Beaubier Perfect At Road America

MotoAmerica Superbike Champion Sweeps Doubleheader

ELKHART LAKE, WI – Monster Energy Graves Yamaha’s Cameron Beaubier said Sunday’s second Superbike race was the most fun of any of the Superbike races he’s been involved in. And you get the feeling he’d be saying the same thing even if he hadn’t won. But win he did, the 23-year-old MotoAmerica Superbike Champion adding a victory in race two to his race-one win for a clean sweep at Road America in the Honda Superbike Showdown of Wisconsin.

The two wins also propelled him into the lead in the 2016 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship, 176-169, over his teammate Josh Hayes. It also gives him a leg up on the competition in the Honda Superbike Showdown, a three-round (six races) series (Road America, Barber Motorsports Park and Laguna Seca Raceway) within a series that will award its winner a brand-new 2016 Honda Civic Sedan. With his perfect 50 points, Beaubier leads the Honda Superbike Showdown, 50-33, over Roger Hayden and teammate Toni, the two Yoshimura Suzuki riders leaving Wisconsin after splitting second- and fourth-place finishes. Hayden is third in the MotoAmerica Superbike Championship – 27 points behind Beaubier and five points ahead of his teammate Toni Elias.

Both of the Superbike races were thrillers from start to finish with Beaubier beating Hayden to the line by just .442 of a second in race one before beating Yoshimura Suzuki’s Elias by .684 of a second in race two. Hayes was third in both races, 1.9 seconds behind in race one and just .721 of a second behind in race two.

The two wins were the fifth and sixth wins of the year for Beaubier and the 16th and 17th of his Superbike career. With his 16th career win, Beaubier moved into a tie with MotoAmerica President and three-time 500cc World Champion Wayne Rainey for 10th on the all-time win list. With his 17th win later in the day, Beaubier pulled even with 2006 MotoGP World Champion Nicky Hayden for ninth on the all-time list.

“After crashing yesterday and Friday, I was a little nervous going into today,” Beaubier said after race two. “I especially didn’t want to throw another bike down the road but you have to ride on the edge if you’re going to beat these guys. It was really good to be able to get the double here. I’ve had good success here, but I’ve never doubled here even on a 600. Every time I come here it seems like I have a good weekend. The race was crazy and was probably the most fun Superbike race I’ve ever had. Battling back and forth and you don’t get a four-bike battle for the lead all the time in Superbike racing.”

Hayes was having a good run in the first race until he ran off track and had to make up the ground he’d lost. He ended up third.

“I thought I had spots where I was good and there were spots where Cam (Beaubier) was good,” Hayes said after the first of two races. “I had a lot of fun being up at the front and trying to figure out how everything was going to play out. I got a pretty bad run out of the chicane and Cam came by but I thought, ‘Oh, he’s a sissy on the brakes. I will just get him down in Canada Corner.’ But I might have missed that a little bit. It was harder getting back on the track than it was going off it as there was a pretty big lip in the curbing out there. I had to make sure I got her turned and squared up so I could jump that sucker back on the track.”

Hayden knew he didn’t have enough power to draft past Beaubier on the run to the flag. And he also knew he wouldn’t be able to hold the lead if he led out of that final corner on the run up the hill.

“They had a little bit of steam, but there were a couple of places I think I could have passed in the infield,” Hayden said after his race-one runner-up finish. “I was just hanging on there and I was pretty comfortable because the draft was helping me. I didn’t want to start racing Cam because I could see that Josh was coming on my pit board. On the last lap I tried to get close enough but I made a couple of mistakes and Cam just had enough to hold me off. I would have needed a lot to get by him.”

Beaubier wasn’t the only rider to come away from Road America with a clean sweep as Wheels In Motion/Meen Motorsports’ Josh Herrin won both of the Bazzaz Superstock 1000 races while finishing fifth overall in both of the Superbike races. Both of the Superstock 1000 races were also great battles with Herrin topping Aprilia HSBK Racing’s Claudio Corti in both and by just .167 of a second. South African Mathew Scholtz was third in his MotoAmerica debut in race one with Cycle World Suzuki’s Hayden Gillim filling the podium in race two.

Frenchman Valentin Debise broke through with his maiden MotoAmerica victory when he won today’s Supersport battle over championship points leader Garrett Gerloff by just .095 of a second. Debise, and his M4 SportbikeTrackGear.com Suzuki, bounced back from a mechanical failure in yesterday’s Supersport race to beat race-one winner Gerloff and the Y.E.S./Graves Yamaha. Third place on Sunday went to Saturday’s runner-up JD Beach, the defending MotoAmerica Supersport Champion barely beating Debise’s teammate Cameron Petersen to the flag.

“For sure I was looking for a win for a long time,” Debise said. “That was my main goal when I come here. I finish on the podium but for sure when you finish second you are the first loser. Yesterday I thought I could do it, but unfortunately we had some trouble with the bike. I take some space and he could not work with me on the front straight. I am very happy for that and I cannot hope for a better result from this place that I didn’t know.”

With his victory and second place this weekend at Road America, Gerloff extends his points lead to 43 points over his teammate Beach, 190-147. Debise is third with 139 points.

The Superstock 600 win today went to Bryce Prince, the Riders Discount Tuned Racing rider turning the tables on yesterday’s winner Richie Escalante by beating the HB Racing/Meen Motorsports rider to the flag by just .799 of a second. Prince’s teammate Jason Aguilar ended up third.

The KTM RC Cup race saw a first-time race winner in Aston Yates, the son of former AMA Champion Aaron Yates breaking through to win the first MotoAmerica race of his young career. Yates emerged from a four-way battle to beat Double B Racing’s Jody Barry by just .049 of a second. Series points leader Brandon Paasch was just .211 of a second from victory with his championship rival Anthony Mazziotto III finishing fourth and just .244 of a second from victory.

“I didn’t want to be the first one coming out of the final corner because I knew I was going to get used,” Yates said. “I had to think a little bit and that’s what I did. I checked up in Canada Corner a little bit and in the final corner I checked up a lot and let them both by. Then I made my pass.”

Paasch now holds a seven-point lead over Mazziotto, 164-157, after four rounds and eight races.

Superbike Race 1: 1. Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha); 2. Roger Hayden (Suzuki); 3. Josh Hayes (Yamaha); 4. Toni Elias (Suzuki); 5. Josh Herrin (Yamaha); 6. Claudio Corti (Aprilia); 7. Matthew Scholtz (Yamaha); 8. Bobby Fong (Kawasaki); 9. Jake Lewis (Suzuki); 10. Kyle Wyman (Yamaha).

Bazzaz Superstock 1000 Race 1: Josh Herrin (Yamaha); 2. Claudio Corti (Aprilia); 3. Mathew Scholtz (Yamaha); 4. Bobby Fong (Kawasaki); 5. Jake Lewis (Suzuki); 6. Hayden Gillim (Suzuki); 7. Taylor Knapp (Yamaha); 8. Danny Eslick (Yamaha); 9. Steve Rapp (BMW); 10. Frankie Babuska Jr. (Yamaha)

Superbike Race 2: 1. Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha); 2. Toni Elias (Suzuki); 3. Josh Hayes (Yamaha); 4. Roger Hayden (Suzuki); 5. Josh Herrin (Yamaha); 6. Claudio Corti (Aprilia); 7. Hayden Gillim (Yamaha); 8. David Anthony (Kawasaki); 9. Bobby Fong (Kawasaki); 10. Jake Lewis (Suzuki).

Bazzaz Superstock 1000 Race 2: 1. Josh Herrin (Yamaha); 2. Claudio Corti (Aprilia); 3. Hayden Gillim (Suzuki); 4. David Anthony (Kawasaki); 5. Bobby Fong (Kawasaki); 6. Jake Lewis (Suzuki); 7. Steve Rapp (BMW); 8. Danny Eslick (Yamaha); 9. Frankie Babuska Jr. (Yamaha); 10. Barrett Long (Yamaha).

Supersport Race 2: 1. Valentin Debise (Suzuki); 2. Garrett Gerloff (Yamaha); 3. JD Beach (Yamaha); 4. Cameron Petersen (Suzuki); 5. Bryce Prince (Yamaha); 6. Richie Escalante (Yamaha); 7. Jason Aguilar (Yamaha); 8. JC Camacho (Yamaha); 9. Nick McFadden (Yamaha); 10. Deion Campbell (Yamaha).

Superstock 600 Race 2: 1. Bryce Prince (Yamaha); 2. Richie Escalante (Yamaha); 3. Jason Aguilar (Yamaha); 4. JC Camacho (Yamaha); 5. Nick McFadden (Yamaha); 6. Deion Campbell (Yamaha); 7. Michael Gilbert (Yamaha); 8. Conner Blevins (Kawasaki); 9. Andy DiBrino (Yamaha); 10. Caroline Olsen (Suzuki).

KTM RC Cup Race 2: 1. Ashton Yates; 2. Jody Barry; 3. Brandon Paasch; 4. Anthony Mazziotto III; 5. Renzo Ferreira; 6. Draik Beauchamp; 7. Alejandro Gutierrez; 8. Brandon Altmeyer; 9. Jackson Blackmon; 10. Josh Serne.

Superbike Championship Point Standings: 1. Cameron Beaubier (176/6 wins); 2. Josh Hayes (169/1 win); 3. Roger Hayden (149); 4. Toni Elias (144/3 wins); 5. Claudio Corti (100); 6. Josh Herrin (85); 7. Bobby Fong (78); 8. Hayden Gillim (70); 9. Danny Eslick (57) 10. Taylor Knapp (56).

More, from a press release issued by Yamaha:

Beaubier Orders Up A Double Cheese With Two Superbike Victories In Wisconsin; Teammate Hayes Podiums Twice

Elkhart Lake, WI – Defending MotoAmerica Superbike Champion Cameron Beaubier ordered a double-cheese victory from the Sunday menu at Road America, and his entire Monster Energy/Graves/Yamaha Factory Racing team feasted on the success.

Cameron’s victory in Superbike Race 2 was his second of the day, and his sixth on the season. Meanwhile, his teammate Josh Hayes (aka “Mr. Road America”) recorded his second podium result of the day and his eighth podium this year.

Josh started from the pole, but he had to settle for second going into turn one as fast-starting Toni Elias took the lead. Josh and Cameron slotted into second and third, respectively, and were immediately in a battle with Toni and his teammate Roger Hayden. Josh passed Toni in short order and took the lead, and then Cameron managed to also get past Toni.

Josh and Cameron began swapping the lead back and forth as Roger moved into third in front of Toni. On the final lap, with Cameron in the lead and Josh in second, Toni moved into second and tried to take the lead over Cameron. He ran wide in turn five, and Cameron maintained the lead, while Josh moved back into second. Cameron took the checkers, and Toni just barely nipped Josh at the line.

After his second victory of the day, Cameron said, “That was a tough race. You’ve got to ride on the edge if you’re going to beat these guys. I’ve never doubled here, but I always seem to have a good weekend at Road America. That was a fun race, and we were all in a battle. Coming to the last lap, I thought it was just Roger and Josh, but here comes Toni, and I was like ‘Where did you come from?’ So I was glad to cross the finish line first because all four of us were going for it.”

Josh commented, “I felt like I rode a really good race, and I rode as fast and consistent as I could. I wasn’t too surprised when Cam came past me, so I knew that I had to be as relentless as I could for the rest of the race. Toni was able to draft past me to the line, and it was close, so I wasn’t happy to get third today. But I’ll take it and move on to next week at Barber.”

The Monster Energy/Graves/Yamaha Factory Racing team will be back in action again next weekend as the MotoAmerica Championship will be at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, AL, on June 10-June 12.

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 Team Hammer:

DEBISE AND M4 SPORTBIKETRACKGEAR.COM SUZUKI WIN IN WISCONSIN

M4 SportbikeTrackGear.com Suzuki’s Valentin Debise scored his breakthrough MotoAmerica victory in thrilling fashion at Round 5 of the 2016 AMA/FIM North American Road Racing Championship at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.

Meanwhile, teammate Cameron Petersen factored at the front of both Supersport races and added a podium finish of his own to round out an outstanding weekend for Team Hammer.

South African Petersen battled for the win in Saturday’s treacherous wet-to-dry contest. Petersen guided his M4SportbikeTrackGear.com Suzuki GSX-R600 around the four-mile circuit in aggressive fashion, swapping positions repeatedly in the three-way scrap for the victory.

Despite his determined ride, Petersen lost out in the run up the hill to the flag and came home a narrow third, just 0.264 out of the win.

Debise’s Supersport race on Saturday ended early due to a fried clutch, but came back swinging on Sunday. The Frenchman fought his way up from fourth early to push in either first or second for the majority of the race. On the final lap, Debise pushed his M4 SportbikeTrackGear.com Suzuki GSX-R600 into the lead and opened up just enough of a gap to survive a last-gasp drafting attempt by his rivals.

Debise claimed the checkered flag by a 0.095-second margin. It was the sixth podium result of his rookie season in MotoAmerica competition.

“Earlier in the year I finished third place and second place and I knew that all that remained was to finish in first,” said Debise. “I went for it and finally I got it today. I was worried I was going to get drafted like I did at VIR, so I pushed as hard as I could in the last two corners and opened up a bit of space. I am so happy, and I can’t thank the team enough for helping me achieve this.”

Petersen worked his way up into third on the penultimate lap but crossed the stripe 0.255 seconds back of another podium finish in fourth.

After the weekend, Petersen said, “I have to admit that I’m a little bit disappointed, but they were both great races. I went for it and pushed as hard as I possibly could on the brakes. I have to be happy with finishing on the podium on Saturday and coming so close to doing it again on Sunday. We’re making continual progress and are making ourselves a constant presence at the front.”

Superstock 1000 competitor Jake Lewis continued to work his way back up to speed after missing the opening stages of the season due to injury. The talented youngster replicated his VIR results with fifth and sixth-place results at Road America on the M4 Suzuki GSX-R1000.

M4 LOXY Suzuki’s Caroline Olsen returned from injury with a solid performance. After sitting out VIR with a concussion, Olsen took 15th in Saturday’s Superstock 600 race and then broke into the top 10 with a 10th-place result in Sunday’s race.

Illness upset Xavier Zayat’s weekend. The young rider was unable to start on Saturday and Sunday proved to be another difficult day.

Team Hammer now heads directly to Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama, for Round 6 of the 2016 AMA/FIM North American Road Racing on June 10-12.

This year marks Team Hammer’s 36th consecutive season of operating as a professional road racing team. During that time, racebikes built and fielded by Team Hammer have won 61 AMA Pro National races, have finished on AMA Pro National podiums 148 times and have won five AMA Pro National Championships (the most recent in 2012), as well as two FIM South American championships. The team has also won 133 endurance races overall (including seven 24-hour races) and won 13 Overall WERA National Endurance Championships with Suzuki motorcycles, and holds the U.S. record for mileage covered in a 24-hour race. The team also competed in the televised 1990s Formula USA National Championship, famously running “Methanol Monster” GSX-R1100 Superbikes fueled by methanol, and won the F-USA Championship four times.

More, from a press release issued by Yamaha:

Yamaha bLU cRU Riders Gerloff & Beach Finish 2nd & 3rd In Supersport Race 2 At Road America

Elkhart Lake, WI – Yamaha Extended Service (Y.E.S.)/Graves/Yamaha teammates Garrett Gerloff and JD Beach took turns leading Sunday’s MotoAmerica Supersport Race at Road America, but when the checkered flag flew, the two teammates had to settle for second- and third-place finishes.

Garrett, who won Saturday’s Supersport Race 1, started from the pole again on Sunday after breaking the Road America Supersport lap record in Saturday’s qualifying, but it was his teammate JD who got the holeshot going into turn one, with Garrett slotting into second.

Valentin Debise got past Garrett, and he and JD tried to pull a gap, but Garrett was having nothing of it, and stayed with the two race leaders. Garrett passed Valentin, and set his sights on JD. The action was non-stop as Garrett took the lead, and then Valentin passed Garrett, only to have Garrett re-take the lead again. The two rivals swapped the lead a couple of more times on the final lap, and Garrett tried to time his pass heading to the checkers, but it didn’t quite work out as Valentin took the win with the two Y.E.S./Graves/Yamaha teammates completing the podium.

“I just wish I could rewind the race and try again in that last sector,” Garrett said. “I just wish I could have gotten a better drive on the straightaway. I’m really happy with the weekend overall, though, and I’m ready to move on to Barber, which is another track that I really enjoy.”

“We decided to go with the soft tire today and, for some reason, it shredded the rear,” commented JD. “About halfway through the race, it was really bad on the right side and Valentin got by me. I was able to stay in the lead pack throughout the race, though, and I’m happy to get on the podium here at Road America.

“I lost a good friend (Moto2 rider Luis Salom, who passed away from injuries sustained in a practice crash at Catalunya) on Friday, and it makes me realize how quickly things in this sport can change. I’m thankful that I was safe today, and that I brought it home in third.”

The Y.E.S./Graves/Yamaha Supersport team will race again next weekend as the MotoAmerica Championship will be at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, AL, on June 10-June 12.

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.