Cameron Beaubier led MotoAmerica Superbike Free Practice Two Friday at Barber Motorsports Park with a lap time of 1:25.908 on his Monster Energy/Graves Yamaha YZF-R1. Beaubier, the MotoAmerica Superbike Championship point leader, said he was pleased to be fastest but he was focused on being consistent and enjoying his time riding his Superbike, something he didn’t do when he visited Alabama last year.
“So far the weekend is going good,” Beaubier told Roadracingworld.com. “I like this track, even though it wasn’t very good to me last year. It has a good flow, and I’m having fun riding my new R1 around here. Mainly, I’ve been working on my consistency, which I’ve kind of been struggling with this year. It’s getting better, so I’m happy.
“It’s supposed to get hotter through the weekend, so Sunday will be tough. But I’m having fun riding my R1 around here, and I wasn’t having fun last year.”
Beaubier’s teammate Josh Hayes was second-best with a time of 1:25.977, well off Hayes’ 2014 pole position time of 1:25.063. The four-time and defending Champion spent a lot of time coming in and out of the pits Friday and making lots of changes to dial in his new YZF-R1 for the tight and technical 2.3-mile road course.
Yoshimura Suzuki’s Roger Hayden (1:26.689) and Jake Lewis (1:26.927) were third and fourth, respectively, in their practice session Friday afternoon.
The MotoAmerica Superbike class will have another practice session Saturday morning followed by Superpole qualifying sessions in the afternoon. The two, 23-lap Superbike races will happen on Sunday, June 14.
Triumph AMA/FIMNA Superbike Challenge of Alabama
MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American Road Racing Series
Barber Motorsports Park
Birmingham, Alabama
June 12, 2015
Superbike Free Practice Two Results (all on Dunlop tires):
1. Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha), 1:25.908
2. Josh Hayes (Yamaha), 1:25.977
3. Roger Hayden (Suzuki), 1:26.689
4. Jake Lewis (Suzuki), 1:26.927
5. Chris Fillmore (KTM), 1:27.611
6. Danny Eslick (Honda), 1:27.676
7. Chris Ulrich (Suzuki), 1:27.956
8. Bernat Martinez (Yamaha), 1:28.825
9. Elena Myers (Suzuki), 1:29.033
10. Stefano Mesa (Honda), 1:30.108
11. Mathew Orange (BMW), 1:32.814