Cameron Beaubier MotoAmerica Superbike Champion
Josh Herrin Bounces Back To Win Supersport Finale
Cameron Beaubier and Josh Hayes both knew what they had to do coming into the MotoAmerica season finale at New Jersey Motorsports Park. Hayes knew he had to go out and win both races, then sit back and see how his young teammate Beaubier responded to the pressure. Beaubier knew he had to at least finish second in the first race so he could take away some of that pressure in race two. Turns out Hayes did his part and Beaubier did his. The end result was Hayes taking his ninth and 10th victories of the season in Sunday’s two races while Beaubier finished second and third to earn the 2015 MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North America Superbike crown.
Hayes’ two wins kept Yamaha’s unbeaten season alive in the 2015 season with his 10-win total combined with Beaubier’s eight wins on the Monster Energy/Graves Motorsports R1 keeping the brand perfect in MotoAmerica’s debut season of racing. In winning the Superbike title, Beaubier became the 20th different rider to earn an AMA Superbike crown.
“I was riding so timid,” the 22-year-old Beaubier said after earning the title in race two. “I was doing everything I could to not risking crashing or anything. I was making sure I was staying off the inside curbs… I was definitely riding pretty timid. But it was pretty cool because I got to watch Taylor (Knapp) and Josh Day battle it out and it kind of distracted me from what I had to do so it was pretty cool. I started the race and I was like, ‘Okay, if I have to stay behind Josh and Rog and just try to follow them around all race, I’ll be good,’ But I got out there and I started making a couple of mistakes, got nervous and I was like, ‘No, I’m not going to follow these guys today.’ “
Although Yamaha won every round, that was not due to a lack of effort on the part of Yoshimura Suzuki’s Roger Hayden. And today was no different. Hayden finished third in the red-flag interrupted race one, but was less than half a second from victory. In race two, he fought Hayes to the bitter end, coming up just .044 of a second short of victory. The two podium finishes were the 14th and 15th of Hayden’s season and leaves him champing at the bit to get the 2016 season started where he hopes to be armed with a new GSX-R1000.
Jake Gagne also earned a title today, the Roadrace Factory Yamaha rider sweeping to his 12th and 13th wins of the season in the Superstock 1000 class to wrap up the championship. He also took advantage of Beaubier’s caution in race two to finish third overall behind Hayes and Hayden, but it was his race-one victory that earned him the Supersport 1000 crown.
“We had an awesome year,” Gagne said. “And we ended up here with the number-one plate. That was the goal we set out to do at the beginning of the year and it feels amazing to get it done. Especially for the whole Roadrace Factory crew… they work really hard and just to see the smiles on their face and to celebrate. It feels really, really good.”
Today’s Supersport class was won by Wheels In Motion/Motosport.com/Meen Motorsports’ Josh Herrin, the Georgia resident battling back from his disappointing day on Saturday to win his fourth race of the season. The victory also vaulted him past Garrett Gerloff and into second in the title chase behind JD Beach, the Yamalube/Y.E.S./Graves Motorsports R6-mounted rider who had wrapped up the title in the last round at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Herrin beat his teammate Joe Roberts, who won Saturday’s Supersport race in the rain, by just .205 of a second with Gerloff just as close in third place. Beach and Roadrace Factory’s Cameron Petersen rounded out the top finishers.
“I’ve been kinda bummed out all weekend,” Herrin said. “You can’t let the rookie (Joe Roberts) come and beat you like that. I let myself down yesterday, but he did a really good job and he’s definitely turning heads. This whole year nobody else wanted to sign me at the end of last year, so when Ameen and Gary gave me the opportunity, I decided I was going to make the best of it and really tried all year. Everybody remembers the champion and the guys who won the last weekend.”
In the final championship standings, Beach ended the season with 310 points with Herrin beating Gerloff by just five points, 255-250. M4/SportbikeTrackGear.com’s David Anthony ended up fourth in the final standings with Roadrace Factory’s Tomas Puerta fifth, besting Latus Racing Triumph’s Bobby Fong, who sat out Sunday’s race with a concussion, by a single point.
The KTM RC 390 Cup Series wrapped up Sunday with New Jersey’s Anthony Mazziotto III making up for Saturday’s close loss by turning the tables on Gage McAllister. Mazziotto and his Jimmy Winters Motorsports-backed RC 390 beat McAllister to the finish line by just .029 of a second. Brandon Paasch finished third with Xavier Zayat and Hayden Schultz rounding out the top five.
“Definitely winning my home race was very important,” Mazziotto said. “I was training really hard all month long and being able to come here and actually put the plan to work… I’m glad to be up here.”
The top five finishers in the KTM RC 390 Cup will be rewarded with the opportunity to head to Silverstone to battle an international field of RC Cup racers in the British Superbike Championship round. Those riders are: McAllister, Mazziotto, Braeden Ortt, Hayden Schultz and Justin McWilliams.
The final Bazzaz Superstock 600 race of the season went to Tuned Racing’s Bryce Prince, the Californian beating Wyman Racing’s Travis Wyman and Mach 1 Motorsports’ Wyatt Farris in winning his first race of the season. Ironically, those three had all crashed out of Saturday’s race.
“This track has definitely had its ups and downs for me,” Prince said. “It’s been very nice to me and very unforgiving at the same time. We went out there this morning and we had the pace. In the race I felt I had the pace to get out and break away. Once I got passed him (Wyman) I put my head down, turned some 24s and set a gap.”
When all was said and done, Wyman narrowly missed out on finishing second in the championship (Joe Roberts wrapped up the title at Laguna Seca) by just three points to Richie Escalante, who was a non-starter in Sunday’s race.
SUPERBIKE/SUPERSTOCK 1000 RACE 1: 1. Josh Hayes (Yamaha); 2. Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha); 3. Roger Hayden (Suzuki); 4. Jake Gagne (Yamaha); 5. Kyle Wyman (Yamaha); 6. Josh Day (Yamaha); 7. Taylor Knapp (Yamaha); 8. Danny Eslick (Aprilia); 9. Shane Narbonne (Yamaha); 10. Geoff May (Honda).
SUPERBIKE/SUPERSTOCK 1000 RACE 2: 1. Josh Hayes (Yamaha); 2. Roger Hayden (Suzuki); 3. Jake Gagne (Yamaha); 4. Taylor Knapp (Yamaha); 5. Joshua Day (Yamaha); 6. Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha); 7. Kyle Wyman (Yamaha); 8. Danny Eslick (Aprilia); 9. Chris Ulrich (Suzuki); 10. Chris Fillmore (KTM).
SUPERSPORT RACE 2: 1. Josh Herrin (Yamaha); 2. Joe Roberts (Yamaha); 3. Garrett Gerloff (Yamaha); 4. JD Beach (Yamaha); 5. Cameron Petersen (Yamaha); 6. Corey Alexander (Yamaha); 7. Benny Solis Jr. (Honda); 8. David Anthony (Suzuki); 9. Ben Young (Yamaha); 10. Hayden Gillim (MV Agusta).
BAZZAZ SUPERSTOCK 600 RACE 2: 1. Bryce Prince (Yamaha); 2. Travis Wyman (Yamaha); 3. Wyatt Farris (Yamaha); 4. Brayan Sola (Yamaha); 5. Nick McFadden (Yamaha); 6. Caroline Olsen (Suzuki); 7. CAsey Tobolewski (Yamaha); 8. Jayson Uribe (Yamaha); 9. Conner Blevins (Kawasaki); 10. Michael Gilbert (Yamaha).
KTM RC 390 CUP RACE 2: 1. Anthony Mazziotto III; 2. Gage McAllister; 3. Brandon Paash; 4. Xavier Zayat; 5. Hayden Schultz; 6. Ashton Yates; 7. Braeden Ortt; 8. Brandon Altmeyer; 9. Justin McWiliams; 10. Alejandro Gutierrez Mejia.
Saturday Report
Roberts Wins Supersport, Hayes On SBK Pole
And Gage McAllister Takes The KTM RC 390 Cup Title
Joe Roberts has been hyped as the next big thing in American road racing and today at New Jersey Motorsports Park he took a big step toward making everyone believe that hype. The 18-year-old Californian won his first-ever Supersport race in his third attempt in the class, the Wheels In Motion/Motosport.com/Meen Motorsports Yamaha rider completely dominating the race that was held in a rainstorm.
Roberts, who has been the man to beat in the class at NJMP this weekend in both wet and dry conditons, qualified on pole position this morning for the race in the dry and then threw down the gauntlet in the wet race. Roberts led by as much as 17 seconds before slowing in the closing laps to win by an eventual 6.3 seconds in what was his third Supersport race after wrapping up the Superstock 600 Championship at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in July.
“I love this track,” Roberts said. “It’s like one of my favorite places to come. It really suits my style – it’s fast and flowy. I really wasn’t looking forward to riding in the rain because riding here last year in these conditions it was definitely a little sketchy. I came into the race knowing how the track was going to be. It seems like every track I come to now I just do way better and have a better feeling with this bike. When I saw my pit board and saw 10 seconds (his lead) I was a little surprised to see that big of a gap. The last few laps I just started counting down the laps and wanted to just stay on the bike. The rain was coming down even heavier and it was getting even more sketchy. It was a great race and I can’t wait for tomorrow. Hopefully, it’s dry and we can have a great battle for the lead.”
A popular second in the Supersport race went to Cameron Petersen on the Roadracing Factory Yamaha R6, the 20-year-old South African showing his rain-riding prowess to hold off Yamalube/Y.E.S./Graves Motorsports’ JD Beach, the newly crowned 2014 MotoAmerica Supersport Champion.
Australian David Anthony was right in the battle for second and third, the M4 Suzuki/SportbikeTrackGear.com rider less than half a second from second place. Roberts’ teammate Josh Herrin completed the top five to gain a few points on Garrett Gerloff in their battle for second in the series standings. Gerloff now has 234 points to Herrin’s 230. Beach, with the championship wrapped up, has 297 points.
The KTM RC 390 Cup Championship was decided on Saturday at New Jersey Motorsports Park with Gage McAllister taking the title in the best way imaginable – by winning the race. McAllister was in a battle for the duration, however, though that tussle ended up whittling down to two riders by the end of the race. At that point it was McAllister vs. New Jersey’s own Anthony Mazziotto III, with the former drafting past the latter at the finish line to take the victory by just .079 of a second. With McAllister’s injured rival Braeden Ortt only able to finish sixth, the title was his with just Sunday’s race remaining in the series.
“Going into the race, I knew that all I really had to do was finish ahead of Braeden Ortt and keep myself up on two wheels,” McAllister said. “So going in I really wasn’t anticipating going for the win, but after the first lap I found myself in the lead and from that point on I just tried to make sure I stayed up front, and until the last couple of laps I seemed to be able to stay in the lead. I knew if I could get a good drive, and give myself just enough space that I could creep up on him and get a good drive on to the straightaway, I could draft by him. That was the plan and I made it work.”
Although Cameron Beaubier has been the Superbike-class pace-setter in dry conditions this weekend at NJMP, dry turned to wet for Superpole and the Superbike Championship points leader suffered in the iffy conditions, allowing his Monster Energy/Graves Motorsports Yamaha teammate Josh Hayes to take pole position. It was Hayes’ fourth pole of the season and the 37th of his Superbike career.
It also gives the four-time Superbike Champion the upper hand going into Sunday’s two races, though dry weather is expected for those. Hayes will be joined on the front row by Yoshimura Suzuki’s Roger Hayden and Roadrace Factory’s Jake Gagne, with Gagne riding his Superstock 1000 class Yamaha R1 to his second front-row start of the season.
Beaubier, meanwhile, will lead the second row of the grid where he will be joined by TOBC Racing’s Taylor Knapp and Westby Racing’s Josh Day. Row three will consist of GN Gonzales Racing’s Shane Narbonne, GEICO Suzuki’s Chris Ulrich and Aprilia HSBK Racing’s Sheridan Morais.
Hayes goes into Sunday’s two Superbike races trailing teammate Beaubier by 18 points in his quest for a fifth Superbike title.
“It could work in my favor (if it was raining tomorrow),” Hayes said. “I can imagine what Cam’s (Beaubier) nerves would feel like if it started raining right before the race. It probably wouldn’t do him any good. There’s such small room for error and mistakes in a race like that. But, you know what, I don’t really care how the race goes down. I want to win it and put in a good performance either way. We’re going to keep plugging away and try to improve our dry settings. It’s been a good racetrack for me, but I’m having a hard time so far this year (at NJMP) and we’ll just see what we can come up with. I’ve been in a race here where I felt like the fastest guy and found myself with three laps to go in sixth or seventh place in a really tight race. A lot can happen and Cam is going to have his hands full starting from the second row and he hasn’t been getting the best starts this year.”
The Bazzaz Superstock 600 final was also held in iffy conditions and no one mastered them better than HB Racing’s Michael Gilbert, the Yamaha R6-mounted rider earning his first victory of the year and the first of his pro career. Second place went to Ryan Jones, the 34-year-old having the best outing of his career on his Push Brewing Kawasaki after qualifying 15th when his ZX-6R was found to be underweight in qualifying. Jones was 1.8 seconds behind Gilbert at the finish.
“I was hoping it was going to rain because I knew the rain was really going to help me,” Gilbert said. “You just have to ride smooth and consistent and that’s what we did – lap after lap. We practice this a million times wherever – on the dirt track – so you keep riding smooth and put your laps together and bring it home.”
Third place went to podium first-timer Nick McFadden, the R6-mounted privateer from Owensboro, Kentucky, having the best day of his pro career. McFadden ran second to early leader Richie Escalante before giving way to Gilbert and ultimately Jones.
With Joe Roberts having already secured second in the championship with his 245 points, Escalante holds on to second despite finishing 14th with an overheating motorcycle. He sits 23 points ahead of Travis Wyman, who crashed out of the race on the first lap.
SUPERBIKE QUALIFYING: 1. Josh Hayes (Yamaha) 1:39.440; 2. Roger Hayden (Suzuki) 1:39.898; 3. Jake Gagne (Yamaha) 1:39.925; 4. Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha) 1:40.143; 5. Taylor Knapp (Yamaha) 1:40.394; 6. Josh Day (Yamaha); 1:40.536; 7. Shane Narbonne (Yamaha) 1:41.030; 8. Chris Ulrich (Suzuki) 1:41.840; 9. Sheridan Morais (Aprilia) 1:42.354; 10. Mark Heckles (Yamaha) 1:42.441.
SUPERSPORT RACE 1: 1. Joe Roberts (Yamaha); 2. Cameron Petersen (Yamaha); 3. JD Beach (Yamaha); 4. David Anthony (Suzuki); 5. Josh Herrin (Yamaha); 6. Garrett Gerloff (Yamaha); 7. Hayden Gillim (MV Agusta); 8. Bobby Fong (Triumph); 9. Benny Solis Jr. (Honda); 10. Kaleb De Keyrel (Yamaha).
BAZZAZ SUPERSTOCK 600 RACE 1: 1. Michael Gilbert (Yamaha); 2. Ryan Jones (Kawasaki); 3. Nick McFadden (Yamaha); 4. Jayson Uribe (Yamaha); 5. Cody Wyman (Yamaha); 6. Andy DiBrino (Yamaha); 7. Conner Blevins (Kawasaki); 8. Chad Lewin (Yamaha); 9. Curtis Murray (Suzuki); 10. Caroline Olsen (Suzuki).
KTM RC 390 CUP RACE 1: 1. Gage McAllister; 2. Anthony Mazziotto III; 3. Justin McWilliams; 4. Benjamin Smith; 5. Brandon Paasch; 6. Braeden Ortt; 7. Brandon Altmeyer; 8. Eziah Davis; 9. Alejandro Gutierrez Mejia; 10. Mason De Keyrel.