JD Beach turned the fastest lap time during MotoAmerica Supersport Free Practice One Thursday at Circuit of The Americas. Beach, the defending Champion in the class, did a 2:13.656 late in the session on his Y.E.S./Graves Yamaha YZF-R6 to claim early bragging rights.
“The track, it feels like it’s a little bit warmer here than it was at the test, so it kind of has a slight greasy feeling to it. But the session went well,” Beach told Roadracingworld.com. “We figured some stuff out with the bike, and I’m feeling good. It’s just the first session, but I’m feeling better here than I did at the test.”
That test, the official MotoAmerica Pre-Season Test, was held two weeks ago, and Beach’s teammate Garrett Gerloff came away from that test with the fastest lap time in the Supersport class.
Gerloff was very nearly fastest again Thursday even though he only did two timed laps in practice before his one and only YZF-R6 racebike was sidelined by a technical problem. Gerloff sat at the top of the time sheets with a lap of 2:13.902 until Beach surpassed him in the final stages of the 45-minute session.
Joe Roberts, the 2015 MotoAmerica Superstock 600 Champion, jumped up in the final minutes to claim the third spot in the rankings. Roberts ran a 2:14.179 on his Wheels in Motion/Motosport.com/Meen Yamaha YZF-R6.
Frenchman Valentin Debise was fourth-quickest with a lap time of 2:14.635 on his M4 SportbikeTrackGear.com Suzuki GSX-R600.
The MotoAmerica Supersport class will be back on track at 4:05 p.m. local time Friday for their one and only 40-minute qualifying session.
MotoAmerica Superbike Championship of Texas
MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North America Road Racing Series
Circuit of The Americas, Austin, Texas
April 7, 2016
Supersport Free Practice One Results (all on Dunlop tires):
1. JD Beach (Yam YZF-R6), 2:13.656
2. Garrett Gerloff (Yam YZF-R6), 2:13.902
3. Joe Roberts (Yam YZF-R6), 2:14.179
4. Valentin Debise (Suz GSX-R600), 2:14.635
5. Benny Solis, Jr. (Hon CBR600RR), 2:15.148
6. Cameron Petersen (Suz GSX-R600), 2:15.874
7. Travis Wyman (Yam YZF-R6), 2:16.233*
8. Dakota Mamola (Yam YZF-R6), 2:16.548*
9. Xavier Zayat (Suz GSX-R600), 2:17.035*
10. Jay Newton (Yam YZF-R6), 2:18.786*
11. Phil Horwitz (Yam YZF-R6), 2:25.565*
12. Kris Lillegard (Yam YZF-R6), 2:27.986
*Superstock 600 rider competing as a wild card