beaubier in a thrilling 10-lap sprint race to the finish.

MotoAmerica Utah Rnd Sat Superbike Toni Elias
Toni Elias claims the Superbike double at Utah

The win gave Elias a clean sweep of the two EBC Brakes Superbike races at UMC, the 2017 MotoAmerica Superbike Champion extending his championship points lead to 26 points on Beaubier, 201-175.

Elias ended up just .303 of a second ahead of Beaubier at the finish with Beaubier’s teammate Garrett Gerloff just as close in third – .502 of a second behind Elias after those three scrapped for the entire 10-lap restart.

Toni Elias

“Of course, it’s been a big help,” Elias said of the restart. “I don’t want to see that, but unfortunately it happened. When we saw the red flag, I start to be more comfortable like yesterday. Same thing I had to wait 12, 13 laps, 14 laps to start to be there. When I enter in my feeling, in my place, we could start to produce something every lap. I didn’t know if I was able to catch him or not because he was so strong. He did an amazing job from yesterday. The flag helped us. Then we played our cards. Luck fell on my side with increasing the gap in the championship. But it is long. Anything can happen. Thanks to my team.”

Cameron Beaubier

“I felt great as soon as the lights went out, I just put my head down and pushed there at the beginning. I had a two and a half second gap and I was pretty comfortable at that pace. I was really comfortable. My R1 was just hooking up everywhere. So that was pretty frustrating to see the red flag come out. I knew it was just going to be a dog fight until the end with these two guys, and I knew (Josh) Herrin was back there too. Like I said, it’s frustrating coming in second, but that was an amazing battle. Obviously, I wanted to win, but that was one I’ll definitely look back on. I’m just happy that we were in contention today and we had good pace. I think we had a little pace on everyone.  Today we were going in the right direction, and onto Laguna.”

Herrin held on to finish fourth, dropping over nine seconds off the pace after an off-track excursion. He finished a second clear of JD Beach, who in turn was just a tick in front of his Kentucky neighbor Jake Lewis.

EBC Brakes Superbike Race 2

  1. Toni Elias (Suzuki) 15:12.714
  2. Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha) +0.303
  3. Garrett Gerloff (Yamaha) +0.502
  4. Josh Herrin (Suzuki) +9.582
  5. JD Beach (Yamaha) +10.515

EBC Brakes Superbike Standings

  1. Toni Elias 201
  2. Cameron Beaubier 175
  3. Garrett Gerloff 136
  4. Josh Herrin 119
  5. JD Beach 111
  6. Mathew Scholtz 100
  7. Jake Lewis 97
  8. David Anthony 66
  9. Cameron Petersen 65
  10. Kyle Wyman 55

Supersport Race 1 (Saturday)

Hayden Gillim came away with his fourth Supersport win of the year in Race 1 at the Utah Motorsports Campus on Saturday, the Kentuckian coming out on top of a race-long battle with his championship rival Bobby Fong.

MotoAmerica Utah Rnd Sat Superport
Supersport Start – 2019 MotoAmerica – Championship of Utah

Fong, on the M4 ECSTAR Suzuki, gave Gillim all he could for the 14 laps of the 2.2-mile East Course but came up .101 of a second short. Gillim now leads Fong by 12 points in the championship point standings, 122-110.

Third place went to the man who sits in third in the championship – Richie Escalante. Like Gillim, Escalante also had his hands full with an M4 ECSTAR Suzuki – with this one ridden by rookie Sean Dylan Kelly. Escalante beat the 17-year-old Kelly to the line by 0.628 of a second.

Supersport Race 1

  1. Hayden Gillim (Yamaha) 21:46.777
  2. Bobby Fong (Suzuki) +0.101
  3. Richie Escalante (Yamaha) +10.925
  4. Sean Dylan Kelly (Suzuki) +11.553
  5. PJ Jacobsen (Yamaha) +19.967

Supersport – Race 2 Sunday

Sunday’s race was a story of the hunter and the hunted. Bobby Fong got the jump on polesitter Hayden Gillim in the beginning of the 19-lap race, but Gillim managed to get past Fong in fairly short fashion. Fong stalked Gillim until the final turn on the final lap and drafted past him to snatch the victory by .003 of second.

MotoAmerica Utah Rnd Sat Supersport
Hayden Gillim – 2019 MotoAmerica – Championship of Utah

It was Fong’s third Supersport race win of the season. PJ Jacobsen finished third when Fong’s teammate Sean Dylan Kelly, who looked to have the final spot on the podium clinched, experienced a mechanical issue on the final lap.

Bobby Fong

“I knew for sure I did not want to lead. I knew he hasn’t seen my cards yet. I did not want to lead. I knew where he was a lot faster than me and I knew where I was strong. I knew for sure that I was going to show him a wheel and stuff, but I definitely didn’t want to lead. I could tell that his pace was dropping at the end of the race. We definitely had a little bit more pace, but I just wanted to stick to the game plan. I knew as soon as I passed him, he’s such a demon on the brakes. We have been figuring stuff out on the Suzuki to brake a little bit deeper out there. I knew for sure if I would have passed him, he would have countered and taken me on the inside on the hard brakes. The plan, it did definitely change but I was sizing it up at least going out of the corner onto the start/finish line. That’s kind of all she wrote. But I’m definitely thankful to put the Suzuki on top of the box. I didn’t know how the last lap was going to go. I kind of just winged it on the last lap. If there was nobody, I was going to take it. I knew for sure that if I could get a good drive, I could get him closer to the start/finish line. Thank God it paid off, but it’s going to be a long season.”

MotoAmerica Utah Rnd STK Bobby Fong BJN P
Bobby Fong and Hayden Gillim battle it out – 2019 MotoAmerica – Championship of Utah

Supersport Race 2

  1. Bobby Fong (Suzuki) 29:32.860
  2. Hayden Gillim (Yamaha) +0.003
  3. PJ Jacobsen (Yamaha) +10.264
  4. Bryce Prince (Yamaha) +10.809
  5. Sean Dylan Kelly (Suzuki) +12.319

Supersport Standings

  1. Hayden Gillim 142
  2. Bobby Fong 135
  3. Richie Escalante 107
  4. P.J. Jacobsen 103
  5. Sean Dylan Kelly 102
  6. Bryce Prince 78
  7. Joshua Hayes 72
  8. Nick McFadden 59
  9. Jason Aguilar 56
  10. Braeden Ortt 47

Liqui Moly Junior Cup Race 1 (Saturday)

Rocco Landers won his sixth race in seven starts in the Liqui Moly Junior Cup race on Saturday at UMC, the Oregonian fighting through from a poor start to beat Dallas Daniels by just .142 of a second.

MotoAmerica Utah Rnd Junior Cup Dallas Daniels BJN P
Dallas Daniels & Rocco Landers – 2019 MotoAmerica – Championship of Utah

For Daniels it was sixth podium of the year and his fifth runner-up finish to his rival Landers. The pair are now separated by 26 points, 155-129.

Kevin Olmedo earned his fourth podium of the season and his third in a row with a close third-place finish over Isaiah Burleson, his best-ever MotoAmerica finish.

Liqui Moly Junior Cup Race 1

  1. Rocco Landers (Kawasaki) 13:46.193
  2. Dallas Daniels (Kawasaki) +0.142
  3. Kevin Olmedo (Kawasaki) +8.382
  4. Isaiah Burleson (Kawasaki) +8.455
  5. Gauge Rees (Kawasaki) +17.022

Liqui Moly Junior Cup Race 2 (Sunday)

Sunday’s Liqui Moly Junior Cup race featured the same riders at the front who have been consistent protagonists throughout the season, but Dallas Daniels, who started from the pole, successfully held off Rocco Landers and notched his first win of the season.

Landers, who was Saturday’s winner and the victor in six of the seven races prior to Sunday, finished second after nearly beating Daniels to the finish line. Meanwhile, Kevin Olmedo matched his Saturday third-place finish with another third-place finish on Sunday.

Dallas Daniels

“The last section was definitely, I think, where I was the best. I was just kind of watching all race because I knew right from really the first sector, I was really losing time. He would get away from me just enough to where once we’d get to where I was good, I was just too far back to make something happen. So, I kind of dialed in where I was slow. Once I got in the lead, I didn’t really care what was going on. I just wanted to stay up there. I led the last four laps and when we got to the last lap, I knew he was right there because on the Jumbotron you could see him going into the left before the last two corners. So, I just tried to cut the best last two corners of the whole race. I was actually having some tire issues, kind of slipping a little bit. I was able to get the win and ‘finally’ is pretty much the way to put it. It feels really good.”

MotoAmerica Utah Rnd Junior Cup Dallas Daniels BJN P
Dallas Daniels – 2019 MotoAmerica – Championship of Utah

Liqui Moly Junior Cup Race 2

  1. Dallas Daniels (Kawasaki) 16:57.419
  2. Rocco Landers (Kawasaki) +0.044
  3. Kevin Olmedo (Kawasaki) +9.674
  4. Marc Edwards (Kawasaki) +17.495
  5. Benjamin Goody (Kawasaki) +17.787

Liqui Moly Junior Cup Standings

  1. Rocco Landers 175
  2. Dallas Daniels 154
  3. Kevin Olmedo 97
  4. Gauge Rees 72
  5. Dominic Doyle 71
  6. Damian Jigalov 63
  7. Samuel Lochoff 62
  8. Jackson Blackmon 54
  9. Isaiah Burleson 51
  10. Toby Khamsouk 39

Stock 1000 Race 1 (Sunday)

Defending Stock 1000 Champion Andrew Lee showed why he has the big number one as he bided his time after the start of Sunday’s race, passed polesitter Geoff May aboard his Ameris Bank Kawasaki and pulled a healthy gap at the front, which he was able to maintain all the way to the finish line.

MotoAmerica Utah Rnd STK Andrew Lee BJN P
Andrew Lee – 2019 MotoAmerica – Championship of Utah

May finished second and Stefano Mesa was third. The win vaulted Lee into the points lead, and Mesa is now two points adrift in second place.

Andrew Lee

“I kind of knew where (May) was a little bit stronger. He had my number on the last part of the track, so I knew if I was going to make a move that would stick, I had to do it in the first four corners. That first section, it’s a pretty hairy section. It’s pretty quick. After some qualifying issues I’m just happy that my team got us back together. The Franklin Armory/Graves Kawasaki was really handling really well in the race. So, I’m just happy to be back in that first spot. Hopefully, we can continue the momentum.”

MotoAmerica Utah Rnd STK Andrew Lee BJN P
Andrew Lee – 2019 MotoAmerica – Championship of Utah

Stock 1000 Race 1

  1. Andrew Lee (Kawasaki) 21:50.278
  2. Geoff May (Kawasaki) +2.958
  3. Stefano Mesa (Kawasaki) +6.922
  4. Travis Wyman (BMW) +12.021
  5. Michael Gilbert (Kawasaki) +16.369

Stock 1000 Standings

N/A


Twins Cup Race 1 (Sunday)

The MotoAmerica Championship of Utah proved to be a pivotal round for Alex Dumas, who moved up to the Twins Cup class after winning the 2018 Liqui Moly Junior Cup Championship.

MotoAmerica Utah Rnd Twin Cup Alex Dumas BJN P
Alex Dumas leads the Twins Cup field – 2019 MotoAmerica – Championship of Utah

The Roadracing World Young Guns Suzuki rider not only earned both the provisional and final pole position, but he made the most of his number-one starting position, got a great start of the line, and pulled a gap, which he stretched out to more than 14 seconds by the time he crossed the finish line.

Michael Barnes finished second, which enabled him to take over the lead in the championship, and Cooper McDonald notched a breakthrough third-place finish aboard his Team AP MotoArts Yamaha in only his fourth professional motorcycle road race.

Alex Dumas

“The M4 guys put me on a nice bike. We’ve been improving the bike a lot since the last couple of weekends. I had a lot of fun at this race to just be in front. I’m excited for the next race and the rest of the season. I really want to thank everybody from M4 and Roadracing World. I’m really excited.”

Twins Cup Race 1

  1. Alex Dumas (Suzuki) 21:07.834
  2. Michael Barnes (Ducati) +14.331
  3. Cooper McDonald (Yamaha) +21.266
  4. Joseph Blasius (Suzuki) +21.983
  5. Draik Beauchamp (Yamaha) +27.123

Twins Cup Standings

  1. Michael Barnes 86
  2. Draik Beauchamp 75
  3. Curtis Murray 72
  4. Chris Parrish 69
  5. Alex Dumas 66
  6. Joseph Blasius 44
  7. Jeffrey Tigert 40
  8. Jason Madama 37
  9. Chris Bays 30
  10. Robert Fisher 25

Source: MCNews.com.au

MotoAmerica | Beaubier and JD Beach share the VIR wins

2019 MotoAmerica
Round Three – VIR


Superbike Race One

Virginia International Raceway has long been a frustrating venue on the MotoAmerica schedule for Cameron Beaubier. In the first eight races at VIR, Beaubier had rather amazingly only won one of them. On Sunday that all changed with win number two, a dominant victory over Toni Elias, his rival who beat him twice here a season ago. This one, however, belonged to Beaubier, the three-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion beating Yoshimura Suzuki’s Elias by 3.5 seconds on his Monster Energy/Yamalube/Yamaha Factory Racing YZF-R1.

MotoAmerica Rnd VIR Superbike Cameron Beaubier Sat ImageBrianJNelson
Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha)

Both Beaubier and Elias had difficult Superpole sessions on the first two-day MotoAmerica event of the season. Beaubier crashed so early in the session that his lap that put him second on the grid actually came on race tyres – not very confidence-inspiring for those going slower than him on qualifying tyres. Elias, meanwhile, had bike troubles and was ultimately stranded on the track for the majority of the time. He started the race from the third row after qualifying eighth. Pole position went to Beaubier’s teammate Garrett Gerloff, the Texan’s second of the season.

Beaubier didn’t start the race in the lead, but he was in second place when race leader Mathew Scholtz crashed out on the second lap. From there it was all Beaubier, the defending champion inching away to ultimately win by 3.5 seconds for this second win of the season.


Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha)

“Just started off today feeling pretty good,” Beaubier said after the 34th Superbike win of his career. “I felt pretty comfortable on the R1 out there. We were able to get up to pace pretty quick. I feel like I’ve kind of struggled getting that pace here in the past. This one just feels really, really good. I know how fast these guys are at this track and this year. It felt really good to be able to win with a little bit of a margin. I’m sure tomorrow is going to be tougher. Both these guys are going to go back and it’s going to be a dog-fight tomorrow. Just in the past we’ve always been fast here. I feel like the R1 works pretty good here. I think I have one win to my name at this track in the past five years or something like that. That’s frustrating for a track that we know that we’re pretty strong at. This one felt really good. Got a couple things I might try in the morning depending on wet or dry. It’s going to be tough but looking forward to racing.”

MotoAmerica Rnd VIR Superbike Cameron Beaubier Sat ImageBrianJNelson
Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha)

Elias rebounded from his difficult day with second place, despite starting from the third row.

Gerloff was hot on Elias’ heels when he ran off in turn one, losing out on a chance to get second place.

Fourth place went to Attack Performance Estenson Racing Yamaha’s JD Beach, some four seconds behind Gerloff and 13.2 seconds ahead of M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Jake Lewis.

Lewis, in turn, was way ahead of Scheibe Racing BMW’s Jake Gagne, who had his hands full to the finish with FLY Racing/ADR Motorsports’ David Anthony. Omega Moto’s Cameron Petersen battled muscle-cramping to finish eighth with KWR Ducati’s Kyle Wyman and Thrashed Bike Racing’s Max Flinders rounding out the top 10.


Superbike Race One Video Highlights


EBC Brakes Superbike Race One

  1. Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha)
  2. Toni Elias (Suzuki)
  3. Garrett Gerloff (Yamaha)
  4. JD Beach (Yamaha)
  5. Jake Lewis (Suzuki)
  6. Jake Gagne (BMW)
  7. David Anthony (Kawasaki)
  8. Cameron Petersen (Yamaha)
  9. Kyle Wyman (Ducati)
  10. Max Flinders (Yamaha)

Superbike Race Two

Sunday was all about JD Beach at VIRginia International Raceway as the two-time MotoAmerica Supersport Champion put a smile on everybody’s face when he earned his first career AMA Superbike victory with a 3.7-second win in the Championship of Virginia.

A week after winning his first career AMA Grand National Flat Track at the Super TT in Arizona, Beach went out and did it again, winning a race he’d been dreaming about since he was 16 years old.

Beach’s day was made even more emotional for three reasons: Today marked the anniversary of his good friend Ethan Gillim’s passing 12 years ago; Beach became the first rider to win a Superbike National and a Flat Track National in the same season since his good friend and hero Nicky Hayden accomplished the feat in 2002; and his best friend and housemate Hayden Gillim also won the Supersport race earlier in the day.

Beach was impressive in a race that started in iffy conditions but ended in bright sunshine and on a dry racetrack. Once he got past early leader Kyle Wyman, who had fitted rain tires to his KWR Ducati in the hopes that the track wouldn’t dry, and his old Supersport rival Garrett Gerloff, Beach put his head down and opened a four-second gap. He maintained that lead to the finish, besting Gerloff by 3.759 seconds and riding a wave of emotion that will last him until Road America in four weeks.


JD Beach

“It just feels like the stars just aligned this whole week,” Beach said. “For me to get my first win last week, and to get this win today with Hayden (Gillim) winning the 600 class, it’s just amazing. These guys are so fast. I looked up to Toni (Elias). He’s won the Moto2 World Championship, and Garrett (Gerloff) has kicked my ass so many times. Even with how this track was today, I was having flashbacks because he (Gerloff) lapped me when we had rain tires here. So, to beat him here, it’s just amazing. I just got to thank my team, the whole Attack Estenson Racing team. They believed in me. They gave me a shot on this bike when nobody else would. It feels good to get the win, but it feels good to reward them too. We’ve still got a lot of races to go. These guys aren’t going to let up. We’re going to keep fighting. We’ve got two dirt track races and then I’m going to Road America, so it will be fun.”

Beach compared the flat track win last week to the Superbike win this week.

“They’re both amazing,” he said. “The desire to win last weekend was like a childhood goal. It’s kind of like when you’re a kid you’re like, I want to be a firefighter or whatever. For me when I was a kid that’s what I wanted to do. I wanted to be a dirt tracker. I wanted to win races, and I still do. To win this Superbike race is something I’ve looked forward to my whole adult life, since I was 16. So, they both feel amazing, but this has a little bit of a sweeter feel to it. To do it on the day that I did it and for the last person to do it (Nicky Hayden), it’s amazing.”

MotoAmerica Rnd VIR Superbike JD Beach Sun ImageBrianJNelson
JD Beach

Gerloff was emotional in defeat and also fought back tears during the victory celebration as he was disappointed in the fact that this was one he thought he could have won.

Third place went to Toni Elias, the Yoshimura Suzuki rider holding back three others to the finish to earn the final podium spot.  It was also good for his championship aspirations as his closest rival Cameron Beaubier, who won Saturday’s EBC Brakes Superbike race at VIR, crashed his Monster Energy/Yamalube/Yamaha Factory Racing YZF-R1 and didn’t score any points.

Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz was fourth, the South African nipping at Elias’ heels in the closing laps but coming up just short at the finish. Right behind those two came M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Jake Lewis, the Kentuckian barely holding off Omega Moto’s Cameron Petersen. Petersen ran as high as fourth in what was essentially a four-rider battle for the final podium spot.

Yoshimura Suzuki’s Josh Herrin finished a disappointing weekend with a seventh place to go with his non-finish on Saturday. Thrashed Bike Racing’s Max Flinders, FLY Racing’s David Anthony and Wyman rounded out the top 10 with those three gambling on different variations of rain/slick tires.

As mentioned earlier, Beaubier crashed out of the battle for third and he now trails Elias by 24 points, 126-102. Beach is third in the series point standings with 78 points, six points clear of Gerloff. Lewis rounds out the top five with 62 points.

EBC Brakes Superbike Race Two

  1. JD Beach (Yamaha)
  2. Garrett Gerloff (Yamaha)
  3. Toni Elias (Suzuki)
  4. Mathew Scholtz (Yamaha)
  5. Jake Lewis (Suzuki)
  6. Cameron Petersen (Yamaha)
  7. Josh Herrin (Suzuki)
  8. Max Flinders (Yamaha)
  9. David Anthony (Kawasaki)
  10. Kyle Wyman (Ducati)

Superbike Race Two Video Highlights


MotoAmerica Superbike Championship Points

  1. Toni Elias 126
  2. Cameron Beaubier 102
  3. JD Beach 78
  4. Garrett Gerloff 72
  5. Jake Lewis 62
  6. Josh Herrin 58
  7. Mathew Scholz 58
  8. David Anthony 52
  9. Cameron Petersen 48
  10. Kyle Wyman 38

Image by Brian J Nelson

Source: MCNews.com.au

Interview With Joe Roberts—The Sole American Rider In MotoGP In 2019

Joe Roberts was one to watch in American motorcycle racing when he was coming up the ranks. He took wins in AMA Pro, won the MotoAmerica Superstock 600 championship in 2015, and in 2017 proved strong in the FIM CEV Repsol Moto2 class. He was young, he was clearly talented, and he was hungry. That combination got Roberts a chance to dip his toes in MotoGP’s Moto2 class in 2017, where he contested five races and then moved into the series full time in 2018. This year he’s back again with American Racing KTM and he’s still working hard to find his feet. It’s been a big jump to the world stage, and Roberts is not shy to admit it has been an adjustment.

“It’s pretty intense, man,” Roberts said of racing in Moto2. “You show up to a weekend… These guys are generally not far off the lap record within the first session, so it’s something mentally you have to wrap your head around when you show up to a track. Something I do when I come out here to the supermoto track is just try to set my absolute best time in the first outing to kind of train your brain to really just be firing right away. So it’s stuff like that that I think coming from the national level where things are a little bit more relaxed I would say, you kind of have to think about that.”

Roberts used to prefer to take the first session to do some mental preparation with the bike, the track, to make a plan of attack. But he’s working to push past old habits like that.

“Visualizing the track and just understanding,” Roberts explains of his approach now. “I do a lot of watching the races before I show up. The next track is Jerez, so I’ll start to study all the previous years, different lines, different braking markers, things like that. You can spot a lot on those cameras. Also now MotoGP they do the onboard cameras too. You can just select that. So I do a lot of that stuff. That helps me out as soon as you get on the track. Obviously you still need a few laps to kind of put everything together, but that’s improved my process a lot more.”
The difficulty is compounded by a brand-new bike in Moto2 this year as well.

“I think there’s some things they still need to figure out with the electronics,” Roberts said of the new Triumph platform. “Just little stuff. Like in Austin where I put the first gear, the thing pops into neutral. So sometimes stuff like that can come up.

“But it’s a new class. They’re working the kinks out. That was something we were struggling with a little bit the last race. But it’s a new class. I like the bike. I’m a heavier guy so if I have more power, it helps.”

Plus getting the settings dialed is a whole other matter, adjusting the torque management system (not traction control) that, according to Roberts, essentially makes the throttle softer. Engine-braking settings and other maps all need to be refined.

In addition to all the technical concerns, there’s also the mental game and team dynamic to consider.

“I think mentally we’re already there. I came into this year very positive and strong that I could be at the front. Honestly right now what we’re running into a bit is just some things like within the team where it’s a new team and sometimes the communication, it takes a few races to get everything dialed in, for everyone to kind of find the rhythm. The team is really strong. I think there are a lot of good, positive things. We just need to put everything together. But I’m really positive we’ll be there. In A lot of races we’re only like a second off, but in this field it’s like 25th place. It’s kind of interesting to think about it that way because you also can see we’re only one second, so you improve a half a second that’s really nothing and you’re right up in the front. We’ll be there.”

Roberts is fully committed to reaching his goals of consistent top-10 placements by the end of the year. He’s now based in Barcelona and supplementing his physical training regime with plenty of supermoto. He’s working to pick up Spanish too.

Spain has been a hotbed of amazing talent in recent years, so it doesn’t hurt to be fully enmeshed in a culture so supportive of motorcycling.

“These Europeans, they grow up racing each other from when they’re like 10 years old. I witnessed it when I went to race in the European championship. I could just see these little kids. They were like 10 years old but in professional, full-on same structure that I’m racing in as a professional team. They’re just kind of groomed to be these amazing riders. Not everybody is. It’s not like, ‘I’m Spanish. I’m an amazing rider just naturally.’ There’s a lot that aren’t. But I think people here in the US could be like that if they had the same kind of opportunities. I think you could have these amazing riders. It’s just to me with the opportunities they get as a young kid.

“Actually I think they get a lot of help from the local governments as well. I think a lot of the families aren’t really that well-off. In Valencia, I know a lot of top riders from Valencia are sponsored by the government, so it’s pretty crazy. I was thinking about hitting up the Glendale government, the city or something, and seeing what happens. They’d probably just tell me to piss off.”

Which is a shame, because American riders need a more effective way to prepare themselves to be competitive on the world stage. For now, Roberts really only sees a viable path similar to the one he took.

“I can only really look at what I did. I went to [Red Bull MotoGP] Rookies Cup. That was a big eye-opener for me and taught me a lot of things about the way things are structure-wise and how fast they are, those Europeans. When I came back to America it wasn’t like I was here to stay. It’s not easy to go over to Europe. There’s so many fast riders. Obviously I think MotoGP wants Americans, but it’s not cheap either. It’s a long way to go. That’s maybe the things they’re running into. As far as [Cameron] Beaubier and guys riding in MotoAmerica, some of them got some good deals going on with some factory teams, getting paid well. So maybe they don’t feel the need to risk it all. I can respect that. That’s not really something I’m looking for.”

Source: MotorCyclistOnline.com

Beaubier & Elias share MotoAmerica 2019 opener wins

MotoAmerica 2019

Fong & Gillim share Supersport wins

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.

MotoAmerica Rnd Atlanta Sat Beaubier
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.

MotoAmerica Rnd Atlanta Sun Toni Elias
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

  1. Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha)
  2. Toni Elias (Suzuki) +2.732
  3. JD Beach (Yamaha) +2.733
  4. Mathew Scholtz (Yamaha) +6.906
  5. 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.

MotoAmerica Rnd Atlanta Sun Toni Elias
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.

MotoAmerica Rnd Atlanta Sat Beaubier
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.”

MotoAmerica Rnd Atlanta Sun Toni Elias
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

  1. Toni Elias (Suzuki)
  2. Mathew Scholtz (Yamaha) +1.839
  3. Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha) +2.096
  4. JD Beach (Yamaha) +2.393
  5. Josh Herrin (Yamaha) +17.180

EBC Brakes Superbike

  1. 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.

MotoAmerica Rnd Atlanta Sat 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

  1. Hayden Gillim (Yamaha)
  2. Bobby Fong (Suzuki) +4.624
  3. Sean Dylan Kelly (Suzuki) +12.194
  4. Richie Escalante (Yamaha) +12.780
  5. 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.

MotoAmerica Rnd Atlanta Sat Hayden Gillim Bobby Fang
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.”

MotoAmerica Rnd Atlanta Sat Hayden Gillim
Hayden Gillim – 2019 MotoAmerica Round 1 – Atlanta

Supersport – Sunday

  1. Bobby Fong (Suzuki)
  2. PJ Jacobsen (Yamaha) +2.373
  3. Richie Escalante (Yamaha) +15.658
  4. Jason Aguilar (Yamaha) +16.598
  5. Bryce Prince (Yamaha) +19.686

Supersport Standings

  1. Bobby Fong 45
  2. Hayden Gillim 31
  3. P.J. Jacobsen 30
  4. Richie Escalante 29
  5. Sean Dylan Kelly 26
  6. Jason Aguilar 22
  7. Bryce Prince 22
  8. Xavier Zayat 17
  9. Nick McFadden 11
  10. 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.

MotoAmerica Rnd Atlanta Sun Rocco Landers
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

  1. Rocco Landers (Kawasaki)
  2. Dallas Daniels (Kawasaki) +16.226
  3. Samuel Lochoff (Yamaha) +17.852
  4. Teagg Hobbs (Kawasaki) +18.144
  5. 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.

MotoAmerica Rnd Atlanta Sat Rocco Landers
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.”

MotoAmerica Rnd Atlanta Sat Rocco Landers
Rocco Landers – 2019 MotoAmerica Round 1 – Atlanta

Liqui Moly Junior Cup – Sunday

  1. Rocco Landers (Kawasaki)
  2. Dallas Daniels (Kawasaki) +4.924
  3. Dominic Doyle (Kawasaki) +21.548
  4. Gauge Rees (Kawasaki) +30.647
  5. Damian Jigalov (Kawasaki) +30.753
MotoAmerica Rnd Atlanta Sun Rocco Landers
Rocco Landers – 2019 MotoAmerica Round 1 – Atlanta

Liqui Moly Junior Cup Standings

  1. Rocco Landers 50
  2. Dallas Daniels 40
  3. Dominic Doyle 27
  4. Gauge Rees 21
  5. Damian Jigalov 20
  6. Samuel Lochoff 16
  7. Jackson Blackmon 15
  8. Toby Khamsouk 15
  9. Teagg Hobbs 13
  10. 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.

MotoAmerica Rnd Atlanta Sat Michael Barnes
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

  1. Michael Barnes (Ducati)
  2. Curtis Murray (Suzuki) +4.641
  3. Chris Parrish (Suzuki) +4.709
  4. Jeffrey Tigert (Suzuki) +9.458
  5. 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.

MotoAmerica Rnd Atlanta Sun Michael Barnes
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.”

MotoAmerica Rnd Atlanta Sat Twins Cup Michael Barnes L
Michael Barnes – 2019 MotoAmerica Round 1 – Atlanta

Twins Cup – Sunday

  1. Michael Barnes (Ducati)
  2. Chris Parrish (Suzuki) +2.860
  3. Curtis Murray (Suzuki) +7.557
  4. Draik Beauchamp (Yamaha) +21.663
  5. Alex Dumas (Suzuki) +22.251

Twins Cup Standings

  1. Michael Barnes 50
  2. Chris Parrish 36
  3. Curtis Murray 36
  4. Draik Beauchamp 23
  5. Alex Dumas 21
  6. Jeffrey Tigert 21
  7. Jason Madama 20
  8. Joseph Blasius 15
  9. Chris Bays 14
  10. 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.”

MotoAmerica Rnd Atlanta Sun Andrew Lee
Andrew Lee – 2019 MotoAmerica Round 1 – Atlanta

Stock 1000 – Sunday

  1. Andrew Lee (Kawasaki)
  2. Michael Gilbert (Kawasaki) +0.130
  3. Stefano Mesa (Kawasaki) +5.014
  4. Travis Wyman (BMW) +6.593
  5. Chad Lewin (Yamaha) +24.333

Stock 1000 Standings

  1. TBA…

Source: MCNews.com.au

Wayne Rainey previews MotoAmerica 2019 | American Superbike

MotoAmerica President Wayne Rainey Talks 2019

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.

MotoAmerica Round Josh Herrin Cameron Beaubier NJMP Saturday
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.

MotoAmerica Rnd Barber Sun Hayden Gillim JD Beach BJN
Hayden Gillim, JD Beach – MotoAmerica 2018 Round 10 Alabama

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 Rnd Barber Supersport BJN
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.

MotoAmerica Rnd Barber Sun Hayden Gillim JD Beach BJN
Hayden Gillim, JD Beach – MotoAmerica 2018 Round 10 Alabama

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 Rnd Barber JD Beach
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.

MotoAmerica Round JD Beach Supersport NJMP Saturday
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.

MotoAmerica Round Supersport NJMP Sunday
Supersport in wet conditions – MotoAmerica 2018 Round 9 New Jersey

Source: MCNews.com.au