Copyright 2019, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.
By David Swarts
Monster Energy Yamalube Yamaha’s Cameron Beaubier was the
fastest rider in EBC Superbike qualifying practice Friday at WeatherTech
Raceway Laguna Seca. Riding his factory YZF-R1, Beaubier led Qualifying Practice
One (QP1) with a lap time of 1:24.660 and then went even faster with a 1:24.118 in Qualifying
Practice Two (QP2) to claim the provisional pole position ahead of Saturday morning’s
Superpole qualifying session.
“Everything went pretty smoothly today,” Beaubier told
Roadracingworld.com. “I’m really happy with the lap times. I think that’s the
fastest I’ve ever gone here on race tires, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
Beaubier’s teammate Garrett Gerloff was second-best Friday with the
1:24.217 he recorded right at the end of QP2, but the Texan said he still needed to
improve the consistency of his Yamaha before Race One on Saturday afternoon.
Like Beaubier, Gerloff took full advantage of a new, softer
front tire Dunlop debuted on Friday.
Yoshimura Suzuki’s Josh Herrin ended the day third-quickest
with a 1:24.908, which he was happy with…when it was good enough to briefly put
him into the lead during QP2. Then Beaubier and Gerloff mounted new, soft-compound tires and did their low-1:24s. Overall, Herrin said he was struggling to find a
comfortable setup on Friday.
Herrin’s teammate Toni Elias (who was wearing an HJC helmet
painted to resemble one of Wayne Rainey’s classic helmet designs) finished the day
fourth-fastest with a best lap of 1:24.894, which he did in QP1. The Spaniard
reported that he was focused on finding a race setup all day Friday and never did a
time attack on new tires.
As for Dunlops new, 0516-compound front tire, Elias said he wasn’t
sure what to think of the softer new front slick and Herrin didn’t even try it
because he said Dunlop’s previous softest front tire, the 0129, has too much
flex for his liking and Dunlop engineers told him the 0516 has even more flex.
Mathew Scholtz was fifth-best Friday thanks to his lap time
of 1:25.138 even though he missed most of QP1 when his Westby Racing Yamaha YZF-R1 died out on track due to a “fueling issue,” according to his team.
Doing double duty, Attack Performance/Estenson Racing Yamaha’s
JD Beach was sixth-fastest in MotoAmerica Superbike QP2 with a time of 1:25.184
and was 15th in World Superbike Free Practice Two with a faster 1:24.973. Beach is using two different YZF-R1’s this weekend, one setup for Pirellis and World Superbike duty and one setup for Dunlops and MotoAmerica Superbike duties.
Jake Lewis said he had a positive day Friday and his M4 ECSTAR
Suzuki GSX-R1000 was running the best it has so far this season, helping him
finish Friday in seventh with a 1:25.430. But Lewis said he definitely had room for improvement.
Jake Gagne said some recent rehabilitation work on his recovering
broken leg improved his physical condition, which helped him finish Friday in
eighth with a 1:25.606 lap time even though he lost some track time due to some technical
issues with his Scheibe Racing BMW S1000RR.
In spite of having a new Superbike-spec engine in his Cycle
Gear/SC Project/KWR Ducati Panigale V4 R (which has run a Superstock-spec engine to this point of the season), Kyle Wyman was limited to a time of
1:25.628 by a chatter problem. Still, Wyman said it was the closest he has been to the leaders time-wise so far in 2019. Wyman earned the ninth and final
spot in Superpole.
In Supersport, it’s tight at the top. Celtic HSBK Racing
Yamaha’s PJ Jacobsen (1:27.116) got provisional pole, but RiCKdiculous Racing
Yamaha’s Hayden Gillim (1:27.167), MP13 Racing Yamaha’s Josh Hayes (1:27.360),
M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Bobby Fong (1:27.459), Tuned Racing Yamaha’s Bryce Prince (1:27.556),
and Hudson Motorcycle Yamaha’s Richie Escalante (1:27.557) are also on pace to
compete for the win.
Rocco Landers’ dominance in the Liqui Moly Junior Cup class
continued with the 14-year-old leading both of Friday’s sessions and claiming
provisional pole position with a time of 1:38.313 on his Ninja400R.com/Norton
Motorsports/Dr. Farr Racing Kawasaki Ninja 400. Further back in the field, former KTM
RC Cup regular Josh Serne returned to national action on a Floyd’s of Leadville
Kawasaki Ninja 400, and RiderzLaw Racing/Blud Lubricants/Finishline Machine’s Jackson
Blackmon has gave up racing his own kitted, 2019-model Yamaha YZF-R3 and has switched to riding a Monkey
Moto-built Kawasaki Ninja 400 for remainder of 2019.
The Supersport and Junior Cup classes will not ride at all
on Saturday, then on Sunday they will have their final qualifying sessions in
the morning followed by their races, one each, in the afternoon.
In Twins Cup, Roadracing World Young Guns Suzuki rider Alex
Dumas and Quarterley Racing Ducati’s Michael Barnes were in a class of their
own Friday. In Free Practice One, Dumas was fastest with Barnes less than 0.1
second behind, but the rest of the field was 1.4 seconds off of their pace. Later, Barnes leapfrogged Dumas to lead Qualifying Practice One, but the rest of the
field was still nearly one second slower.
Geoff May was quickest out of the box in Stock 1000 and led
Free Practice One with a 1:29.227 on his Ameris Bank Kawasaki ZX-10R, but
Andrew Lee stepped up in Qualifying Session One to earn the provisional pole
position with a 1:27.566 on his Franklin Armory/Graves Kawasaki ZX-10R. May was
just 0.1 second behind Lee in qualifying, but the rest of the 29-rider field
was over a second slower, if not more. Rookie Pro Bradley Ward was the best of the rest
with a 1:28.830 on his Fly Racing/ADR Motorsports Kawasaki ZX-10R.
The Twins Cup and Stock 1000 classes will have their final
qualifying sessions Saturday morning and their one and only races on Saturday
afternoon.
In other news, fans at the track will get some extra treats this
weekend. Yamaha is planning to introduce a new motorcycle, possibly a new
2020-model YZF-R1, on Saturday with the help of three-time former AMA Pro
Superbike and former Superbike World Champion Ben Spies. Also this weekend,
Ducati is publicly unveiling its Panigale V4 25° Anniversario 916 with the
assistance of four-time former Superbike World Champion Carl Fogarty and displaying an example of the bike on “Ducati Island” at Laguna Seca. And if
that wasn’t enough star power, former 250cc Grand Prix World Champion and
former Superbike World Champion John Kocinski visited the paddock at Laguna
Seca on Friday.