MotoAmerica Championship of Pittsburgh

MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American Road Racing Series

Pittsburgh International Race Complex

Wampum, Pennsylvania

August 24, 2019

EBC Brakes Superbike Race One Results (all on Dunlop tires):

1. Garrett Gerloff (Yam YZF-R1), 18 laps

2. Cameron Beaubier (Yam YZF-R1), -0.326 second

3. Toni Elias (Suz GSX-R1000R), -3.008 seconds

4. Jake Gagne (BMW S1000RR), -27.689

5. Mathew Scholtz (Yam YZF-R1), -28.493

6. JD Beach (Yam YZF-R1), -35.901

7. Josh Herrin (Suz GSX-R1000R), -46.479, crash

8. Cameron Petersen (Yam YZF-R1), -73.868

9. Max Flinders (Yam YZF-R1), -106.371

10. Sam Verderico (Yam YZF-R1), -1 lap

11. Jake Lewis (Suz GSX-R1000R), -2 laps, crash, pitted

12. Kyle Wyman (Duc Panigale V4 R), -7 laps, DNF, crash

13. David Anthony (Kaw ZX-10R), -9 laps, DNF

Championship Point Standings (after 15 of 20 races):

1. Elias, 282 points

2. Beaubier, 252

3. Gerloff, 251

4. Beach, 169

5. Herrin, 157

6. Scholtz, 150

7. Lewis, 126

8. Petersen, 98

9. Gagne, 96

10. Anthony, 84

11. Flinders, 72

12. Verderico, 69

13. Kyle Wyman, 55

14. Jayson Uribe, 22

15. Samuel Trepanier, 19

16. Jeremy Coffey, 17

17. Travis Wyman, 16

18. Geoff May, 14

19. Mathew Orange, 13

20. Michael Gilbert, 5

More, from a press release issued by MotoAmerica:

Gerloff Takes Race One At PittRace

Kelly Gets His First In Supersport, Olmedo Wins Junior Cup

(Above) Garrett Gerloff (31) leads Cameron Beaubier (1) and Toni Elias (24) late in Superbike Race One. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.

WAMPUM, PA (August 24, 2019) – Garrett Gerloff is most definitely on a roll, the Texan riding his Monster Energy/Yamalube/Yamaha Factory Racing YZF-R1 to his third victory in the last five races with the latest one coming on Saturday in the Championship of Pittsburgh at Pittsburgh International Race Complex.

Gerloff came out on top of a race-long battle in the first of two EBC Brakes Superbike races with his teammate Cameron Beaubier, the three-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion ending up just .326 of a second behind Gerloff at the end of the 18-lap race. Championship points leader Toni Elias finished third on the Yoshimura Suzuki, the Spaniard ending up three seconds behind the two Yamahas.

Gerloff had already proven to be the fastest of the fast this weekend as he led every session except for Superpole, which went to Beaubier with a new lap record of 1:39.472 around the 2.7-mile Pittsburgh International Race Complex. Gerloff led early, pulled a slight gap and then gave it all back when he ran off the track in turn one on the fourth lap. But he was able to rebound, passing Elias and then battling with Beaubier for the duration.

With the two Yamahas finishing ahead of Elias, the championship tightened up. Elias now leads Beaubier by 30 points, 282-252, with Gerloff just a single point behind Beaubier.

“As soon as we pulled the bike off the truck, we had a pretty good setup,” Gerloff said. “Kind of funny – after the first session we decided to completely change the whole bike. Front end, triple clamps, front fork springs, rear shock, everything. It felt even better. So, it’s nice that we’ve kind of just been always making steps forward this weekend. The bike felt awesome in the race. I felt good on the first couple laps. Came around and saw my board with plus one. Looked back and just kind of got in a little hot, unfortunately. Just a fast straightaway. It’s got to be a little bit of a tailwind today, too. Luckily, I was able to keep it up on two wheels and get back on track behind these guys. Had to work to get back up to them and then was able to see what they were doing around the whole track. Then I was able to get past Toni (Elias). Was in behind Cameron (Beaubier) and knew I wanted to make a pass at some point. I found a spot and tried to lead a little bit. Then he got me back. It was fun dicing and racing. I just gave it everything I had the last couple laps to maybe try to pull a little bit of a gap or something. Just glad it worked out in the end. Life is good. I feel good. Ready for tomorrow. Try to do something similar.”

Beaubier was upbeat despite the close loss to his teammate, knowing that he’d chipped away on the gap to Elias.

“I obviously wanted to win, but second is good,” Beaubier said. “Garrett has been riding really, really good this weekend. He set the pace all day yesterday and this morning also. Going into the race, I knew it was going to be pretty tough. Honestly, the race obviously didn’t pan out like I wanted to. I made a mistake on the last lap that kind of disconnected me from his rear wheel. I wasn’t close enough to make a lunge anywhere. I learned quite a bit behind him in the last section today and that’s where I was struggling pretty bad all weekend. So definitely some stuff to look out for tomorrow. We’ll see how it goes. All in all, it was good. We closed up some points on Toni (Elias). We’re moving forward, so it was good.”

Elias struggled to keep pace at a track he says favors the Yamahas. But he will make some changes and come back to fight another day.

“Absolutely we have to improve,” Elias said. “We have to try. But we never try things without knowing what we are doing. Now it’s so clear and also from my eyes what I see today, it’s very clear. I wish I had this idea this morning, yesterday. But we didn’t, so we work and fight with what we had. I think we did pretty good. We were pretty close at the end. We did a great job. Today these guys were so fast, and the pace was so strong. Garrett, this track is I think his favorite. He’s always so strong everywhere. But yes, we have to improve a little bit for tomorrow. I’m glad I didn’t crash because I came so close. Could be maybe like one race ago, but we took 16 important points for the championship, so very happy.”

Scheibe Racing BMW’s Jake Gagne had his best finish of the season, the laid-back Californian ending up fourth and just .804 of a second ahead of Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz.

Then came Attack Performance Estenson Racing’s JD Beach, the Yamaha rider 7.4 seconds adrift of Scholtz and some 11 seconds ahead of Yoshimura Suzuki’s Josh Herrin. Herrin had remounted from a crash with M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Jake Lewis in the first corner on the very first lap.

Omega Moto’s Cameron Petersen finished eighth with Thrashed Bike Racing’s Max Flinders and FLY Racing’s Sam Verderico rounding out the top 10.

Supersport: Kelly Gets His First

(Above) Sean Dylan Kelly (40) leads Hayden Gillim (69), Bryce Prince (74), PJ Jacobsen (99) and Nick McFadden (behind Prince) early during the restarted Supersport Race One. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.

In Supersport, the 16-lap race was red-flagged when championship leader Bobby Fong highsided his M4 ECSTAR Suzuki out of the race. Fong was unable to make the 10-lap restart, and his teammate Sean Dylan Kelly got the jump on the field off the line. Kelly, who is a 17-year-old rookie in MotoAmerica, went on to notch his first career Supersport victory. As to who would finish second and third, the outcome was very much in contention until Rickdiculous Racing Yamaha rider Hayden Gillim and Celtic HSBK Racing Yamaha’s PJ Jacobsen traded a little bit of paint on the run to the checkers. Jacobsen barely got the better of Gillim as the New Yorker got second over the Kentuckian.

“Man, honestly it’s been pretty difficult all year just because it’s a new class for me, new jump onto the 600,” Kelly said. “So, it’s been just a learning year for me. Most tracks have been good for me. Every step of the way was just trying to figure out how I can improve myself, how I can improve every session. It’s kind of been like that. We had a pretty difficult couple weekends, the last ones, but this is the best way to break through. I’m extremely happy with this. It feels really good to be on top. We’ll just keep on learning every time we’re out. I usually like to stay behind the top guys so I can learn from them. Today was a little bit different. I felt like I had a pretty good pace on the used tires. It was a really nice fight at the end. I had to ride really defensive because I knew that the guys behind me were really fast in the chicane. So, I just tried to defend. I’m pretty shocked that it actually worked. I just want to thank my whole Suzuki team for making it happen and for believing in me.”

Liqui Moly Junior Cup: Olmedo Gets It Done

(Above) Kevin Olmedo (14) held off Dominic Doyle (25) to win Junior Cup Race One. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.

In Saturday’s Liqui Moly Junior Cup race, current championship leader and polesitter Rocco Landers got the holeshot, cleared off at the front, and looked to be headed for his 10th win of the season until he slowed dramatically towards the end of the race and rolled to a stop off the track, his Kawasaki experiencing a technical issue that put him out of the 10-lap event.

Altus Motorsports Kawasaki rider Kevin Olmedo, who was poised in second place, inherited the lead and pressed his advantage all the way to the checkered flag to notch his first win of the season and second career victory in the Liqui Moly Junior Cup class. Second place went to BARTCON Racing Kawasaki rider Dominic Doyle with third going to Celtic HSBK Racing Yamaha’s Dallas Daniels. With Landers unable to finish the race, Daniels narrowed the gap to the championship lead by 16 points, though the lead is still 60 points.

“With the gap that (Landers) had at the front, I thought, ‘Well, I have to keep the pace and try to save the points in second place,’” Olmedo said. “After I saw Dominic behind me, I tried to push and keep the lap times. After that, I saw that we had a gap. Two laps from the finish, I saw then that (Landers) had up his hands up. So, I said, ‘Maybe it’s a mechanical problem.’ But I kept the pace and tried to save the points. I don’t push more because I know that if I push more, maybe I have a crash or something. I’m very happy.”

Twins Cup: Dumas Takes Over

(Above) Alex Dumas (16) leads Michael Barnes (111), Draik Beauchamp (77), Joseph Blasius (24), Kris Turner (38), and Chris Parrish (1) during Twins Cup Race One. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.

In the first of two Twins Cup races scheduled for the weekend, 17-year-old Alex Dumas, aboard his Roadracing World Young Guns Suzuki, got his third victory of the season and his fifth straight trip to the podium, which vaulted him into the championship lead with just five races left. Altus Motorsports Yamaha’s Draik Beauchamp got the holeshot in the race, and he and Dumas battled in the early going until Dumas took the lead and pressed his advantage to create a gap of nearly six seconds by the time he took the checkers. Beauchamp hung onto second place over Quarterley Racing’s Michael Barnes, who had a miraculous save after nearly highsiding his Ducati in the closing laps.

“The plan was to get a little gap at the beginning and try to manage it, but I didn’t have a good start and I got passed on the first lap,” Dumas said. “I was fourth or fifth, I think. So, I just put myself back to where I was and tried to make some passes. I ended up passing Draik, but I made a mistake in the last corner, so he passed me and I passed him back in turn one. I’m really happy about how my bike was. Really got to thank Team Roadracing World for my bike. I’m excited for tomorrow because I’m leading the points.”

More, from a press release issued by Westby Racing:

Mathew Scholtz Rides The #11 Westby Racing Yamaha YZF-R1 Superbike To A Fifth-Place Finish At PittRace

Wampum, PA – August 24, 2019 – The latter half of this 2019 MotoAmerica Superbike season has been a roller-coaster ride for Westby Racing, with adversity seemingly coming from every direction. But, thankfully, come race-time, Mathew Scholtz and his team have the talent to overcome that adversity and produce solid results when it counts the most. The race weekend so far at Pittsburgh International Race Complex has been a perfect example of that scenario.

After completing a Friday qualifying practice session with the rear brake on the #11 Westby Racing Yamaha R1 Superbike inexplicably smoking due to a technical issue, Mathew and the team regrouped on Friday only to have their Superpole session cut short by a completely different technical issue that was unrelated to the rear brake.

As a result, Mathew had to start Saturday afternoon’s race in ninth and on the inside of the third row. Despite the less-than-ideal grid position, he got a decent jump off the line, took advantage of the attrition when a couple of riders crashed, and ultimately crossed the finish line in fifth.

A top-five result was certainly not as good as what the Westby Racing team had hoped for but, given the circumstances leading up to the actual race, finishing fifth gives them hope for an even better result in Sunday’s race two.

“It’s been a little bit tougher than we thought it would be here in Pittsburgh, and we’re a little bit further off the pace than we’d like, but I think that we’ve made the bike better, and we’ve been a little bit quicker in every session. Unfortunately, we had a malfunction with the bike in Superpole, and I had to start the race back in ninth, which is the worst starting position I’ve had in a very long time. On the first couple of laps, I was sort of getting a feel for the bike since we didn’t get any laps in Superpole. I managed to pass a couple of guys pretty early in the race, and a couple of other guys went down, so I finished fifth, which I’m pretty happy about considering how things went on Friday and also this morning. Tomorrow is definitely a new day for us, and we have a few things we want to try in the morning warmup, which we’re very confident will improve our laptimes. We’re hoping for a much better result tomorrow.”

Superbike Race 2 goes green at PittRace on Sunday at 3 PM Eastern Time.

For more updates about Westby Racing, including news, photos, and videos, visit https://www.WestbyRacing.com

Also, follow “Westby Racing” on your favorite social media sites.

More, from a press release issued by Attack Performance/Estenson Racing:

Beach Scores Sixth-Place Finish in Tough Race One in Pittsburgh

Attack Performance Estenson Racing’s JD Beach overcame adversity at the Pittsburgh International Race Complex to score another top 10-finish in MotoAmerica Superbike race one on Saturday, August 24.

Beach got off to a decent start from the seventh spot on the grid and advanced to fourth after an incident between two riders early on in the race. Although the Owensboro resident was in a good position behind the lead group, a technical issue had him focused on keeping the bike on two wheels. He found himself shuffled back to seventh around the halfway mark. Ultimately, his discretion in the challenging conditions worked in his favor as another rider error moved him into sixth.

JD Beach — MotoAmerica Superbike #95:

“The race today was tough. It did not go as well as I had hoped. We’ve been struggling quite a bit with the front end of the bike. If I tried to push a little bit more it felt like I was going to lose the front. It made for a long race, but we brought it home in sixth and got some points. The team has been working so hard. They’re trying everything and we are just having a hard time getting something sorted out. I know we have a lot of data for Richard to go over tonight. We have a plan of what we’re going to try tomorrow, so hopefully he can find some more stuff on the computer and we’ll give it a shot. We’re going to fight again tomorrow.”

The MotoAmerica Superbike race two at Pittsburgh International Race Complex will be aired Sunday, August 25 at 9:30 p.m. ET. You can also stream all the action live on MotoAmerica Live+ starting at 9:45 a.m. ET. To subscribe to the live streaming click here: https://www.motoamericaliveplus.com/

For more information about the event, click here: https://motoamerica.com/pittsburgh/