MotoAmerica Superbikes at Road America
MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American Road Racing Series
Road America
Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin
May 30, 2020
HONOS Superbike Race One Results (all on Dunlop tires):
- Cameron Beaubier (Yam YZF-R1), 12 laps, Total Race Time 26 minutes, 35.342 seconds, Average Speed 109.615 mph, Best Lap Time 2:11.618
- Mathew Scholtz (Yam YZF-R1), -7.800 seconds, 2:12.515
- Jake Gagne (Yam YZF-R1), -8.505, 2:13.754
- Bobby Fong (Suz GSX-R1000R), -9.029, 2:14.030
- Kyle Wyman (Duc Panigale V4 R), -20.401, 2:13.735
- Josh Herrin (BMW S1000RR), -27.090, 2:13.913
- PJ Jacobsen (Duc Panigale V4 R), -29.331, 2:14.287*
- David Anthony (Suz GSX-R1000R), -36.793, 2:14.805
- Jake Lewis (BMW S1000RR), -48.533, 2:14.948
- Travis Wyman (BMW S1000RR), -75.117, 2:17.662*
- Max Flinders (Yam YZF-R1), -75.630, 2:17.954
- Corey Alexander (Kaw ZX-10R), -80.338, 2:17.850*
- Danilo Lewis (BMW S1000RR), -100.492, 2:20.262*
- Bradley Ward (Kaw ZX-10R), -107.894, 2:19.757
- Cameron Petersen (Suz GSX-R1000R), -78.297, 2:15.606, docked three positions for being late to parc ferme*
- Jeremy Coffey (BMW S1000RR), -111.197, 2:20.240
- Joseph Giannotto (Kaw ZX-10R), -111.318, 2:20.419*
- Sam Verderico (Yam YZF-R1), -128.242, 2:21.528
- Toni Elias (Suz GSX-R1000R), -4 laps, DNF, mechanical/lost chain, 2:13.786
- Ashton Yates (Hon CBR1000RR SP2), DNS
*Stock 1000/Superbike Cup entry
More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki Press Office:
As Superbike racing returned to the AMA/ MotoAmerica series after lockdown, new M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Bobby Fong made an impressive Superbike debut aboard his GSX-R1000 to finish just off the podium after leading the race mid-distance.
With the Road America Circuit closed to the public because of the Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, the 29-year-old reigning Supersport Champion was always in the leading group from the start, moving into the lead at the mid-way point, but finishing a fraction of a second from the podium.
Team-mate and 2010 Moto2 World Champion / 2017 MotoAmerica Champion Toni Elias was moving forward and holding fifth until he was forced out with five laps to go.
More, from a press release issued by Yamaha:
Beaubier Scores Dominant Victory at MotoAmerica Season Opener
Cameron Beaubier scored a dominant win for the Monster Energy Attack Performance Yamaha Racing team on Saturday, May 30, at the Road America circuit. He was joined on the podium by his teammate Jake Gagne in third at the first round of the 2020 MotoAmerica Superbike season.
Returning to action after a long wait for the season to start, Beaubier put his R1 in prime position for Race 1 with a stunning performance in Superpole earlier in the day, taking pole position by 0.4 of a second from Gagne.
Lining up 1-2 on the grid, when the lights went out the reigning champion delivered a strong launch to lead into Turn 1, followed by Gagne. As Beaubier raced into a clear track ahead and built a gap on the pack, his teammate was engaged in a thrilling fight with Bobby Fong for second. Fong pushed past towards the end of the first lap, but Gagne bit straight back into Canada Corner to retake the position.
At the front Beaubier’s lead grew, his first flying lap time of 2’11 on race tires surpassing his own pole time and laying down a serious marker for his rivals. Leading by 2.4 seconds at the start of lap four, his position at the top went unchallenged for the remaining eight laps.
Behind him, a fierce battle for second and third place was heating up between Gagne, Fong and Mathew Scholtz. Holding his rivals off well, Gagne ran slightly wide at Turn 7, dropping him to fourth. On lap 10 he forced his way back into third and hounded Scholtz in second, coming home just 0.7 of a second behind him to take the third step on the podium.
Lapping consistently in the low 2’12s for most of the race, Beaubier was faultless in his Race 1 performance and took the first checkered flag of the year 7.8 seconds ahead of second place.
After their impressive double podium on Saturday, the Monster Energy Attack Performance Yamaha Racing squad head into Sunday’s Race 2 in an excellent position to consolidate their strong start to 2020.
Richard Stanboli – Monster Energy Attack Performance Yamaha Racing Team Manager
“We had some challenges for the first race of 2020. We just kept working and I think we nailed it for the race. Cameron is an awesome rider and everybody did their part to make this program work, so we’re super happy about that. Jake did really well in his first race for the team. We struggled in the last few tests to find a baseline for him, but we finally found it and all of a sudden, he just figured it out. I think it’s just going to get better from here.”
Cameron Beaubier – Monster Energy Attack Performance Yamaha Racing
“It feels so good just to be at the racetrack. I keep saying it, but I really am just so pumped to be back at the races. We were pretty much ready to go racing right after the Barber test, and then everything hit with COVID-19. So it’s been a long time waiting to get back racing.
“As soon as I got on the bike, I just felt so good this weekend. I was able to beat the track record yesterday, I’ve just been feeling so strong on this thing. Yamaha and Attack Performance put their heads together and came up with a great package. I think at first everyone wasn’t sure how the new team would measure up, but we came out swinging. It feels so good to get this win for them. They’ve been working really, really hard. I don’t want to get too excited, I just want to keep the ball rolling.”
Jake Gagne – Monster Energy Attack Performance Yamaha Racing
“We’re on the podium at the first race! That’s it. That’s a good day. We started off yesterday a little bit slower for sure. From what we’ve been testing at Buttonwillow, this track is just quite a bit different. We definitely found a good step forward, getting the front end more comfortable for me this morning in that first practice.
“I was happy going into the race. I wanted to try to see if we could get a little bit closer to Cam, because he is really going good. I got a good first couple laps then I started struggling with grip a little bit more than I thought. We need to smooth it out for tomorrow, but I’m happy. We’re on the podium. This Monster Energy Attack Performance Yamaha R1 is up here. I’m happy for these guys. They’re working really hard. So we’ll see if we can make a couple little tweaks for tomorrow and get it up there on top.”
More, from a press release issued by MotoAmerica:
Beaubier Dominates HONOS Superbike Race One At Road America
Four-Time Defending Champ In A Class Of His Own In Season Opener
ELKHART LAKE, WI (May 30, 2020) – Four-time defending MotoAmerica Superbike Champion Cameron Beaubier has been unstoppable thus far in the season-opener at Road America, the Monster Energy Attack Performance Yamaha rider leading every session, breaking the lap record, earning pole position and winning today’s first HONOS Superbike race by a country mile.
Beaubier led every lap to win his eighth career Superbike race at the scenic racetrack in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, his win today tying him with his former teammate Josh Hayes for second on the Road America career win list. If Beaubier wins tomorrow’s race two, it will be his ninth and that will tie him for the all-time lead with Mat Mladin.
An extremely confident Beaubier led off the line from pole position, led into the first corner and was never headed, eventually winning by 7.8 seconds at a racetrack where margins of victory are usually less than half a second.
“I don’t know, man,” Beaubier said when asked if this is the best he’s ever ridden in his career. “Just this off-season with Yamaha and Richard (Stanboli) at Attack putting their heads together, they kind of came up with an incredible package. We made a huge step, I feel like chassis, electronics-wise, a little bit motor. Everything’s just working. I feel so good on this thing. I don’t want to jinx nothing. I just want to keep the ball rolling. I’ve just been having pure fun on the thing. We’ve been able to beat our track records back home at Buttonwillow. It’s just been great working with the whole team. Everyone’s kind of come together. It’s been great. So, I finally got a good start and just put my head down there at the beginning. Clicked off some good laps at the beginning. Then I saw my gap grew a little bit. I just kept the head down and tried to ride as consistent as I could. Everything’s working really good right now. It’s one of my favorite podiums, my two buddies in the pits up on the podium with me. It’s been really good. I’m definitely ready for things to get back to normal, though. It’s been a little strange not having fans and having to keep your distance with your team after you get a good result. I’m just so pumped to be racing. Everything’s good. Looking forward to tomorrow.”
Second place went to Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz, the South African fighting through after a less-than-stellar start. He mowed the through the pack, however, passing Toni Elias, Bobby Fong and Jake Gagne en route to the runner-up finish.
“My start was terrible, as usual,” Scholtz said. “I’ve kind of gotten used to it by now. But it actually worked out well for me. We missed quite a lot of track time on Friday practice, so I kind of slotted in behind (Bobby) Fong, (Jake) Gagne and them, so I was able to kind of see what they were doing for the first couple laps. I think that really helped me to figure out one or two things. Once I kind of got up to the back of them, I saw that in some of the harder braking points I was a little bit stronger than them. So just kind of kept to myself then. With five laps to go, I managed to get past Jake (Gagne) and Bobby (Fong) and just kind of rode my own race from there. I was really looking at where to try to pass. I was told they had their own battle going on, so it kind of worked out well for me. I want to say a huge thank you to the Westby team. It’s been difficult to pre-season test with me breaking my collarbone and stuff. Just really, really thankful to be back on the podium.”
Scholtz ended up beating Gagne by .705 of a second with Beaubier’s Monster Energy Attack Performance Yamaha teammate Gagne getting the better of M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Fong on the final lap, besting him by just .524 of a second for the final podium spot.
“Cam (Beaubier) got off to a heater of a start,” Gagne said. “I knew if he could get off to a start and I could kind of be in second, I wanted to try to see if I could at least run a couple laps and pick up the pace. He was flying right away. I was charging those first couple laps. I could see on my pit board I had .2, .3, .4 at one point. Then those guys immediately started creeping up. That was kind of the push I wanted to try to make. Mat (Scholtz) was hauling butt. Bobby (Fong) was right there. I made a mistake I think one lap in. Mat got underneath me, Bobby got up underneath me and then from there I got a few laps to kind of see what they were doing, which was nice. Kind of struggling with the grip a little bit more than I thought, but Mat was really looking good. Bobby was looking good. It was fun to race with those guys again. It’s been a while since we had a little battle and go back and forth. Bobby and I had a pretty good last lap. Went back and forth a couple times. So that was fun. Hats off to these guys. They were riding great. Hats off to my team and Monster Energy Attack Yamaha. This bike is working better and better every time we get on it, and we’re getting more and more comfortable. Thankful for tomorrow. We’ll see if we can make a couple little adjustments and try to get closer to these guys.”
Inde Motorsports Ranch/KWR Ducati’s Kyle Wyman ended up a lonely fifth, the New Yorker some seven seconds clear of Josh Herrin, who was making his debut on the Scheibe Racing BMW S 1000 RR. Herrin, in turn, was 2.2 seconds ahead of Celtic HSBK Racing’s PJ Jacobsen and his Ducati Panigale V4 R.
FLY Racing ADR Motorsports’ David Anthony was eighth with Scheibe Racing’s Jake Lewis and Travis Wyman Racing’s Travis Wyman rounded out the top 10.
M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Toni Elias was the most notable non-finisher, the 2017 MotoAmerica Superbike Champion suffering a mechanical problem on the fourth lap.
New Winners Aplenty In MotoAmerica Season Opener
No Fans But Plenty Of Action In Elkhart Lake On Opening Day
There were three new winners in the four support classes at Road America today with PJ Jacobsen, Dominic Doyle and Richie Escalante scoring victories in the Stock 1000, Liqui Moly Junior Cup and Supersport classes, respectively, in the opening round of the 2020 MotoAmerica Series.
Jacobsen, a veteran of World Supersport and World Superbike and the runner-up in last year’s Supersport Series, won his first Stock 1000 race on a sunny Saturday at Road America; South African Doyle won his first career Liqui Moly Junior Cup race by just .078 of a second over defending champion Rocco Landers; and Escalante dominated the Supersport race, finishing 11.5 seconds ahead of Brandon Paasch.
The Twins Cup race, meanwhile, was won by Kaleb DeKeyrel by just .002 of a second over Landers, with DeKeyrel taking his second career win in the class in what was just his second race in Twins Cup.
Supersport: Escalante’s First
In Saturday’s Supersport race, HONOS team rider Richie Escalante notched his first career Supersport win with an impressive performance aboard his Graves Motorsports-built Kawasaki ZX-R. For Team Green, it was their first Supersport victory in an AMA-sanctioned road racing since Leandro Mercado’s win at Daytona in October 2009.
Second place went to Celtic HSBK Racing’s Brandon Paasch aboard a Yamaha, and Altus Motorsports rider Kevin Olmedo rounded out the podium in third on a Suzuki.
“I’m really happy,” Escalante said about his win. “The Graves Kawasaki is a very good bike. I’m really happy for me, the team, the bike, (the) new year. I’m working really hard this weekend. I’m riding a little bit on my limit. Today, I started really good. I pushed and I arrived in my rhythm. Tomorrow is another race. I need to keep working. Thanks to HONOS, the sponsor for the team. I’m ready for tomorrow.”
Stock 1000: Jacobsen In The Clear
In MotoAmerica’s first race of the season, not to mention the first motorcycle road racing National anywhere in the world since COVID-19, the Series’ literbike riders competed in the lone Stock 1000 race of the weekend at Road America.
South African Cameron Petersen got a great jump off the line, got the holeshot, and maintained the race lead aboard his Altus Motorsports Tucker Hagerty Suzuki for the majority of the eight-lap event. Polesitter PJ Jacobsen stalked Petersen aboard his Celtic HSBK Racing Ducati, then made his move around Petersen, and managed to pull out a gap of more than four seconds at the stripe to take the win. Petersen finished second, and Ride HVMC Racing’s Corey Alexander brought his Kawasaki home in third.
“I haven’t really ridden this bike much; just at the Barber test where the weather was really bad,” Jacobsen said. “I’ve been off the bike for two months and haven’t ridden. Cam (Petersen) got into turn one pretty aggressive. I knew that he wanted to lead the race. I was like, ‘Let’s follow Cam and see what he can do.’ I hadn’t seen Corey (Alexander), so I didn’t know if he was hiding or what he was doing. Kind of sat there and figured out what he was doing and stuff. Then I kept looking back, and Corey was right there, too. So, I was just like, ‘What should I do?’ Then I saw the lap board. So, I was like, ‘I’m just going to try and go like qualifying lap times and put my head down.’ That’s what I did. The bike is really good. It has some good things like any bike and some difficult things. He (Petersen) could really get away from me, but in other places, we had an advantage. So, it’s pros and cons. It was really good. It’s good to ride with these guys. It was a fun race. I’m sure there’ll be some very exciting races throughout the season.”
Liqui Moly Junior Cup: Doyle Gets It Done
With 2019 Liqui Moly Junior Cup Champion Rocco Landers returning to the class to defend his title, the expectation was that he would continue his winning ways unabated. However, polesitter Dominic Doyle had other plans. The BARTCON Racing rider rode a masterful race and, even though Landers got by him on a couple of occasions, Doyle fought back and had enough of the lead coming up the hill to the finish line that he managed to hold off Landers’ Kawasaki by .078 of a second to capture his first-ever MotoAmerica victory. Landers, also aboard a Kawasaki, was second, while Celtic HSBK Racing’s Sam Lochoff finished third, also on a Kawasaki.
When asked about his breakthrough win, Doyle said, “I figured that (Landers) would pull some strings and get out to the front there with me. He knows how to follow and get with me. He’s an intelligent rider. I know that he’ll be there with me. He just plans things for the last few laps. He came past me a couple times, twice. On the third-to-last lap, he came by me, through Canada (Corner), I think. I got him back going down the straightaway. I tried to just put my head down and stay out front. So that was that.”
Twins Cup: DeKeyrel By A Whisker
The closest race of the day was in Twins Cup, which was the final race on Saturday’s schedule. And, what a finish to the race day it was. Rocco Landers, who was competing in his second-consecutive race of the day, looked to have the measure of the field in the eight-lap event, but Kaleb DeKeyrel had other plans. DeKeyrel, riding a 1833CJKNOWS Yamaha, put a perfect draft pass on Landers, who was riding an American Racing/SportbikeTrackGear.com Suzuki, to take the win. The margin of victory for DeKeyrel was a scant .002 of a second over Landers. Meanwhile, Syndicate Racing/Apex Assassins Yamaha rider Jason Madama won an intense battle against Chris Parrish to finish third.
“Our team this year has assembled a really good group,” DeKeyrel said. “This is the first time that I’m actually going to be able to take on the entire championship. Last year, we were planning on doing Laguna and then on, but we just couldn’t get everything put together, all the puzzle pieces together in time. So, I’m excited that I finally get to compete in my first full championship this year. It should be fun. I enjoy every second of being out here racing with these guys. I had a long break racing MotoAmerica, and I’m definitely happy to be back.”
More, from a press release issued by Westby Racing:
Westby Racing’s Scholtz Finishes Second In Superbike and Wyman Is Seventh In Junior Cup At Road America
Elkhart Lake, WI – May 30, 2020 – Saturday’s MotoAmerica race day at Road America was a good one for Westby Racing’s two-rider squad as Superbike rider Mathew Scholtz notched a runner-up finish and, in Junior Cup, Cody Wyman came home seventh.
Mathew’s fourth-place result in Superpole gave him a second-row start in the race. Capitalizing on all the hard work that he and the Westby Racing crew put in during the off-season—both in the race shop and during their on-track test sessions—Mathew exploited the power and prodigious handling of his #11 Yamaha YZF-R1 Superbike and put himself firmly among the frontrunners in the race.
Despite the fact that defending Superbike Champion Cameron Beaubier quickly built an insurmountable lead, Mathew raced hard and bested everyone else in the race besides Beaubier to finish second on the day.
“My start was terrible, as usual,” commented Scholtz. “I’ve kind of gotten used to it by now, but it actually worked out well for me. We missed quite a lot of track time in Friday practice, so I kind of slotted in behind (Bobby) Fong, (Jake) Gagne and them, and I was able to kind of see what they were doing for the first couple laps. I think that really helped me to figure out one or two things. Once I got up to the back of them, I saw that, in some of the harder braking points, I was a little bit stronger than them. With five laps to go, I managed to get past Jake (Gagne) and Bobby (Fong) and just kind of rode my own race from there. I was really looking at where to try to pass. I was told they had their own battle going on, so it kind of worked out well for me. I want to say a huge thank you to the Westby team. I’m just really, really thankful to be back on the podium.”
Mathew’s teammate Cody qualified third in Junior Cup on a track that he hasn’t raced at in five years, which earned him a front-row start in the race. Unfortunately, a technical issue on his #34 Yamaha YZF-R3 hampered his results, but he still managed to finish seventh.
“I had a great morning in final Qualifying, working the air to qualify third and start on the front row, which was my first time on the front row, and it felt awesome. On the warmup lap of the race, I had an issue with the front brakes, and that definitely daunted me in the first half of the race. We’ve got things sorted out for tomorrow’s race, and I can’t wait for another go at it.”
Sunday’s Superbike Race 2 is at 1:00 PM Central and Junior Cup Race 2 is at 3:00 PM Central.
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