MotoAmerica Championship of Utah
MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American Road Racing Series
Utah Motorsports Campus
Grantsville, Utah
July 21, 2018
Motul Superbike Race One Results (all on Dunlop tires):
1. Toni Elias (Suz GSX-R1000), 17 laps, Total Race Time 31:21.358, Best Lap Time 1:49.358
2. Cameron Beaubier (Yam YZF-R1), -0.494 second, 1:49.810
3. Josh Herrin (Yam YZF-R1), -19.257 seconds, 1:51.008
4. Garrett Gerloff (Yam YZF-R1), -20.231, 1:51.174
5. Jake Lewis (Suz GSX-R1000), -26.731, 1:51.082
6. Mathew Scholtz (Yam YZF-R1), -27.323, 1:51.230
7. Kyle Wyman (Yam YZF-R1), -35.987, 1:51.626
8. Danny Eslick (BMW S1000RR), -47.400, 1:51.736
9. Cameron Petersen (Hon CBR1000RR SP2), -50.571, 1:52.294
10. Geoff May (Yam YZF-R1), -62.296, 1:52.363
11. Jayson Uribe (Hon CBR1000RR SP2), -84.607, 1:53.390
12. Max Flinders (Yam YZF-R1), -102.327, 1:55.490
13. Sam Verderico (Yam YZF-R1), -109.806, 1:55.684
14. Bruno Silva (Kaw ZX-10R), -1 lap, 1:56.683
15. Roger Hayden (Suz GSX-R1000), DNF, crash, 1:50.397
16. Bobby Fong (Yam YZF-R1), DNF, retired, 1:51.189
17. David Anthony (Kaw ZX-10RR), DNF, mechanical, 1:53.052
Championship Point Standings (after 11 of 20 races):
1. Beaubier, 223 points
2. Elias, 199
3. Herrin, 151
4. Scholtz, 139
5. Gerloff, 111
6. Lewis, 106
7. Wyman, 91
8. Eslick, 83
9. Hayden, 79
10. Anthony, 63
11. Fong, 53
12. Petersen, 49
13. Sebastiao Ferreira, 44
14. Silva, 32
15. Verderico, 26
16. Flinders, 21
17. TIE, Uribe/Barrett Long, 10
19. May, 6
20. Brad Morris, 4
21. TIE, Roi Holster/Jeffrey Purk, 1
23. Jeremy Coffey, 0
More, from a press release issued by MotoAmerica:
Elias Turns The Table On Beaubier At Utah Motorsports Campus
Suzuki Wins Its 200th AMA Superbike Race
GRANTSVILLE, UTAH (July 21, 2018) – Yoshimura Suzuki’s Toni Elias stalked Monster Energy/Yamalube/Yamaha Factory Racing’s Cameron Beaubier for 14 of the 17 laps of the Utah Motorsports Campus. Then he pounced, taking the lead with three laps to go and holding off the attacking Beaubier to win the Championship of Utah by .494 of a second on a hot sunny day on the outskirts of Salt Lake City.
Elias’ sixth win of the season was an historic one in that it marked Suzuki’s 200th victory in AMA Superbike racing. And it was an important one for Elias and the Yoshimura Suzuki crew in that it stopped Beaubier’s four-race win streak and showed that the team had fixed what ailed them in the previous two rounds at Road America and WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. It also moved the Spaniard to within a race of Beaubier in the championship as the defending MotoAmerica Superbike Champion now trails the two-time series champ by 24 points heading into tomorrow’s second Motul Superbike race at UMC.
The race at the front only featured Beaubier and Elias with Beaubier taking the lead from the Spaniard on the opening lap. He would hold that lead until the 14th lap before he was caught a little off-guard by Elias going into turn one. From there it was a dogfight, with Beaubier making a pass on Elias on the final lap that didn’t stick. The margin of victory at the flag: .494 of a second.
“It is nice to get that 200th victory for Suzuki,” Elias said. “We started off the weekend with a little Japanese-American barbecue, but at the end my team put the bike back together, so I could continue the plan. We worked well. We improved. We have the same situation that we had before. Good bike. We are comfortable that I can fight. But I found a tough guy (in Beaubier). He was fast. Very persistent. His pace was a little bit faster than mine. I was playing my cards at the end, and I found my moment. I could pass him. The last two, three corners, we had a little bit of trouble, but I could win the race. I am happy. My team deserves a lot of credit for this victory. We did it and now we have to continue like this. We will try to improve for tomorrow, and I will try to be more strong and more consistent.”
Beaubier admitted being surprised by Elias’ attack after leading so much of the race. The Californian starting from pole position after earning the spot during the Superpole qualifying session earlier in the day.
“I was pretty surprised when (Elias) came up the inside of me in turn one,” Beaubier said. “I wasn’t expecting that. The gap was kind of yo-yo-ing, but I thought I had just enough of a gap to be able to go into one on my own. It’s always frustrating to lead most of the race and come up short. But hats off to Toni, he was riding really, really good. I rode as hard as I could the whole race. On the last couple of laps, I tried to get creative, and figure something out. I was able to get by but I ran a little wide, and that was pretty much it from there. Like I said, hats off to this guy. Tomorrow, we get to try again. Big thanks to my Monster Energy/Yamalube/Yamaha team. The R1 has been working flawless all weekend. That why it’s so frustrating because I think we had a little something on these guys, and I wasn’t able to get it done today.”
Third place went to Attack Performance/Herrin Compound Yamaha’s Josh Herrin, the 2013 AMA Superbike Champion fighting off the advances of Beaubier’s teammate and M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Jake Lewis to earn the spot. At the finish Herrin was .974 of a second clear of Gerloff, with the Texan getting faster as the race wore on to put himself in position to challenge late. Lewis, meanwhile, had mechanical issues that slowed him in the closing laps. He ended up fifth, his sixth fifth-place finish of the season.
“It’s been a crazy weekend,” Herrin said. “At Wisconsin and Laguna, I had the best bike I’ve ever had, and we showed up here and missed the whole first (qualifying practice) session, so that was a bummer. But the older I get, I get a little calmer. I kept calm in my head, kept my focus, and sat with (team owner and crew chief) Richard (Stanboli) to try to figure out what was going on with the bike. And I’ve just been off the pace a little bit. I crashed at Laguna and I crashed yesterday so I lost a little bit of confidence. Then, we had the three-grid-positions penalty, so that messed with my head a little bit. I just told myself that if I could fight for the podium, I’d be pumped. I know Roger (Hayden) crashed, so I didn’t feel like I really earned the podium. But, we did finish laps, and I was able to get on the podium. After the crash at Laguna, I’m super-pumped about it. I was able to up the pace a little bit by a few tenths, and it’s something that I’ve been working on. So, other than the points, that made me the happiest today, that I could do the pace by myself, finish the race, and get some points. I’m super-happy about it, and we live to race another day. These guys rode their butts off and put on a good show. I was watching the big screen, and it was a lot of fun watching them. Hopefully, tomorrow we can be a little bit closer with them. Try to have fun and bring it home safe.”
Yamalube/Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz ended up sixth, well clear of SC-Project/KWR’s Kyle Wyman, who in turn was challenged from behind by Scheibe Racing BMW’s Danny Eslick. Genuine Broaster Chicken Honda’s Cameron Petersen and Omega Moto’s Geoff May rounded out the top 10 finishers.
Beaubier leads the title chase over Elias, 223-199, with Herrin third on 151 points. Scholz is now 12 points behind Herrin in fourth place with Gerloff holding down fifth, 28 points behind the South African.
Among the non-finishers were Yoshimura Suzuki’s Roger Hayden, who suffered his fourth race crash of the season; Bobby Fong, who pulled out of the race on his Quicksilver/LEXIN/Hudson Motorcycles Yamaha YZF-R1 early in the race; and Fly Street Racing’s David Anthony. Those three remained in ninth, 10th and 11th in the championship point standings as all of their points remained unchanged.
Supersport – Beach Takes His Sixth
When Valentin Debise had a mechanical problem on the startline for the Supersport race at UMC and was forced out of the race before it started, it seemed Monster Energy/Y.E.S./Graves Yamaha’s JD Beach might have been able to breathe a little easier. But that wasn’t the case as Rickdiculous Racing’s Hayden Gillim gave him everything he had before eventually coming up 1.3 seconds short at the finish line.
For Beach it was win number six on the season as he grew his championship lead over Gillim to 57 points, 190-133.
“The weekend definitely didn’t start out the way we hoped,” Beach said. “The front-end (of the bike) had a few problems, and that set us back a little bit. And to start off on our back foot was frustrating because this is a track that I’ve always done well at. We made some changes before the race, and I knew that Hayden (Gillim) was going really fast this weekend. I was truly bummed to not see (Valentin Debise) start the race because I thought it was going to be really fun between the three of us. I’m definitely looking forward to the race tomorrow because I know it’s going to be a fight the whole race. So he (Debise) got to rest while we raced today, and we got some notes for tomorrow, so it should be fun.”
Third place went to TSE Racing’s Cory West, the Arkansas resident holding off the advances of M4 medAge Suzuki’s Nick McFadden, Fastline Performance/Tuned Racing’s Braeden Ortt and SC Project/KWR’s Bryce Prince in what was a four-rider battle for the final podium spot.
Quicksilver/LEXIN/Hudson Motorcycles’ Richie Escalante, Riderz Law Racing’s Michael Gilbert, YCRS/Mazziotto Racing’s Anthony Mazziotto III and Team Norris Racing’s Benjamin Smith rounded out the top 10 finishers.
Liqui Moly Junior Cup: Dumas Again!
In Saturday’s Liqui Moly Junior Cup race, championship points leader and KTM Orange Brigade/JP43 Training rider Alex Dumas notched his sixth victory of the season when he was able to hold off Yates Racing/Kawasaki rider Ashton Yates. Jamie Astudillo, who got the holeshot at the start, appeared to finish third, but she was issued a penalty of one second for weaving as she maneuvered her Quarterley Racing/On Track Development Kawasaki to help maintain her position. Astudillo was subsequently shuffled back to eighth in the official results, and MP13 Racing/Yamaha’s Cory Ventura was awarded the third-place trophy.
“I knew that Ashton (Yates) would run a really good race, and I was trying to keep up with Jamie (Astudillo) at the start,” Dumas said. “Then, later in the race when Jamie had an error, I stuck with Ashton, and eventually I drafted past him on the front straightaway. I was able to pull a little gap and get the win.”
The win gives Dumas a 32-point lead over Yates, 150-118.
Twins Cup: Parrish Wins
In Twins Cup, Ghetto Customs’ Chris Parrish, who hails from Tennessee, continues to enjoy his MotoAmerica nationwide summer adventure as he won his second race of the season and fifth podium in five starts. Parrish stretched out his championship lead to 27 points over Jason Madama, who was maintaining pace with Parrish until low-siding his Altus Motorsports/Yamaha FZ-07/MT-07 out of the race.
Danielle Diaz, competing in only her second Twins Cup race so far this season, rode her Danielle Diaz Racing/Kawasaki Ninja 650 – a bike she borrowed from MotoAmerica operations manager Niccole Cox – to second place. Another series newcomer, Justin Filice, the son of American racing legend Jimmy Filice, ran a consistent race to bring his Team Legacy Racing/Suzuki SV650 home in third and reach the podium in his return to road racing after a near-decade-long hiatus.
“I didn’t know Jason (Madama) had crashed until the final couple of laps,” Parrish said. “I expected him to come around me near the end, but I tucked in and did my own race. I don’t know how fast the last lap was, but I just kept going. I finally did turn around to see how tough it would be at the start/finish line, and he wasn’t there. Man, it really was a great race. I’m 41 years old, and it’s hot. Man, I’m ready to sit down.”
Motul Superbike
1.Toni Elias (Suzuki)
2.Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha)
3.Josh Herrin (Yamaha)
4.Garrett Gerloff (Yamaha)
5.Jake Lewis (Suzuki)
Supersport
1.JD Beach (Yamaha)
2.Hayden Gillim (Yamaha)
3.Cory West (Yamaha)
4.Nick McFadden (Suzuki)
5.Braeden Ortt (Yamaha)
Liqui Moly Junior Cup
1.Alex Dumas (KTM)
2.Ashton Yates (Kawasaki)
3.Cory Ventura (Yamaha)
4.Renzo Ferreira (Kawasaki)
5.Damian Jigalov (Yamaha)
Twins Cup
1.Chris Parrish (Suzuki)
2.Danielle Diaz (Kawasaki)
3.Justin Filice (Suzuki)
4.Aaron Tulchinsky (Yamaha)
5.Ryan Roth (Yamaha)
More, from a press release issued by Yoshimura Suzuki:
Suzuki Reaches Landmark 200th MotoAmerica/AMA Superbike Victory
Toni Elias Gives Suzuki Historic Milestone at Utah Motorsports Campus
Tooele, Utah (July 21, 2018) — Yoshimura Suzuki Factory Racing’s Toni Elias scored a come-from-behind victory Saturday in MotoAmerica Superbike Championship action at Utah Motorsports Complex. Elias’ victory marked the 200th win for Suzuki in the MotoAmerica/AMA Superbike Championship. Suzuki is the all-time wins leader among manufacturers in the 42-year history of MotoAmerica/AMA Superbike.
Elias took the Utah Race 1 win by chasing down rival Cameron Beaubier in the closing laps. On the last lap the two swapped the lead, but it was Elias powering to the front on his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 to win by a margin of 0.494 seconds.
Teammate Roger Hayden was running a strong third in the race before crashing unhurt and eventually pulling out of the contest.
“It is an honor to be a part of this historic win,” Elias said. “To be there along with all of the great riders who have won with Suzuki in the past means a lot to me. This was a team effort and I also want to thank the entire Yoshimura Suzuki team for working so hard to give me a great motorcycle. This is a day I will long remember.”
Kerry Graeber, Suzuki’s Vice President, Sales and Marketing, commented on Elias’ victory.
“Reaching 200 wins in MotoAmerica/AMA Superbike shows the unwavering commitment Suzuki has to racing in America,” Graeber said. “Suzuki engineers in Japan have given us an amazing motorcycle in the GSX-R1000, which carries on the lineage of Suzuki’s championship-winning sportbikes. We’ve also been fortunate to have so many great riders race for us in the past who helped make this possible, not to mention the teams and crew members who worked so hard to help make Suzuki the winningest motorcycle in the history of the series.”
The path to 200 victories for Suzuki started 41 years ago. Here’s a look back at some of the significant MotoAmerica/AMA Superbike milestones for Suzuki.
* At Laguna Seca in 1977, Steve McLaughlin gave Suzuki its first AMA Superbike victory. McLaughlin was on a Yoshimura Suzuki GS750-based machine.
* Aaron Yates scored the 50th Suzuki Superbike win aboard a Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 in Road Atlanta race one in May of 2003.
* The honor of the milestone 100th win for Suzuki went to Ben Spies in Fontana race one in 2007.
* Blake Young took victory in race two at Road Atlanta in 2010 for Suzuki’s 150th AMA Superbike win.
* Yoshimura Suzuki has won all but five of the Suzuki MotoAmerica/AMA Superbike wins. Jake Zemke (Jordan Suzuki), Martin Cardenas (M4 Suzuki), John Bettencourt (Yoshimura East) and Roger Hayden (Jordan Suzuki) were the only four riders in the 42-year history of MotoAmerica/AMA Superbike to win on non-factory Suzuki race bikes.
Suzuki MotoAmerica/AMA Superbike Winners
Mathew Mladin 78
Ben Spies 28
Toni Elias 22
Blake Young 13
Kevin Schwantz 9
Aaron Yates 9
Tommy Hayden 8
Wes Cooley 7
Roger Hayden 7
Doug Polen 4
Martin Cardenas 3
Steve Mclaughlin 2
Jake Zemke 2
John Bettencourt 1
Graeme Crosby 1
Miguel Duhamel 1
Jamie Hacking 1
Jamie James 1
Pascal Picotte 1
Ron Pierce 1
Scott Russell 1
Total 200
For additional information visit: www.motoamerica.com
You can keep up with the team’s progress by visiting yoshimura-racing.com and www.suzukicycles.com/Racing and via YouTube at www.suzukicycles.com/Racing
More, from a press release issued by Yamalube/Westby Racing:
Mathew Scholtz Finishes Sixth In Saturday’s MotoAmerica Superbike Race At Utah Motorsports Campus
Tooele, UT – July 21, 2018 – So far, the second half of the MotoAmerica Superbike season has started off pretty quiet for Yamalube/Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz, and that’s not a bad thing. The “Durban Dynamo” returned to form at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Round five of the championship, but to this point in Round 6 at Utah Motorsports Campus, the results have been good, but not great…or at least not great by Mathew’s or the team’s standards.
His sixth-place finish in Saturday’s MotoAmerica Superbike race left Mathew and the team with a feeling somewhere between “mildly disappointed” and “moderately satisfied,” but definitely several notches below “let’s party till the break of dawn.”
In Mathew’s post-race assessment, he said, “I qualified fourth in Superpole, which I was happy with, but as usual, my start in the race was terrible…I can’t sugar-coat it. I’m used to making some big moves in the opening laps to make up the positions I seem to lose at the start. But, the temperature had gone up about 20 degrees before the start of the race, and I just didn’t feel the same way as I did in practice. I think I was being too harsh, and I was just spinning up the bike. It was just a difficult race. I didn’t want to chuck the bike down, but I also wanted to be part of the battle. And then, I ran slightly wide and off the track in turn one with maybe five laps left. There was no way I was going to catch the leaders at that point, so I just kind of had to settle and take the sixth. Obviously, the team and I should be higher up than sixth. We have a few ideas about what we need to change, and we’ll definitely come back stronger. At Laguna, the first race was also pretty average, and in the second race, we definitely put down some flying laps and did better. Today, we gained some valuable points in the Championship, which is a lot better than throwing it down the road. I’m pretty sure we’ll be back up there tomorrow.”
Superbike Race 2 is set to go green at Utah Motorsports Campus on Sunday at 3:30 PM Mountain Time.
For more updates about Yamalube/Westby Racing, including news, photos, and videos, visit http://www.WestbyRacing.com
Also, follow “Westby Racing” on your favorite social media sites.
More, from a press release issued by Team Hammer:
TOP FIVES IN UTAH FOR TEAM HAMMER
A double dosage of misfortune was all that stood between Team Hammer and the distinct possibility of multiple trophies as the 2018 MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American Road Racing season resumed under blazing-hot conditions at Utah Motorsports Campus. But instead of podium celebrations on Saturday, the squad was left hoping for redemption in Sunday’s rematches.
M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Valentin Debise continued to demonstrate the blistering pace he’s shown since making his mid-season return to action from injury, earning the pole for the weekend’s two MotoAmerica Supersport races with a best lap of 1:53.387 aboard his GSX-R600.
But the Frenchman also crashed late in the final qualifying session, with what would be huge consequences: When he took his position on the front of the grid after the warm-up lap, he discovered a small oil leak (related to the crash) that had not shown up on the sighting lap or when the bike was started and warmed up after repairs. Debise was forced to bow out just seconds before the race was to begin.
Debise said, “The problem was my own fault because I crashed this morning trying to put in a fast lap. When you crash sometimes there are consequences, and that’s what happened today. My mechanics did everything they could to repair the bike but it’s almost impossible to check and fix everything on the bike in so little time. Yeah, I’m disappointed, but there’s another race tomorrow and everyone saw that I’m fast this weekend. I won’t give up.”
M4 medAge Suzuki’s Nick McFadden stepped up admirably in Debise’s absence, running third early in the race and keeping himself in a fierce, four-rider battle for the podium throughout. McFadden made a final-lap push, but came up just a few 10ths short of a podium finish, in fourth.
The team’s third Supersport pilot, Daytona Anderson, finished 14th aboard the M4 RiCK! Suzuki GSX-R600.
Meanwhile, in the MotoAmerica Superbike class, a highly motivated Jake Lewis pushed to the limit in search of his first podium result of the season aboard his M4 ECSTAR Suzuki GSX-R1000.
The lanky Kentuckian gave it his all, fighting hard for third and holding the position on multiple laps, He was primed to make a last-lap strike when his bike overheated while drafting in the hot, thin air and slowed down three corners from the finish line. Lewis was forced to cruise across the stripe in fifth, for his seventh top-five finish of the season.
Team Hammer’s runners will be back in action on Sunday and hungry to make the most of their second chances as they complete the MotoAmerica doubleheader weekend at Utah Motorsports Campus.
About Team Hammer
The 2018 season marks Team Hammer’s 38th consecutive year of operating as a professional road racing team. Racebikes built and fielded by Team Hammer have won 69 AMA Pro and MotoAmerica National races, have finished on AMA Pro and MotoAmerica National podiums 195 times and have won five AMA Pro National Championships, as well as two FIM South American Championships. The team has also won 135 endurance races overall (including seven 24-hour races) and 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 four F-USA Championships.
More, from a press release issued by Yamaha:
Beaubier Scores Second-Place Finish in Superbike Race 1 at Utah Motorsports Campus
Beach Leads Yamaha bLU cRU Riders to Supersport Podium Sweep
Tooele, Utah – July 22, 2018 – It was a solid start to the weekend for Yamaha bLU cRU road racers on Saturday as they claimed six podium finishes from Round 6 of the MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American Road Racing Championship at Utah Motorsports Campus (UMC).
After day one in Tooele, Utah, Monster Energy/Yamalube/Yamaha Factory Racing’s Cameron Beaubier continues to lead the Superbike Championship by 24 points following a close second in Race 1.
In Supersport action, Monster Energy/Yamaha Extended Service/Graves/Yamaha’s JD Beach led every lap of Race 1 to earn his sixth victory of the season. Beach was at the helm of a Yamaha bLU cRU podium sweep as he was joined by Hayden Gillim and Cory West who finished second and third respectively.
Monster Energy/Yamalube/Yamaha Factory Racing Superbike Team
Fresh from the momentum of his four-race win streak, Cameron Beaubier started his weekend by capturing Superpole on Friday with a lap time of 1:48.630, making a statement as the only rider in the field to circulate the flowing UMC course in less than 1:49.
When the green flag waived to start Superbike Race 1, Beaubier found himself in second-place on the opening lap. He eased his way into the first two laps before pulling the trigger to put his R1 out front on lap three, and then withstood pressure from Toni Elias for 13 laps before the duo engaged in a back-and-forth battle for the lead.
With three laps remaining, Elias snuck past Beaubier at the end of the long, fast front straightaway and came away with the lead exiting turn one. Beaubier kept the pace and challenged Elias on the final lap with a strategic pass to regain the lead exiting turn 9 in “The Attitudes” section of the track, but Elias countered two turns later in Clubhouse Corner by capturing the inside line and forcing Beaubier to run wide. After a final attempt in the last corner that resulted in a small front-end slide, Beaubier crossed the finish line in second place with only 0.494 seconds separating him from the win.
Garrett Gerloff got off to a great start as he piloted his R1 into fourth-place on the opening lap. Early on, Gerloff settled into a three-way battle for third-place with Roger Hayden and fellow Yamaha bLU cRU rider Josh Herrin. About halfway through the race, Gerloff got shuffled back as far as sixth place but he remained calm and worked his way back to fourth place by the final lap, finishing only one second off the podium.
Cameron Beaubier – #6 YZF-R1
“It always stings leading most of the race and coming up short on the win. But my R1 has been working great all weekend and we have another shot in Race 2.”
Garrett Gerloff – #31 YZF-R1
“It was a big challenge staying consistent through the whole race, but we got some really good information for Sunday’s race! In the end, I’m happy to have run with the group for the podium, but I really want to be fighting with those top two guys for that win. We have some things to try in practice and we’ll go from there, but I’m confident.”
Tom Halverson – Team Manager
“It was difficult getting second after Cameron led for most of the race. On the bright side, his pace was very fast and the high temperatures didn’t faze him. We are confident he can come back and win Race 2. Garrett also discovered some insights during Race 1, and we are confident that he will come back stronger for Race 2. Overall, the Yamaha bLU cRU riders performed great – congrats to Josh Herrin on another podium position!”
2018 MotoAmerica Superbike Standings – 11 of 20 Series Races Completed
Pos.Rider Points
1 Cameron Beaubier – Yamaha 223
2 Toni Elias – Suzuki 199
3 Josh Herrin – Yamaha 151
4 Mathew Scholtz – Yamaha 139
5 Garrett Gerloff – Yamaha 111
7 Kyle Wyman – Yamaha 91
Superbike Race 2 will go green on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. MDT.
Monster Energy/Yamaha Extended Service/Graves/Yamaha Supersport Team
JD Beach and the Monster Energy/Yamaha Extended Service/Graves/Yamaha Team had an impressive showing in Supersport Race 1 on Saturday. Beach got off to a great start aboard his R6 and he worked hard to maintain the lead position throughout the entire 15-lap race to emerge with his third-consecutive race win.
JD Beach – #95 YZF-R6
“Getting another win on my Yamaha R6 in Utah was awesome! I can’t thank my team enough for all the hard work. The race was super-hot and not easy by no means. Hayden [Gillim] was riding great and pressuring me the whole time. I was sad to see Valentin [Debise] have to pull off before the race started. It’s safe to say Race 2 should be a good battle.”
Chuck Graves – Team Owner
“JD Beach and the team spent the early sessions of the weekend finding the optimum race set-up. The hard work paid off, and JD racked up his sixth win of the year and increased his points lead in the championship.”
2018 MotoAmerica Supersport Standings – 8 of 18 Series Races Completed
Pos.RiderPoints
1 JD Beach – Yamaha 190
2 Hayden Gillim – Yamaha 133
3 Cory West – Yamaha 95
Supersport Race 2 will go green on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. MDT.
Additional Yamaha bLU cRU Rider Notes
Despite a rough start in Superbike Race 1, Josh Herrin put forth a great ride to land his Attack Performance/Herrin Compound/Yamaha R1 on the podium once again. Herrin started off just inside the top-ten on the opening lap and climbed his way up to fourth early on. He continued to fight for third place in a multi-rider battle, and ultimately held onto the final podium position.
Rickdiculous Racing’s Hayden Gillim placed his R6 on the podium in Supersport Race 1 after putting up a good fight against JD Beach. Gillim charged hard throughout the race to finish only 1.310 behind Beach for second-place. TSE Racing’s Cory West completed the Yamaha bLU cRU podium sweep after matching his best finishes of the season with third place on his R6.
Under the watchful eye of Yamaha bLU cRU Rider Coach Josh Hayes, and with tuning insight from Graves Motorsports owner Chuck Graves, the Graves/Yamaha R3 Support Program riders
were ready for battle when the green flag waved for Saturday’s MotoAmerica Junior Cup Race 1. MP13 Racing’s Cory Ventura had a great showing as he put his R3 atop the podium with an impressive third-place performance.
“The Graves/Yamaha R3 riders continue to improve, with Gavin Anthony qualifying in the #2 position,” said Chuck Graves. “All of the riders raced with all they had against the larger displacement machines in the class, and in the end, Cory Ventura scored the top honors for the R3 with his third-place podium finish.”
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.