MotoAmerica Championship of Virginia
MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American Road Racing Series
VIRginia International Raceway
Alton, Virginia
May 13, 2017
Motul Superbike/Bazzaz Superstock 1000 Race One Combined Results (all on Dunlop tires):
1. Roger Hayden (Suz GSX-R1000), Superbike, 23 laps, Total Race Time 33:03.922, Best Lap Time 1:25.420
2. Cameron Beaubier (Yam YZF-R1), Superbike, -0.485 second, ran off track, 1:25.080
3. Bobby Fong (Kaw ZX-10R), Superstock 1000, -1.211 seconds, 1:25.714
4. Josh Hayes (Yam YZF-R1), Superbike, -1.287, ran off track, 1:25.096
5. Mathew Scholtz (Yam YZF-R1), Superstock 1000, -2.803, 1:25.492
6. Jake Lewis (Suz GSX-R1000), Superstock 1000, -6.609, 1:25.683
7. Kyle Wyman (Yam YZF-R1), Superbike, -32.642, ran off track, 1:25.888
8. Danny Eslick (Yam YZF-R1), Superstock 1000, -34.077, 1:26.564
9. Bryce Prince (Yam YZF-R1), Superstock 1000, -34.511, 1:26.638
10. Hayden Gillim (Suz GSX-R1000), Superstock 1000, -38.076, 1:26.750
11. David Anthony (Kaw ZX-10R), Superstock 1000, -38.269, 1:27.067
12. Jason DiSalvo (BMW S1000RR), Superbike, -51.963, 1:26.889
13. Frankie Babuska (Yam YZF-R1), Superstock 1000, -58.505, 1:27.614
14. Max Flinders (Yam YZF-R1), Superstock 1000, -1 lap, 1:29.588
15. Josh Herrin (Yam YZF-R1), Superbike, -2 laps, crash, 1:25.603
16. Anthony Kosinski (Yam YZF-R1), Superstock 1000, -4 laps, 1:29.898
17. Toni Elias (Suz GSX-R1000), Superbike, -6 laps, DNF, crash, 1:25.713
18. Jake Gagne (Hon CBR1000RR SP2), Superbike, DNF, retired, 1:25.817
Bazzaz Superstock 1000 Race One Results (all on Dunlop tires):
1. Bobby Fong (Kaw ZX-10R), 23 laps, Total Race Time 33:05.133, Best Lap Time 1:25.714
2. Mathew Scholtz (Yam YZF-R1), -1.592 seconds, 1:25.492
3. Jake Lewis (Suz GSX-R1000), -5.398, 1:25.683
4. Danny Eslick (Yam YZF-R1), -32.866, 1:26.564
5. Bryce Prince (Yam YZF-R1), -33.300, 1:26.638
6. Hayden Gillim (Suz GSX-R1000), -36.865, 1:26.750
7. David Anthony (Kaw ZX-10R), -37.058, 1:27.067
8. Frankie Babuska (Yam YZF-R1), -57.294, 1:27.614
9. Max Flinders (Yam YZF-R1), -1 lap, 1:29.588
10. Anthony Kosinski (Yam YZF-R1), -4 laps, 1:29.898
Motul Superbike Championship Point Standings (after 5 of 18 races):
1. Elias, 95 points
2. Hayden, 94
3. Beaubier, 89
4. Fong, 52
5. TIE, Hayes/Lewis/Herrin, 44
8. Scholtz, 43
9. Eslick, 36
10. Wyman, 34
11. Gagne, 26
12. Gillim, 23
13. Prince, 18
14. Anthony, 15
15. Flinders, 10
16. Sylvain Barrier, 9
17. Cameron Petersen, 5
18. DiSalvo, 4
19. TIE, Babuska/Kosinski/Tyler O’Hara, 3
Bazzaz Superstock 1000 Championship Point Standings (after 5 of 18 races):
1. Fong, 95 points
2. Lewis, 86
3. Scholtz, 85
4. Eslick, 75
5. Gillim, 55
6. Prince, 46
7. Flinders, 43
8. Kosinski, 29
9. Tyler O’Hara, 17
10. Cameron Petersen, 11
More, from a press release issued by MotoAmerica:
Hayden Takes The Fifth At VIR
Roger Hayden earns Superbike career win five in Virginia
ALTON, VA (May 13, 2017) – Roger Hayden emerged victorious from a drama-filled Motul Superbike race today, the Yoshimura Suzuki rider taking his fifth career Superbike win and his first at VIRginia International Raceway during the opening day of the MotoAmerica Championship of Virginia.
Hayden held off Monster Energy/Yamalube/Yamaha Factory’s Cameron Beaubier by a scant .485 of a second, the two-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion fighting his way through from dead last after an off-track excursion early in the race. If Hayden’s ride to victory was impressive, Beaubier’s ride to second was equally so.
“I want to be more aggressive at the beginning, I felt like I had the pace to get away,” Hayden said after his first victory of the 2017 season. “Cameron [Beaubier] and I passed each other several times on the first lap and then I was just trying to get around Josh [Herrin]. If he would have just settled down a little bit I believe we could have worked together and continued forward. It’s like he hasn’t learned how to ride a Superbike yet. You don’t go and dive bomb everybody, so once I got by him I kept pressing ahead.
“The team was giving me the board and I could see my lead kept growing, but I decided to back it down the last three laps since water was running onto the track in a few spots. I’m happy to finally get this win after coming up short several times earlier in the season. Cameron (Beaubier) was coming quick, so we’ll search for a little more speed and try to repeat our performance tomorrow.”
Beaubier surprised even himself after running off track rather than hitting fellow Superbike racer Kyle Wyman on the run into turn one.
“I came in a little bit hot behind Kyle [Wyman] and felt the front end start to push, which forced me to let off of the brake and eventually run off the track,” Beaubier said. “I did everything I could just to keep it on two wheels since the grass was wet and super slick.”
As for passing as many as 16 riders, Beaubier admitted he was surprised.
“The entire field was long gone when I got back on the track, I just put my head down and rode my heart out,” the 24-year-old said. “I feel like a ride like that is what wins championships, but at the same time a mistake like that is what loses them. I’m happy to be on the podium and collect some points. I couldn’t believe that I was able to shrink the gap on the front runners as much as I did.”
For the second time this season, Quicksilver Latus Motors Kawasaki’s Bobby Fong put his Superstock 1000 ZX-10R on the Motul Superbike podium while also collecting victory in the Bazzaz Superstock 1000 class for a third time in 2017. Fong was in the lead pack for the duration and made a pass on four-time AMA Superbike Champion Josh Hayes on the dash to the checkered flag.
“It was a long shot to repeat my COTA performance, but I always try and reach for the stars,” Fong said. “I’ve had a lot of pressure since the beginning of the season and high expectations to run with the Superbike guys. I want to be smart for the championship, but the other part of me is a racer and I want to get up there with these guys. The race was tough. However, I managed my tires really well and had great grip come the end of the race. It was difficult riding with Toni (Elias) and Josh (Herrin). They were holding up the pace quite a bit and they are both really hard to pass. They played cat-and-mouse, which isn’t cool, we should be working together to catch Roger (Hayden). I’ve just got to get a little bit more aggressive in the future if I am trying to pass them.”
Like his factory Yamaha teammate Beaubier, Hayes also had an off-track excursion that cost him dearly. After earning the 40th Superbike pole of his career earlier in Superpole, Hayes was in the lead pack when he ran off. He would drop to 12th, move back up to third and then lose the spot to Fong on the run to the flag.
Yamalube/Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz ended up fifth in the Motul Superbike class and second in the Bazzaz Superstock 1000 class, the South African also running in the lead pack and only 2.8 seconds from victory in fifth place.
M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Jake Lewis filled the Bazzaz Superstock 1000 podium in third place and sixth overall. Seventh went to Excelsus Sollutions/Lucas Oils/KWR’s Kyle Wyman with TOBC Racing’s Danny Eslick, Helmet Sounds/Western Services/Meen Motorsports’ Bryce Prince and Cycle World Suzuki’s Hayden Gillim rounded out the top 10.
And what of Motul Superbike Championship points leader Toni Elias? The Yoshimura Suzuki rider was running second in the closing stages when he was taken out by Helmet Sounds/Western Services/Meen Motorsports’ Josh Herrin at the top of the Rollercoaster, with both riders hitting the deck. Herrin was later penalized three grid positions for tomorrow’s second Motul Superbike race for “causing a collision” that resulted in both riders crashing.
“In some way, this is racing and Josh (Herrin) come and said, ‘Hey, sorry,’ but you cannot race like this,” Elias said. “Not for me only, but for the others. You can see every race… Okay, I understand he is trying to show the potential, but you cannot risk Roger Hayden’s championship, Josh Hayes or Cameron Beaubier’s championship because you need to show your potential. You can show the potential in the same way, but risking the championship of the others. We work hard, we try to be consistent to open the gap in the championship. We cannot waste our work like this. We have a brain to think and I don’t think that’s the way to use the brain. But, I repeat, this is racing, it is like this and I have to accept. I’m sure he’ll (Herrin) learn something, I hope.”
Elias came into VIR with a 26-point lead on this teammate Hayden. After the first of two races, that lead has evaporated to just a single point, 95-94. Beaubier also escaped disaster to move to within six points of Elias with 89 points. Fong is fourth with 52 points, but leads the Bazzaz Superstock 1000 title chase by nine points over Lewis, 95-86. Scholtz is just another point behind in third place.
The Supersport final was also heated from the get-go and saw the demise of championship points leader and pole sitter Valentin Debise at the very start of the second lap. With Yamahas on both sides of the Frenchman in the fast turn two, there was contact and the M4 Suzuki rider ended up getting the worst of it as he tumbled off on the grass, scoring zero points on the day.
The two Yamahas were left to battle alone at the front, with Gerloff able to establish himself as the man to beat early as he pulled a slight gap. Beach, though, kept fighting and got back to within striking distance before eventually relenting. He was 3.8 seconds behind at the end of the 20-lap race.
“The first corner I felt like I was on my line and I just got tagged from the back and ended up with some gnarly tire marks on me,” Gerloff said. “He [Valentin Debise] ran it in there and sometimes it can be a little bit much. It got me a little bit fired up and I wanted to get by him by out-braking him into turn one, but his brake lever or something hit the back of my leg. I didn’t know what happened, but he likes to race close and I like to race close and it is what it is.”
Beach was a bit miffed at Debise for what could have been a much worse incident in turn one.
“He’s [Valentin Debise] definitely not a bad rider or anything, but it for sure spooked me and I’m pretty sure he ended up going down as well,” Beach said. “He almost hit Garrett [Gerloff] and I, which isn’t normal and I hope he doesn’t continue that type of riding. I was on the outside and if I had been a little bit closer there would’ve been contact. It was just a little bit too close of a move for the second lap of the race.”
Benny Solis was all alone in third place, the Team H35 rider circulating by himself for the duration and ending up 47.3 seconds behind Beach.
Gerloff now leads Beach in the championship points chase by nine points, 86-77. Debise is now 21 points behind in third place.
Following Solis was a battle for fourth and first in the Superstock 600 class went to Team MG55 Racing’s Michael Gilbert, the Californian some six seconds ahead of a battle that went to former KTM Cupper Anthony Mazziotto III over JC Camacho, Jason Aguilar and Nick McFadden.
For Gilbert, it was the third win of his career and his first since winning here at VIR a year ago.
“The start was really chaotic and I was trying to set myself in there by not letting the guys go that were in front of me,” Gilbert said. “I put my head down once I got to the front in my class, paying attention to my board, and saw I had a comfortable gap on the guys behind me. I eventually slowed it down in order to bring it home safe.”
Gilbert and McFadden are now tied for the lead in the Superstock 600 Championship with 61 points – 12 clear of Aguilar.
Quarterley Racing/On Track Development riders made up the top four in the KTM RC Cup race today with Draik Beauchamp taking his first-ever MotoAmerica victory. Beauchamp beat Jackson Blackmon by .069 of a second, with the 15-year-old Blackmon scoring his first career MotoAmerica podium in his return to racing after an off-season arm injury. Benjamin Smith, who won both races in the opening round at Road Atlanta, was third today.
“That was an awesome race,” Beauchamp said. “It took me a lot of hard work to get here today, but hopefully I can keep doing this. I fought hard the entire race with these guys (Jackson Blackmon and Benjamin Smith) and it was a spectacular job by them to ride the way that they did for our team.”
More, from a press release issued by Yamaha:
Beaubier & Hayes Come From Behind To Finish 2nd & 4thIn MotoAmerica Superbike Race 1 At VIR; Gerloff & Beach Go 1-2 In Supersport Race 1
Alton, VA – May 13, 2017 –Three rounds into the 2017 MotoAmerica season, and it’s become quite apparent that excitement and drama are the two watchwords of the premier Superbike class. Monster Energy/Yamalube/Yamaha Factory Racing teammates Cameron Beaubier and Josh Hayes have starring roles in this passion play.
After earning the pole position in Saturday’s Superpole at VIRginia International Raceway, Josh got off to a bit of a slow start in Superbike Race 1, as did Cameron, who also started from the front row of the grid. While both teammates concentrated on moving towards the front, first Cameron, and then Josh ran off the track, but both riders were able to rejoin the race in short fashion despite having to negotiate through the wet grass that was the end-product of heavy rain in the area over the previous couple of days.
As the laps wound down, Josh and Cameron both were able to work their way back into contention, with Josh ahead of Cameron in the blitz to the front. Josh ran the fastest lap of the race as he passed riders right and left, and then Cameron eclipsed Josh’s fastest lap with one of his own, recorded within the final couple of laps in the race when he moved into the runner-up position and a place on the second step of the podium.
Josh was also in a podium position until the final corner on the final lap, when he was narrowly passed on the run to the checkers and finished fourth. For both Josh and Cameron, it was a remarkable finish, given how things unfolded earlier in the race.
“I got in a little hot right behind Kyle Wyman, went wide, and ran off the track,” said Cameron. “I did everything I could to keep it on two wheels, with all the wet grass from the rain over the past couple of days. I got back out on the track, put my head down, and I just rode my heart out. I was close enough to the front to see Toni (Elias) and Josh Herrin crash, and I thought I had a chance to get back up there. The bike felt great. I ran a bunch of fast laps towards the end, and I was able to get back on the podium, pick up some good points, and get ourselves back in this Championship.”
Josh said, “It was a tough race for me right from the start. But, the pace wasn’t really that fast. I had a couple of issues, and I got in a spot on the outside of Toni (Elias). I didn’t have any confidence in the front end of my bike, and I ran out of racetrack. I got back on the pavement pretty quickly and started trying to fight my way back. I felt like I was losing a lot of time trying to keep the bike pointed in the right direction, but still, I managed to get all the way up to third. Unfortunately, in the last turn, (Bobby) Fong got a good run on me and beat me to the line.”
In Saturday’s Supersport race, Monster Energy/Yamalube/Yamaha Extended Service/Graves/Yamaha teammates Garrett Gerloff and JD Beach were in the lead group that also included French rider Valentin Debise. Some close racing caused Debise to crash unhurt, which left Garrett and JD to fight for the win.
As the laps wound down, backmarkers came into play, which brought Garrett and JD close enough together and enabled JD to take the lead. After they got through the traffic, Garrett was once again able get past JD, and then, stretch out a modest lead, which he held all the way to the finish line for his second Supersport win of the season. JD finished in second for his fourth podium result in a row.
“I’m happy that I was able to get on the box, especially after not having a lot of dry track time this weekend,” commented Garrett. “I took my time getting past the lappers, and JD managed to get back past me later in the race, but once I got some clear track, I was able to put my head down and run some decent laps, which helped me stretch out the lead.”
JD said, “I felt good all race long and, when Debise went out, I knew it was going to be a battle between Garrett and I. Some slower riders helped me reel in Garrett and pass him, but he got me right back. He was riding really well today. It’s great for our team to finish 1-2, but still, I’d have liked to have been ‘1.’ Hopefully, that will happen tomorrow.”
Sunday’s Supersport Race 2 from VIR will start at 2:25 PM EST, and Superbike Race 2 is at 3:30 PM EST. Both races will be broadcast live on beIN Sports.
For more Yamaha racing news, results, photos, and videos, visit http://www.YamahaMotorsports.com/Racing
Also, check out “YamahaMotorUSA” on your favorite social media site.
More, from a press release issued by Yamalube/Westby Racing:
At VIR, “Durban Dynamo” Mathew Scholtz Reaches MotoAmerica Superstock 1000 Podium For Fourth Time In Five Races Thus Far In The Season
Alton, VA – May 14, 2017 – Competing on another racetrack for the first time ever in his career, Yamalube/Westby Racing rider Mathew Scholtz from Durban, South Africa, proved yet again that he’s quick in more ways than one.
Mathew was quick to pick up the nuances of yet another new-for-him U.S. racetrack–this time at VIRginia International Raceway–and also quick aboard his #11 Yamalube/Westby Racing/Yamaha YZF-R1 as he rode brilliantly to a second-place finish in Saturday’s Superstock 1000 race after qualifying first in class in Superpole earlier on Saturday.
Mathew spent a day in the rain on Friday getting to know VIR’s 14-turn, 2.25-mile natural road course. And, by the time Saturday’s combined Superbike/Superstock 1000 race went green, the sun was out, the track was dry, and the conditions were completely different than they’d been thus far in the MotoAmerica weekend.
Starting from the third row on the grid, Mathew immediately put his R1 in contention for the Superstock 1000 win and stayed in the lead pack throughout race, mixing it up with most of the full-fledged Superbikes in the field in the process. As the laps wound down, Mathew kept his poise and crossed the finish line second in the Superstock 1000 class, which was his third runner-up result out of the five races run so far in the season.
“The first few corners of the race were kind of hectic,” Mathew said. “Guys were swapping positions, running wide, banging handlebars, but I managed to emerge in seventh or eight position overall and mostly clear of the fray. I could see that the Superbikes weren’t actually pulling a massive gap on us, so I didn’t panic.
“I closed up to Bobby (Fong), Toni (Elias), and (Josh) Herrin, and from there, it was pretty much a four-way battle for us. I concentrated on the guys in front of me, and Fong’s bike is really, really fast, so we need to work on our top-end speed to try to close the gap to him. I felt good being able to hang with the Superbike riders. On the fourth or fifth lap before the end, (Josh) Hayes and I touched, and I ran wide, so I sort of lost that tow with Toni, Herrin, Bobby, and Hayes. Then, Toni and Herrin touched and fell down, and after (Cameron) Beaubier went by, I was in fifth overall and second in class, which I was really happy with. I wish we could have challenged Bobby on the final lap, but I’m looking forward to Sunday’s race. I feel really, really confident that we can move forward and challenge even the Superbike guys. ”
Mathew and the Yamalube/Westby Racing team will race again at VIR on Sunday afternoon at 3:30 PM EST. The race will be broadcast live on beIN Sports.
For more updates on Yamalube/Westby Racing, including news, photos, and videos, visit https://www.westbyracing.com
Also, visit “Westby Racing” on your favorite social media site.