Josh Herrin (Bazzaz Superstock 1000) and Bryce Prince (Superstock 600) have clinched their respective 2016 Championships, but there are three MotoAmerica Championships still on the line during this coming weekend’s season finale at New Jersey Motorsports Park (NJMP).
In the premier Superbike class, Cameron Beaubier leads the rankings with 298 points, including eight race victories. Beaubier’s Monster Energy Graves Yamaha teammate Josh Hayes is second in the standings with 269 points. Yoshimura Suzuki’s Toni Elias is only six points behind Hayes, but Elias’ teammate Roger Hayden, who has 239 points, has been mathematically eliminated from Championship contention but not from being a factor in the Championship.
With two races and 50 points available to win by any single racer there are many scenarios possible in the Superbike class, but here at the simplest ways to keep track of the Championship possibilities. If Beaubier wins Superbike Race One at New Jersey he will clinch his second consecutive title. Done. End of story. If Beaubier scores zero points in Race One, he will still hold at least a four-point lead in the Championship and would need to beat Hayes and/or Elias in Race Two to capture the crown.
That’s all easier said than done, however, because as good as Beaubier is his competitors have proven to be just as tough, especially recently. For starters, Hayes won the last time they raced, at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, and has a winning record at NJMP. Elias has been very strong all year in spite of it being his first visit to most of the tracks in America, and this will be Elias’s second visit to NJMP. And although his title chances have ended, Hayden is racing for pride and his first win at New Jersey, where he has consistently been a tough competitor. And beyond the factory four, there’s 2015 MotoAmerica Superstock 1000 Champion Jake Gagne and his Broaster Chicken/RoadRace Factory Yamaha YZF-R1, 2016 Superstock 1000 Champion Herrin and a host of other riders in the field who are capable of throwing a wrench into the Championship aspirations of others and will be looking to end the season in the best possible way.
In the Supersport class, Garrett Gerloff comes to New Jersey holding a 14-point lead over his Y.E.S. Graves Yamaha teammate JD Beach, the defending Supersport Champion, and there will be two Supersport races and 50 points up for grabs at NJMP. If Beach wins both races and claims those 50 points, Gerloff can finish no worse than second in each race to retain the points lead and earn his first MotoAmerica/AMA title.
But even though Gerloff and Beach have dominated the 2016 season, winning six races each, M4 SportbikeTrackGear.com Suzuki’s Valentin Debise and Cameron Petersen have each won a race in 2016 – including a victory by Petersen at NJMP in April, and Wheels In Motion/Meen Yamaha’s Joe Roberts won a Supersport race in New Jersey in 2015 and considers the flowing track one of his favorites. And then there’s Team H35 Honda’s Benny Solis, Jr., who earned his first MotoAmerica Supersport podium finish at Round Seven in Utah and is looking for a breakthrough result heading into the off-season.
The KTM RC390 Cup is down to a two-rider contest between AXcess Racing’s Brandon Paasch and Jimmy Winters Motorsports’ Anthony Mazziotto, III, both New Jersey residents. Paasch, age 15, holds a 19-point advantage over 16-year-old Mazziotto coming into the finale with two races and 50 points still to be decided. If Mazziotto wins both races in New Jersey, Paasch can finish third in each race and still take home the Championship.
That’s no small feat, however, as 17-year-old Ashton Yates, currently third in points and mathematically-eliminated from Championship contention, has won the last two KTM RC390 Cup races and has been a front-runner all season. And then there’s Double B Racing’s Jody Barry, age 17. Barry was a Championship contender in 2015 and again in 2016, until round seven of nine when he chose to skip Race Two so he could travel home to Illinois to be in his sister’s wedding. Since then, Barry has also claimed the AMA Road Race Horizon Award and several race wins outside of MotoAmerica competition, and he will be looking to end his 2016 season on a high note.
The action starts with practice and some qualifying sessions on Friday, followed by final qualifying and the first races on Saturday, and then the final races of the 2016 season on Sunday.