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Toni Elias takes two for two at MotoAmerica Utah

June 26, 2017

Toni Elias takes two for two at MotoAmerica Utah

JD Beach takes Supersport Race 1 win, before crashing out in Race 2 – Valentin Debise winning Race 2

Images by Brian J. Nelson

Picture perfect weather and fast lap times were the story of day at the Utah Motorsports Campus, the site of Round 5 of the 2017 MotoAmerica Series, with Toni Elias the round winner after taking two straight wins, to continue his championship lead. Bobby Fong and Mathew Scholtz shared the Superstock 1000 wins.

Supersport and Superstock 600s starting at Utah

In Supersport it would be JD Beach taking his fifth win in a row in the first race, while Valentin Debise took the Race 2 win, with Beach crashing out in the final lap. Beach holds a one point lead over Garrett Gerloff in the Supersport standings. Jason Aguilar took both Superstock 600 wins and holds the championship lead in his class.

Cory Ventura and Jackson Blackmon split the KTM RC Cup race wins between them, with Benjamin Smith continuing to lead the championship, from Blackmon.

Superbikes Race 1

Toni Elias made his race a difficult one today at the Utah Motorsports Campus, the Yoshimura Suzuki rider bungling his downshifts in Turn 1 and finishing the opening lap in 11th place.

But from there he was faultless, the Spaniard patiently working his way through the pack to take the lead on the 12th of 17 laps. It was a lead he wouldn’t relinquish as he rode to his fifth Motul Superbike victory of the season and his 11th career MotoAmerica victory at the Championship of Utah.

The win also puts Elias 25 points (a full race) ahead of his Yoshimura Suzuki teammate Roger Hayden in the 2017 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship, 185-160, as the series reached its halfway mark at the 3.048-mile racetrack on the outskirts of Salt Lake City.

Toni Elias

“It was really difficult (to come back from the first-turn mistake), I didn’t expect that mistake. After that I was trying to be calm and trying to find some space because in the middle of the group (of riders) is tough. I tried to overtake very slowly, I didn’t do crazy things, and I also tried to control what was behind me. I could come back step-by-step, very slowly, taking my time. In the end when the tires dropped a little bit it was more easy for me. My team gave me a really good bike for the race distance. At the end, I lap easy and pass them (Hayes and Hayden). It was difficult to open up (a lead). I was trying very hard but Roger gave me good contest. The [lead] was 0.3, 0.4, 0.7, and then at the end I say ‘Okay, it’s mine.’ I know these guys are going to work a lot tonight and tomorrow I would just like to be safe in the first corner, don’ t make any mistakes. I’m really happy with the consistency (of the bike).”

Elias won by 2.461 seconds as the others failed to match his pace late in the race. Hayden finished second, the Kentuckian leading several laps before his teammate made his way through. Still, Hayden was able to hold off the advances of Monster Energy/Yamalube/Yamaha Factory Racing’s Josh Hayes, the four-time AMA Superbike Champion also leading at times during the race before ending up third.

Roger Hayden

“I knew he (Elias) was coming. Every time I would get in the lead I would try to lower the pace, but I was just struggling with some stuff and couldn’t go any faster. Josh (Hayes) was right there the whole time (too), and it was a pretty fun little back and forth with him (for the lead). But once Tony came by I hung on for one lap and just made some mistakes and I couldn’t hang on, and he was faster. So I’ll have to regroup tonight, look at some things, and try to see where we can close the gap.”

Hayes was trying not to make any costly mistakes as the race wore on and third was the best he could do on this day.

Josh Hayes

“That’s how it goes through the year, (you have) strong spots and weak spots. Their (Yoshimura Suzuki) bike is good in areas, our (Yamaha Factory Racing) bike is good in areas. A lot of the race was, since I haven’t seen these guys on the track that much, I was trying to figure out what we have where. What we can do good and what they can do good, so it was a bit of a chess match. It seemed like it was hard right in the beginning, but then it got a little better for a while and kind of wobbled back and forth a little bit. The second half of the race was pretty tough for me. Seeing all the mistakes on the first lap, I felt like grip was down just a touch from what it was earlier in the day, but overall I just tried to ride a smart race and bring it home. I had a few opportunities to get in there a race a little bit, but every time I tried it was just easy to make mistakes, so I had to take third, which is fun, but I was in the race (for the win) for a good while. I think we learned a lot and hopefully we come back tomorrow and are a little bit better than what we were today.”

Fourth place went to Bazzaz Superstock 1000 winner Bobby Fong, the Quicksilver Latus Motors Kawasaki rider in the mix near the front of the Superbike pack early on before finishing 8.7 seconds behind.

He was well clear of Helmet Sounds.com/Western Services/Meen Motorsports’ Josh Herrin and his Yamaha R1 Superbike with Kyle Wyman finishing sixth on the Motovation USA/Lucas Oil/KWR Yamaha.

Bobby Fong

“I honestly haven’t been feeling that good. Everyone I’ve been around has been sick, so I’ve been a little under the weather. I was on the grid and I didn’t know if I was going to last this race, I was just so depleted of energy. We did the best we could to stay with the Superbikes, but their straight-line speed is just insane compared to us. We actually had some corner speed on them. In a lot of the corners I could gain some pretty good time so that at least I could pull in on a straight line and in sector one and two it seemed like I could catch back up pretty quickly. But as soon as I saw the gap to Mathew (Scholtz), I just backed it down a little bit. It would have been nice to back on the Superbike podium again.”

Yamalube/Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz ended up seventh and second in the Bazzaz Superstock 1000 class, some four seconds clear of third-place Superstock finisher Jake Lewis on the M4 ECSTAR Suzuki GSX-R1000. Cycle World Suzuki’s Hayden Gillim and TOBC Racing’s Danny Eslick rounded out the top 10.

Defending two-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion Cameron Beaubier’s difficult weekend continued with his second crash of the weekend, and this time it was costly.

Beaubier sped away at the start, but crashed out of the lead on the second lap. He was able to dust himself off and finish, but could only muster 16th and thus didn’t score any championship points. He now finds himself 39 points behind Elias after nine of 20 races (10 rounds).

Cameron Beaubier

“I had a terrible Superpole, so we changed the engine in my R1, and we were looking forward to the race. With the motor change, I was confident that we could run up front. I got a really good start, which has been my weakness, so I felt really good about that. I was in third coming out of the first corner, but when everything settled, I was in the lead. So, I settled into a rhythm, and got a good pace going. I got into turn six a little hot, so I gave myself some room to make the turn. I didn’t expect the front to tuck as easily as it did, and I slid into the dirt. I got the bike restarted and, other than the windscreen, it was mostly okay. It took me a few laps to make sure everything was good. My lap times kept getting quicker as the laps wound down despite my head getting buffeted pretty good going down the front straight without the windscreen. Being so far back, the best I could hope for was a red flag. It’s been a terrible weekend for me so far, and to lose all those points, plus causing my guys to have to stay late again tonight to fix my bike just makes it all the worse. I’ve got a great team, though, and I’m confident that we’ll turn it around for tomorrow.”

Broaster Genuine Chicken Honda’s Jake Gagne was a non-starter after a crash during Superpole damaged his Honda badly enough that the team couldn’t get it repaired for today’s race. They are hoping to have the CBR1000RR back on the grid for tomorrow’s Race 2.

Motul Superbike

Toni Elias, Barcelona, Spain, Suzuki
Roger Hayden, Owensboro, Ky., Suzuki
Josh Hayes, Gulfport, Miss., Yamaha
Bobby Fong, Stockton, Calif., Kawasaki
Josh Herrin, Dublin, Ga., Yamaha
Kyle Wyman, Macedon, N.Y., Yamaha
Mathew Scholtz, Durban, South Africa, Yamaha
Jake Lewis, Owensboro, Ky., Suzuki
Hayden Gillim, Philpot, Ky., Suzuki
Danny Eslick, Tulsa, Okla., Yamaha

Bazzaz Superstock 1000

Bobby Fong, Stockton, Calif., Kawasaki
Mathew Scholtz, Dublin, South Africa, Yamaha
Jake Lewis, Owensboro, Ky., Suzuki
Hayden Gillim, Philapot, Ky., Suzuki
Danny Eslick, Tulsa, Okla., Yamaha
Bryce Prince, Bakersfield, Calif., Yamaha
David Anthony, Melbourne, Australia, Kawasaki
Max Flinders, Preston, England, Yamaha
Matthew Orange, Half Moon Bay, Calif., BMW
Roi Holster, Napa, Calif., Yamaha

Superbikes Race 2

Last year Toni Elias won his sixth MotoAmerica Superbike race in the 18th and final race of the season in New Jersey. Today the Yoshimura Suzuki rider matched that win total in just the 10th Motul Superbike race of what will be a 20-race season and that doesn’t bode well for the competition.

Like most of his previous five wins, the victory for Elias in today’s Championship of Utah didn’t come without a fight. This time the squabble up front was with his teammate Roger Hayden, the Kentuckian having found a better setup than the one he used to finish second yesterday and it kept him in the battle to the very end.

The margin of victory today: .459 of a second after 20 laps of the 3.048-mile Utah Motorsports Campus.