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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.”
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.”
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.
Toni Elias claimed the Saturday Superbike win at Laguna Seca, with Garrett Gerloff and Cameron Beaubier completing the podium, to kick off the weekend. Sunday would see Gerloff claim the Race 2 win, with a 4.449-second lead over championship leader Elias, with third places Beaubier now has a 39-point deficit to contend with.
Garrett Gerloff and Toni Elias battled it out over the weekend – 2019 MotoAmerica Round 6 – Laguna Seca
Supersport saw a single race for the weekend, run on Sunday, where Bobby Fong took the win from PJ Jacobsen and Richie Escalante, with a crash by standings leader Gillim catapaulting Fong to an 18-point lead.
Andrew Lee claimed the Stock 1000 race win, while Kaleb DeKeyrel came out on top in the Twins Cup. Rocco Landers continued his domination of the Liqui Moly Junior Cup class, with another win.
Superbikes 1
Toni Elias may not have led any of the practice or qualifying sessions at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, but he led the only thing that paid points on Saturday as the Spaniard raced to his sixth EBC Brakes Superbike win of the season in the Championship of Monterey.
Elias won a battle between himself and the Yamaha Factory Racing duo of Garrett Gerloff and Cameron Beaubier, the Texan getting the better of his three-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion teammate Beaubier to finish second, and .778 of a second behind Elias.
With Elias winning and Beaubier finishing third, the points gap has grown to 35 points, 226-191, heading into Sunday’s second of two EBC Brakes Superbike races at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
Toni Elias
“I’m happy. My team did an amazing job. My family is here. My son is here. It’s his first race ever for him. Thirty-five points now in the lead of the championship, but as you all know, you can’t get too comfortable. Mistakes can happen. You’ve got to stay calm. There’s still many, many races to go. Today has been a really good race but doesn’t mean anything tomorrow. These guys will improve some details. The championship is so long, and many things will happen. My championship lead had some advantage riding in one race in MotoAmerica, and then in the corner of the race I crashed. So, I lost almost everything. But we are increasing it again, so that’s good. Let’s keep doing every race like this, keep going, working like this. We are doing a great job.”
Gerloff finished on the podium for the eighth time this season and for the seventh race in a row. It was also his third runner-up finish of the year as he searches for his first career Superbike win. Beaubier was visibly disappointed with third place and his ninth podium finish of the season.
Toni Elias on the podium with Toni Jr. on Saturday – 2019 MotoAmerica Round 6 – Laguna Seca
Herrin crashed after making contact with Beaubier, the Georgian battling for the lead at the time. Fourth place went to JD Beach, the Kentucky resident in the mix at the front until the closing laps. He finished 7.8 seconds behind Elias but was well clear of Jake Lewis, the Kentuckian racing to fifth all alone.
David Anthony was sixth, narrowly topping Cameron Petersen. Sam Verderico, Jeremy Coffey and Max Flinders rounded out the top 10 finishers. In addition to Herrin, Mathew Scholtz, Jayson Uribe and Kyle Wyman all crashed out of the race. Uribe and Wyman went down together in turn two on the opening lap with Wyman suffering a suspected broken wrist.
Superbikes Race 2
Garrett Gerloff fulfilled a life-long dream in the Championship of Monterey on Sunday, the 23-year-old Texan winning the first MotoAmerica Superbike race of his career in front of a record crowd at Laguna Seca.
In what was his 32nd career Superbike race in his sophomore season in the class, Gerloff was dominant. The two-time Supersport Champion was second off the start behind Toni Elias, made the pass early, and was never headed, pulling away to a 4.449 second win.
With Gerloff, who earned his second career Superbike pole position on Saturday, riding off into the sunset, the battle for second was just that. A battle. The protagonists were Toni Elias and Cameron Beaubier, and the pair exchanged body blows to the bitter end with Elias coming out on top by just .326 of a second after 23 laps of the 2.2-mile track.
“It feels so good, I was telling the TV earlier, I know it’s just a race win and these guys get wins all the time and I used to, but I haven’t for a while. There’s been a lot of emotions the past year and a half, getting used to the Superbike and everything. These guys haul ass everywhere. It’s tough, stiff competition out there. It’s been a long road. There’s been a lot of ups and downs. To finally get it and to do it here even more in front of the World Superbike guys and everything, it’s just something that I’ve wanted for so long, something that’s been on my bucket list forever. When I started racing, I was watching the MotoAmerica guys, AMA guys back in the day. That was one of the things that I wanted to accomplish in my life. To finally say that I got just one win, it just feels awesome. I’m ecstatic, for sure.”
The second-place finish for Elias may not have been a win on the day, but it was as far as the championship goes as he now leads Beaubier by 39 points, 246-207. Gerloff, meanwhile, is third in the series standings with 181 points after his first career Superbike victory. Beaubier was third for the second day in a row after controlling most of practice and qualifying.
Garrett Gerloff leading Toni Elias – 2019 MotoAmerica Round 6 – Laguna Seca
Fourth place went Elias’ Suzuki teammate Josh Herrin, the Georgian in the mix for second place early in the race before fading back to the clutches of JD Beach, the Kentuckian beaten up from a morning crash in the first of two World Superbike races on Sunday. Herrin was able to beat Beach to the line by some two seconds.
Mathew Scholtz rebounded from a race crash yesterday to finish sixth today, the South African holding off Jake Gagne at the finish. Jake Lewis was eighth with Cameron Petersen and Jayson Uribe rounding out the top 10 finishers.
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.
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.
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
Toni Elias (Suzuki) 35:10.727
Mathew Scholtz (Yamaha) +1.969
Garrett Gerloff (Yamaha) +2.463
Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha) +5.473
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.
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
Toni Elias (Suzuki) 15:12.714
Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha) +0.303
Garrett Gerloff (Yamaha) +0.502
Josh Herrin (Suzuki) +9.582
JD Beach (Yamaha) +10.515
EBC Brakes Superbike Standings
Toni Elias 201
Cameron Beaubier 175
Garrett Gerloff 136
Josh Herrin 119
JD Beach 111
Mathew Scholtz 100
Jake Lewis 97
David Anthony 66
Cameron Petersen 65
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.
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
Hayden Gillim (Yamaha) 21:46.777
Bobby Fong (Suzuki) +0.101
Richie Escalante (Yamaha) +10.925
Sean Dylan Kelly (Suzuki) +11.553
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.
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.”
Bobby Fong and Hayden Gillim battle it out – 2019 MotoAmerica – Championship of Utah
Supersport Race 2
Bobby Fong (Suzuki) 29:32.860
Hayden Gillim (Yamaha) +0.003
PJ Jacobsen (Yamaha) +10.264
Bryce Prince (Yamaha) +10.809
Sean Dylan Kelly (Suzuki) +12.319
Supersport Standings
Hayden Gillim 142
Bobby Fong 135
Richie Escalante 107
P.J. Jacobsen 103
Sean Dylan Kelly 102
Bryce Prince 78
Joshua Hayes 72
Nick McFadden 59
Jason Aguilar 56
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.
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
Rocco Landers (Kawasaki) 13:46.193
Dallas Daniels (Kawasaki) +0.142
Kevin Olmedo (Kawasaki) +8.382
Isaiah Burleson (Kawasaki) +8.455
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.”
Dallas Daniels – 2019 MotoAmerica – Championship of Utah
Liqui Moly Junior Cup Race 2
Dallas Daniels (Kawasaki) 16:57.419
Rocco Landers (Kawasaki) +0.044
Kevin Olmedo (Kawasaki) +9.674
Marc Edwards (Kawasaki) +17.495
Benjamin Goody (Kawasaki) +17.787
Liqui Moly Junior Cup Standings
Rocco Landers 175
Dallas Daniels 154
Kevin Olmedo 97
Gauge Rees 72
Dominic Doyle 71
Damian Jigalov 63
Samuel Lochoff 62
Jackson Blackmon 54
Isaiah Burleson 51
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.
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.”
Andrew Lee – 2019 MotoAmerica – Championship of Utah
Stock 1000 Race 1
Andrew Lee (Kawasaki) 21:50.278
Geoff May (Kawasaki) +2.958
Stefano Mesa (Kawasaki) +6.922
Travis Wyman (BMW) +12.021
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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
Toni Elias on the Saturday Superbike podium – Road America 2019
EBC Brakes Superbike Race 1 Result (Saturday)
Toni Elias (Suzuki) 27:17.351
Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha) +0.253
Garrett Gerloff (Yamaha) +0.787
Josh Herrin (Suzuki) +2.805
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.
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.”
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.
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)
Josh Herrin (Suzuki) 28:53.289
Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha) +0.506
Garrett Gerloff (Yamaha) +6.172
JD Beach (Yamaha) +11.111
Mathew Scholtz (Yamaha) +11.538
Josh Herrin tops the Superbike podium on Sunday’s Race 2 and claims the Round win
EBC Brakes Superbike Standings
Toni Elias 151
Cameron Beaubier 142
Garrett Gerloff 104
JD Beach 100
Josh Herrin 96
Mathew Scholtz 80
Jake Lewis 76
Cameron Petersen 65
David Anthony 59
Wyman 48
Supersport Saturday
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.
Hayden Gillim – Road America 2019
Supersport Race 1 Result (Saturday)
Hayden Gillim (Yamaha) 26:05.871
Bobby Fong (Suzuki) +0.646
Sean Dylan Kelly (Suzuki) +0.687
Richie Escalante (Yamaha) +7.115
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.
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.”
Bobby Fong – Road America 2019
Supersport Race 1 Result (Sunday)
Bobby Fong (Suzuki) 25:44.504
Sean Dylan Kelly (Suzuki) +0.357
Hayden Gillim (Yamaha) +0.379
PJ Jacobsen (Yamaha) +6.856
Brandon Paasch (Yamaha) +12.397
Supersport Standings
Hayden Gillim 97
Bobby Fong 90
Richie Escalante 81
Sean Dylan Kelly 78
P.J. Jacobsen 76
Bryce Prince 55
Joshua Hayes 54
Nick McFadden 45
Jason Aguilar 43
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.
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)
Rocco Landers (Kawasaki) 19:27.143
Dallas Daniels (Kawasaki) +0.095
Kevin Olmedo (Kawasaki) +5.380
Damian Jigalov (Kawasaki) +5.386
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.
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.”
Dallas Daniels leads Rocco Landers – Road America 2019
Liqui Moly Junior Cup Race 2 Results (Sunday)
Rocco Landers (Kawasaki) 19:07.887
Kevin Olmedo (Kawasaki) +0.092
Dallas Daniels (Kawasaki) +0.152
Damian Jigalov (Kawasaki) +9.400
Dominic Doyle (Kawasaki) +12.381
Liqui Moly Junior Cup Standings
Rocco Landers 130
Dallas Daniels 109
Kevin Olmedo 65
Dominic Doyle 56
Damian Jigalov 56
Gauge Rees 55
Jackson Blackmon 53
Samuel Lochoff 46
Cameron Jones 34
Teagg Hobbs 33
Stock 1000 – Saturday
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.
Geoff May – Road America 2019
Stock 1000 Race 1 Results (Saturday)
Geoff May (Kawasaki) 18:23.735
Stefano Mesa (Kawasaki) +0.015
Andrew Lee (Kawasaki) +15.466
Travis Wyman (BMW) +15.578
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.
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.”
Stefano Mesa – Road America 2019
Stock 1000 Race 2 Result (Sunday)
Stefano Mesa (Kawasaki) 18:29.506
Andrew Lee (Kawasaki) +0.174
Corey Alexander (Kawasaki) +12.573
Miles Thornton (Suzuki) +33.482
Aaron Risinger (BMW) +33.492
Stock 1000 Standings
Stefano Mesa 81
Andrew Lee 74
Michael Gilbert 56
Travis Wyman 42
Rhett Norman 34
Corey Alexander 26
Geoff May 25
Miles Thornton 22
Bradley Ward 21
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.
