MotoAmerica Championship At Road America

MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American Road Racing Series

Road America

Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin

June 2, 2018

Motul Superbike Race One Results (all on Dunlop tires):

1. Cameron Beaubier (Yam YZF-R1), 13 laps, Total Race Time 28:54.548, Best Lap Time 2:12.253

2. Josh Herrin (Yam YZF-R1), -0.002 second, 2:11.915

3. Garrett Gerloff (Yam YZF-R1), -5.764 seconds, 2:12.903

4. Jake Lewis (Suz GSX-R1000), -7.595, 2:11.964

5. Roger Hayden (Suz GSX-R1000), -7.599, 2:12.754

6. Danny Eslick (BMW S1000RR), -24.088, 2:13.127

7. Bobby Fong (Yam YZF-R1), -25.851, 2:13.453

8. Kyle Wyman (Yam YZF-R1), -30.720, 2:14.787

9. Cameron Petersen (Hon CBR1000RR SP2), -32.706, 2:14.750

10. David Anthony (Kaw ZX-10RR), -67.591, 2:16.062

11. Sebastiao Ferreira (Yam YZF-R1), -74.891, 2:17.645

12. Bruno Silva (Kaw ZX-10R), -104.047, 2:20.105

13. Sam Verderico (Yam YZF-R1), -120.744, 2:21.001

14. Mathew Scholtz (Yam YZF-R1), -1 lap, crash, 2:12.620

15. Dr. Jeffrey Purk (Yam YZF-R1), -1 lap, crash, 2:23.949

16. Toni Elias (Suz GSX-R1000), -1 lap, DNF, crash, 2:12.457

17. Max Flinders (Yam YZF-R1), DNF, 2:21.805

Championship Point Standings (after 7 of 20 races):

1. Elias, 138 points

2. Beaubier, 128 

3. Scholtz, 105

4. Herrin, 95

5. Lewis, 68

6. Gerloff, 64

7. Wyman, 60

8. Eslick, 49

9. Anthony, 45

10. Fong, 37

11. Ferreira, 36

12. Hayden, 31

13. Silva, 25

14. Petersen, 20

15. Verderico, 19

16. Barrett Long, 10

17. Flinders, 8

18. Brad Morris, 4

19. Purk, 1

20. Jeremy Coffey, 0

More, from a press release issued by MotoAmerica:

Beaubier Breaks Through At Road America

Debise Victorious In Supersport Return

ELKHART LAKE, WI (June 2, 2018) – In a race that ranked among the best in series history, Cameron Beaubier beat Josh Herrin by just .002 of a second in the Dunlop Championship at Road America after a dramatic last lap that saw Motul Superbike Championship points leader Toni Elias crash out of the race with just a handful of corners to go.

Those three fought for the duration and it wasn’t always clean with the trio being called to race direction after the race. It started in turn one on the final lap with Elias running his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 into Beaubier’s Monster Energy/Yamalube/Yamaha Factory Racing YZF-R1 and forcing the two-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion wide. With a bit of red mist, Beaubier fought back and went for an inside pass at Canada Corner on Elias, who was closing the door on the inside line. The two hit and Elias went down, the Spaniard sliding into the gravel trap. Herrin was suddenly in the catbird seat, took over at the front and led Beaubier as the two came up the hill on the long front straight. Beaubier, however, got the perfect draft and slid past Herrin’s Attack Performance/Herrin Compound Yamaha at the checkered flag.

The win was Beaubier’s first of the season and the 25th of his Superbike career. It also came at a time when he needed it most as Elias came into Wisconsin holding down a 35-point lead in the title chase. With Beaubier’s victory and Elias’ non-finish, that gap closes to just 10 points with race two at Road America set for tomorrow. Elias now leads Beaubier, 138-128, after seven races.

“I saw Josh (Herrin) and Toni (Elias) earlier passing back and forth,” Beaubier said. “It seemed like Josh had really good pace and he would almost open up a gap on Toni, mainly in the middle part of the track. It kind of left me a little desperate trying to look for a way around Toni, but he was making up all his time on Herrin on the brakes. I couldn’t really do anything. I was kind of stuck in this spot. I knew as the laps were winding down I needed to get aggressive if I wanted to win the thing. I made a couple aggressive moves, but I felt like they were clean. Then, coming into the last lap, I think there’s a difference between aggression and plain out kind of dirty. I felt like he probably might have got sucked in a little deep into one. Bounced off me and I got angry. I gave it everything I had on the last lap just to do something. I lined him up going into Canada. I went in there not thinking we were going to hit or anything. I didn’t even realize he went down until I came around the next lap and his bike was sitting by the air fence. I’m not saying it’s my fault or his fault, maybe it was a racing incident. I still wanted him to finish the race, so that was a bummer. My bike felt really, really good as soon as we rolled it off the truck yesterday. I just felt like I couldn’t make any passes early. I felt like I had a little bit more pace, but I just needed to get a little more aggressive.”

Herrin was impressive in finishing second, the privateer leading nine of the 13 laps and coming up oh-so close at the finish.

“It was exciting, I think,” Herrin said. “I’m always thinking, what’s the race like for the fans? For some reason that’s always in the back of my head in the middle of the race. I’m always looking at the big screen when I’m on the track. It was exciting, but it’s frustrating. I don’t know if it’s two different riding styles or if it’s Toni (Elias) riding a certain way. It’s frustrating having him go by you on the straightaway or dive on the brakes as hard as he can, blow the apex of the corner and then just squirt off the corner and us not being able to do anything with it. Then he’s tapping on his tail like, ‘follow me,’ but it’s impossible to ride with his riding style.”

Herrin had a bird’s-eye of the Beaubier/Elias incident.

“Once I got up to those guys and I saw Toni go under Cam into turn one, I was like, ‘that was pretty dirty.’ Then I passed Toni into the chicane and went to the left, and then kind of squirted out to the right and had the pass on him. Then he just closes the door and leaves nowhere to go, so you just run out of space. That’s exactly what he did to Cam into Canada Corner. Goes on the brakes, Cam’s got the pass… He released the brakes, closes the door and you’re thinking, ‘Screw the guy behind me. I don’t care about him.’ And then when you hit him, he cries about it. It’s really dangerous. Nobody’s going to say anything about it, but I am. It’s kind of annoying because you touch him, and he freaks out about it. It makes it not fun to ride because then you’re always kind of nervous to hit him because he’s going to make a big commotion about it. Give it right back because at the end of the day, friends are for dinner. When we’re on the track… but as soon as the race is over it’s like, whatever. But it seems like everybody’s like that. You get mad at each other on the track, but when it’s over it’s not a big deal. But when we’re on the track, he’s one of the ones that talks about safety all the time and I saw him almost make Cam crash twice in one lap. For sure it’s sketch, but it made for an exciting race for sure.”

For Elias, it was a day of disappointment after a tough battle left him in the gravel trap and without any championship points.

“I do not have to say anything, the image speaks for itself,” Elias said of the video replay of the contact between him and Beaubier, resulting in Elias’ crash. “I don’t agree of the decision of MotoAmerica (not to penalize Beaubier), but I have to respect the decision and that’s it. They are trying to do the best for this championship and this result and what happened is really bad for me but is good for the championship. I think that’s why the decision was made like this.”

Beaubier’s teammate Garrett Gerloff ended up third, his third podium finish in his rookie season of Superbike racing. After a moment early in the race, the Texan settled into fourth place and took advantage of Yamalube/Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz’ crash to put his R1 on the podium.

“It started good with a weird start but somehow I ended up in second place, so that wasn’t bad,” Gerloff said. “Then riding a lap behind Toni, he does ride a lot different than I would say Josh (Herrin), Cameron (Beaubier) and I and Mathew (Scholtz). It looked like he was kind of just trying to go slow and just wait until the last part of the race to actually go fast. While I was doing that, Josh (Herrin) got around me and then Cameron (Beaubier). I felt pretty good just sitting right there. Here with four guys, three guys in front of you, going into the braking zone off the straightaway, you have a lot of air pushing you into the corner. The first part of the race I was aware of it. I was just braking early trying to not get sucked into the corner, but then I would just lose a little bit of ground. After a couple of laps of that I was like, ‘I’m going to try to go to where they go.’ Then I ended up running wide in five and kind of went off the track. Then Mathew and Jake (Lewis) got around me. Then I was stuck in a battle behind me. I’m pretty disappointed because I felt like I had the pace to be right there. I just got to figure out how to race at a track like this with a bunch of straightaways and a bunch of drafting and stuff like that.”

Fifth place ended up being a battle of Kentucky with M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Jake Lewis besting his neighbor Roger Hayden and his Yoshimura Suzuki by just .004 of a second. Then came a big gap back to Scheibe Racing’s Danny Eslick in the Oklahoman’s best finish of the season thus far.

Quicksilver/LEXIN/Hudson Motorcycles’ Bobby Fong finished seventh after starting the race from pit road, the Californian some five seconds clear of Excelsus Print Solutions/KWR’s Kyle Wyman. Genuine Broaster Chicken Honda’s Cameron Petersen and Fly Street Racing’s David Anthony rounded out the top 10 finishers.

After seven races, Elias leads Beaubier, 138-128, with Scholtz third on 105. Herrin is fourth with 95 points, 27 points ahead of Lewis.

Supersport: The Return Of Debise

Today’s Supersport race was a bit of a French Revolution as M4 ECSTAR Suzuki rider Valentin Debise, who was injured in a crash while racing in the Daytona 200 prior to the start of the MotoAmerica season, returned to the series this weekend, promptly won the pole in Saturday morning’s final qualifying session and won Supersport race one after a fierce battle with Monster Energy/Yamaha Extended Service/Graves/Yamaha rider JD Beach, who finished second.

Rickdiculous Racing/Yamaha’s Hayden Gillim didn’t get a great start, but he made up for it in short fashion, caught up to Beach and Debise, and was in the mix for a win until he faded slightly towards the end of the race, but still crossed the finish line in third.

“For sure, I’m even more than happy,” Debise said. “I went to this race just going like, ‘Okay, I need to enjoy myself and just try to be good on my riding.’ That was my main goal. I can feel that my speed was okay, not as fast as I want, but I’m here. It was a great battle. I enjoyed so much passing JD and Hayden (Gillim). Then they raced me really hard during the whole race. It gave me a great feeling. I can’t wait to make some more battles with those guys.”

When asked how confident he felt about being able to return to racing at the front of the field, Debise said: “I didn’t tell myself, you will be here, it’s fine, or whatever. I just go into the race and into this race weekend saying, ‘just ride how you feel the bike.’ That was my main goal. I just went out and didn’t even look at my lap time. I tried to do the best I can do. Tried to give some good information to my team. Just do my job, but without looking at really where I was. Now, I still have some work to do to get back to where I was this winter, and everything will be fine.”

Liqui Moly Junior Cup: Dumas Again!

In the Liqui Moly Junior Cup Series, additional balancing measures were mandated by MotoAmerica prior to the weekend, and Saturday’s race one results indicate that parity has been achieved with the top-four finishers aboard three different brands in the new class.

KTM Orange Brigade/JP43 Training’s Alex Dumas notched his fourth victory out of five races thus far with Kawasaki-mounted Ashton Yates finishing second. KTM Orange Brigade/Ghilliman Racing’s Sean Ungvarsky also stood on the podium in third. Attack Performance/Herrin Compound/Yamaha rider Gavin Anthony was fourth, and MP13 Racing/Yamaha’s Cory Ventura rounded out the top five.

“Ashton (Yates) didn’t do the qualifying this morning and he crashed on Friday,” Dumas said. “So, for sure, I had more track time. I felt like I had better pace than him even though he wanted to try to slow me down in the race. I’m happy with today’s race and I hope to do the same tomorrow. Every race this year, I kind of start slow a little bit in the beginning and, after, I just continue doing my points on the track, and I just keep my pace fast.”

Twins Cup: Madama’s First

After two races and two wins by Suzuki SV650 riders in the Twins Cup series, a Yamaha FZ/MT-07 rider prevailed in Saturday’s race. Altus Motorsports/Yamaha’s Jason Madama notched the victory after race leader Chris Parrish ran wide on the final lap. Parrish recovered quickly and rode his Ghetto Customs Suzuki across the finish line in second. Third-place finisher was Dustin Dominguez aboard his Dustin Dominguez Racing/Suzuki, the Oklahoman making his return to professional road racing at Road America.

Madama provided some insights into his race strategy after the podium celebration, saying, “The plan was just suck into the bubble and wait it out. I’ve never really been here (at Road America). I’ve only raced an electric bike here last year, and it was very limited practice because the e-bikes run out of juice. I kind of had a strategy to stay in the bubble and wait until a straightaway where I could muscle around him, but obviously it wasn’t working out very good because he was able to suck in my draft and pass me down the straightaway. It ended up being a really good battle. If it wasn’t for his mistake, it would have been a lot tougher. So he made it easier on me. It was a great race. I’m super-pumped to be up here. First MotoAmerica win. No complaints.”

Superbike Race One

1. Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha)

2. Josh Herrin (Yamaha)

3. Garrett Gerloff (Yamaha)

4. Jake Lewis (Suzuki)

5. Roger Hayden (Suzuki)

Supersport

1. Valentin Debise (Suzuki)

2. JD Beach (Yamaha)

3. Hayden Gillim (Yamaha)

4. Cory West (Yamaha)

5. Bryce Prince (Yamaha)

Twins Cup

1. Jason Madama (Yamaha)

2. Chris Parrish (Suzuki)

3. Dustin Dominguez (Suzuki)

4. Joseph Behlmann (Yamaha)

5. Ryan Roth (Yamaha)

Liqui Moly Junior Cup

1. Alex Dumas (KTM)

2. Ashton Yates (Kawasaki)

3. Sean Ungvarsky (KTM)

4. Gavin Anthony (Yamaha)

5. Cory Ventura (Yamaha)

More, from a press release issued by Quicksilver / Lexin Moto / Hudson Motorcycles Racing:

Quicksilver / Lexin Moto / Hudson Motorcycles’ rider Bobby Fong rides to seventh-place Superbike finish at Road America from pit lane start

Teammate Richie Escalante shows excellent pace before unfortunate crash

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. — The Quicksilver / Lexin Moto / Hudson Motorcycles team found itself battling against the odds Saturday at the MotoAmerica Dunlop Championship at Road America. The team’s Superbike rider Bobby Fong experienced some challenges on the track hours before the past champion was due to start the first Superbike Class race of the weekend. The Lexin Quicksilver Hudson Motorcycles team worked feverishly to repair Fong’s heavily-damaged bike, finishing their work just before the start of the race. Fong was forced to start from pit lane and was unable to take the bike out for a practice round. Despite being at a disadvantage, Fong worked his way up the order from a last-place start to seventh-place finish.

Starting off the race in fourth place, the team’s Supersport class competitor, Richie Escalante, kept a consistent race pace leading him to keep a steady spot in top four after a mediocre start at the weekends first race. On the penultimate lap, Escalante crashed while making a final push to catch up to the leading pack, but was able to remount his Yamaha YZF-R6 and race to a 12th-place finish. The 4 points Escalante picked up in Saturday’s race helped him maintain seventh-place in the class’ championship standings.

Both riders will look to improve on their Saturday performances when MotoAmerica’s Superbike and Supersport classes take to the track on Sunday.

Bobby Fong / #50

“It was a long race today, as we had some bad luck in the morning and had to work hard to get the bike ready for the race. The team did a great job getting me out there, and we were able to salvage some points and get some good race data. We will look over the data tonight and try to make some adjustments to move up in tomorrow’s race. We are definitely aiming for a top-five finish tomorrow, and a podium would sure be nice. I want to give my team a good result and some more good race data heading into Laguna.”

Richie Escalante / #54

“It was a tough race today. I did not get a great start but kept up really good race pace. I worked my way up and was trying to catch up with the front guys. Unfortunately, I had a small crash but was able to get back on track and finish 12th. We will use the warm-up session tomorrow to make some adjustments and hopefully will finish on the podium tomorrow.”

More, from a press release issued by Yamaha:

Beaubier Battles to Victory at Road America

Yamaha bLU cRU Riders Sweep Saturday’s Superbike Race 1

Elkhart Lake, Wis. – June 3, 2018 – Monster Energy/Yamalube/Yamaha Factory Racing’s Cameron Beaubier led a Yamaha bLU cRU riderpodium sweep in Saturday’s Superbike Race 1 to start Round 4 of the 2018 MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American Road Racing Championship at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. During a thrilling battle to the checkered flag, Yamaha bLU cRU rider Josh Herrin finished only 0.002 seconds behind Beaubier for a valiant second place finish, while Monster Energy/Yamalube/Yamaha Factory Racing’s Garett Gerloff claimed the final podium position.

Monster Energy/Yamalube/Yamaha Factory Racing Superbike Team

When the green flag waved to start Superbike Race 1, pole-sitter Cameron Beaubier went to work. After being shuffled back to fifth place on the first lap, Beaubier rode smart and kept the competition for the lead close throughout the race. As the final laps approached, the two-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion maintained his composure while Josh Herrin and Toni Elias made aggressive moves for the lead position.

Beaubier used his expert race craft to carefully pass Elias and Herrin, leading the trio into turn one to start the last lap. Unfortunately, Elias came into contact with Beaubier’s R1, forcing Beaubier to run wide through the turn and surrender the lead. Beaubier fought back with an assertive pass through the inside of Canada Corner and succeeded in taking the lead, while Elias tumbled to the ground after turning into Beaubier just prior to the apex of the corner. Beaubier kept his head down and raced Herrin to a photo finish at the checkered flag, claiming his first Superbike win of the series.

Meanwhile, Garrett Gerloff swapped positions inside the top-five for the first half of the race before settling into fourth just after the halfway point. Positioned just behind the intense battle for the lead, Gerloff gained an advantage when Elias went down, and he claimed the final podium position on the last lap. It was Gerloff’s third podium finish in the series as a Superbike rookie.

Cameron Beaubier – #6 YZF-R1

“I knew that as the laps were winding down that I was going to have to get aggressive if I wanted to win the thing. I made a couple of aggressive moves [on Toni Elias] but I felt like they were clean. Coming into the last lap, I think there’s a difference between aggression and plain out kinda dirty [riding]. I felt like maybe he got sucked in a little deep into [turn] one and bounced off me, so I got angry and I gave it everything I had on the last lap just to do something.

I lined him up going into Canada [Corner] and I went in there not thinking we were going to hit or anything like that. I didn’t even realize he went down until I came around the next lap and his bike was sitting by the fence. I’m not saying it’s my fault or his fault, it was a racing incident but I still wanted him to finish the race so that was a bummer. My bike felt really, really good. I just felt like I couldn’t make any passes early. I felt like I had a little more pace, but I just needed to get a little more aggressive. All-in-all, a crazy race, but I’m super happy we got out of it on two wheels with 25 points.”

Garrett Gerloff – #6 YZF-R1

“I’m pretty disappointed. I feel like I had the pace to be right there, I just have to figure out how to race at a track like this with a bunch of straightaways, a bunch of drafting and stuff like that. But I felt good and the bike felt good. We didn’t get to use one of the compounds on the rear tires that I think we wanted to use, so I noticed a little bit of a difference from qualifying to the race and I had to kind of get used to that. We haven’t raced in a month, so that’s kind of the biggest thing.”

Tom Halverson – Team Manager

“It was clear from the first few laps of the race that to win was going to take an aggressive approach. Cameron did a great job of managing risk and made his move when he saw an opportunity. Josh Herrin rode a fantastic race as well, keeping his focus and speed for nearly the entire race before making a small mistake that may have cost him the win. This was Garrett’s first time on a Superbike at Road America, and he rode great! He figured out how to manage the bike in the draft and was in the right place to take advantage of the incident on the last lap to take a podium position. Congrats to all for a Yamaha R1 podium sweep!”

2018 MotoAmerica Superbike Standings – Race 7 of 20 Completed

Pos. Rider Points

1 Tony Elias – Suzuki 138

2 Cameron Beaubier – Yamaha 128

3 Mathew Scholtz – Yamaha 105

4 Josh Herrin – Yamaha 95

6 Garrett Gerloff – Yamaha 64

7 Kyle Wyman – Yamaha 60

Superbike Race 2 will go green on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. EST.

Monster Energy/Yamaha Extended Service/Graves/Yamaha Supersport Team

JD Beach rode his Monster Energy/Yamaha Extended Service/Graves/Yamaha YZF-R6 to a second-place finish in Supersport Race 1. It was an all-out battle for the lead as Beach swapped positions back-and-forth with Valentin Debise throughout the race. With the overall championship in mind, Beach made the decision to ride smart and finish the race with valuable second-place points.

JD Beach – #95 YZF-R6

“I think it’s good for Valentin [Debise] to be back. Hayden [Gillim] has been fast all season, but I think all three of us have the same goal, which is to move up to the Superbike class. I think having us all at the front just makes us ride faster and push. Right now, [Valentin is] not in the points, so it’s hard because I wanted to win the race but I have to be smart, too.”

2018 MotoAmerica Supersport Standings – Race 5 of 18 Completed

Pos.RiderPoints

1 JD Beach – Yamaha 115

2 Hayden Gillim – Yamaha 81

3 Cory West – Suzuki 66

4 Braeden Ortt – Yamaha 52

Supersport Race 2 will go green on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. EST.

Additional Yamaha bLU cRU Rider Notes

Josh Herrin had an impressive performance in Saturday’s Superbike Race 1, where he led nine of the 13 laps aboard his Attack Performance/Herrin Compound/Yamaha R1 to finish just shy of the race win.

Rickdiculous Racing’s Hayden Gillim put his R6 on the Supersport podium once again in Race 1, finishing just behind Beach for third. Gillim joined the lead battle early on, and eventually settled into the third-place position for the duration of the race.

Altus Motorsports/AP MotoArts team rider Jason Madama rode his MT-07 to his first-career victory in the new Twins Cup class. Madama’s victory also marked his first-ever MotoAmerica race win, and the first win for a Yamaha MT-07 in the class.

Attack Performance/Herrin Compound’s Gavin Anthony rode his R3 to a fourth-place finish in the Junior Cup class, with MP13 Racing’s Cory Ventura rounding out the top-five. With Chuck Graves and Yamaha bLU cRU Rider Coach Josh Hayes on hand, riders in the Graves/Yamaha YZF-R3 Support Program are continuing to battle through the challenges of ongoing technical rule changes in the new class.

The Yamaha bLU cRU riders will return to action tomorrow for day two of racing in Round 4 of the 2018 MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American Road Racing Championship series at Road America. For complete schedule details, visit: http://motoamerica.com/.

For more Yamaha racing news, results, photos, and videos, visit http://www.YamahaMotorsports.com/Racing

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