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 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.

Toni Elias

“It was a really good weekend, especially yesterday when I made the mistake (in Race 1), (but still) win the race. I think it is a thing we didn’t expect, but it was good. Today I didn’t want to touch too much my (bike) setup, but I know these guys (my competitors) are always working a lot and improving. I was thinking ‘tomorrow (Sunday) I need to do something extra, no?’ And we did it. This morning was really good, our pace was better than yesterday, but the bike very hectic on the bumps. I made three or four mistakes during the race, that was because on the bumps the front was (reacting). It was good for me to see that because I understood what was my limit, what corners I could push more than the others, and at the end I push where I could push. I didn’t push where I couldn’t.”

Hayden was pleased to be closer to his teammate after losing out by 2.4 seconds to Elias on Saturday.

Roger Hayden

“I’m a lot more pleased with today’s performance than yesterday’s. Yesterday Toni (Elias) was just a couple notches above the rest of us, and me for sure, so we made some changes and the bike was working a lot better today. I tried to hang on to Toni as along as I could and he made a couple mistakes, (and) I got by him (briefly). Then I just tried to stay close enough to him in case I ever got the chance to try and make a move towards the end, but his last couple laps were really solid. Definitely a lot more satisfied than yesterday’s results. I definitely want to win, but at the same time being consistent is important too.”

Third place in the Motul Superbike race went to Monster Energy/Yamalube/Yamaha Factory Racing’s Cameron Beaubier, the two-time defending MotoAmerica Champion back on the podium after a mostly disastrous weekend that saw him crash out of yesterday’s race.

Beaubier started slowly and finished Lap 1 in sixth place, and by the time he got to third he couldn’t make much of a dent in the lead the two Suzukis had established. He ended up just a tick over six and a half seconds behind.

Cameron Beaubier

“It’s nice to get a podium after how horrible the last two days were. It’s frustrating, honestly. I started out Friday practice feeling great. The first five, six, seven laps I was thinking ‘alright, this is going to be a good weekend.’ I just had a good flow with the bike and a decent time right away on the hard tire (compound), and then boom, I crashed and destroyed the bike. The bike that we repaired I was just kind of struggling with. I was right at the end of the top 10 (in) pretty much all the practices and qualifying, and it was really frustrating because I felt like the (Yamaha) R1 is good around this place. And I like this place. To go and crash yesterday (in Race 1)… that was a bummer, making my crew stay two nights in a row (repairing the bike) until midnight. You never want to do that. But hats off to those guys for working so hard for me, they’re definitely the backbone of the team and that’s in the back of my head every lap, pushing for those guys, and, obviously, myself too. It’s definitely a little weight off my shoulders getting back up on the podium and moving on to the next race.”

Beaubier’s teammate Josh Hayes finished fourth after running with the lead duo for most of the race. He ultimately succumbed to his teammate Beaubier before finishing a lonely fourth.

Helmet Sounds.com/Western Services/Meen Motorsports Yamaha’s Josh Herrin finished fifth after a near race-long battle with Motovation USA/Lucas Oil/KWR’s Kyle Wyman, the pair separated by just .155 of a second.

Seventh place went to Yamalube/Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz, the South African taking the Bazzaz Superstock 1000 win in the process. It was Scholtz’s third win of the season and gives him a 17-point lead in the Bazzaz Superstock 1000 Championship over Jake Lewis, the M4 ECSTAR Suzuki rider finishing eighth and second in the Superstock category.

Bryce Prince earned his second podium finish of the season in Superstock with his ninth-place finish. Cycle World Suzuki’s Hayden Gillim rounded out the top 10.

Mathew Scholtz

“Things worked out great, I didn’t get the best jump off the start, and I got shuffled back a bit, but then there was a really long train (of bikes) and no one really started gapping anyone, yet. I kind of saw that Bobby (Fong) crashed out and I knew that he had the outright pace. Unfortunately , once I saw he bailed out it kind of left the door open for me, and I’m pretty sure I had Jake (Lewis) right there following me, but something must have happened (to him). I looked back with probably about six laps left and I saw that I had a really solid gap. From there I just kind of conserved the tires and maintained the gap, and kept running at a comfortable pace. They weren’t catching very quickly, but (regardless) I still had a hold on first. I’m really thankful for the team because they worked extremely hard. We took quite a big gamble this morning and it seemed to pay off us.”

Yesterday’s Bazzaz Superstock 1000 winner Bobby Fong crashed the Quicksilver Latus Motors Kawasaki out of the lead while battling with Beaubier for fourth in the Superbike class.

Broaster Genuine Chicken Honda’s Jake Gagne elected to sit out today’s race after yesterday’s Superpole crash to get healthy for the next round at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in two weeks.

After five of 10 rounds (and 20 races), Elias now leads the championship by 30 points over Hayden, 210-180. Beaubier is third with 162 points.

Elias tops the Superbike podium in Race 2

Motul Superbike Race 2 Results

Toni Elias, Barcelona, Spain, Suzuki
Roger Hayden, Owensboro, Ky., Suzuki
Cameron Beaubier, Roseville, Calif., Yamaha
Josh Hayes, Gulfport, Miss., Yamaha
Josh Herrin, Dublin, Ga., Yamaha
Kyle Wyman, Macedon, N.Y., Yamaha
Mathew Scholtz, Durban, South Africa, Yamaha
Jake Lewis, Owensboro, Ky., Suzuki
Bryce Prince, Bakersfield, Calif., Yamaha
Hayden Gillim, Philapot, Ky., Suzuki

Motul Superbike Championship Standings

Toni Elias, Barcelona, Spain, Suzuki – 210
Roger Hayden, Owensboro, Ky., Suzuki – 180
Cameron Beaubier, Roseville, Calif., Yamaha – 162
Josh Hayes, Gulfport, Miss., Yamaha – 111
Mathew Scholtz, Durban, South Africa, Yamaha – 89
Bobby Fong, Stockton, Calif., Kawasaki – 88
Josh Herrin, Dublin, Ga., Yamaha – 84
Jake Lewis, Owensboro, Ky., Suzuki – 83
Danny Eslick, Tulsa, Okla., Yamaha – 67
Kyle Wyman, Macedon, N.Y., Yamaha – 65

Superstock 1000 - Race 2 Podium — Superstock 1000 – Race 2 Podium

Bazzaz Superstock 1000 Race 2 Results

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

Bazzaz Superstock 1000 Championship Standings

Mathew Scholtz, Durban, South Africa, Yamaha – 191
Jake Lewis, Owensboro, Ky., Suzuki – 174
Bobby Fong, Stockton, Calif., Kawasaki – 165
Danny Eslick, Tulsa, Okla., Yamaha – 141
Hayden Gillim, Philapot, Ky., Suzuki – 120
Bryce Prince, Bakersfield, Calif., Yamaha – 106
Max Flinders, Preston, England, Yamaha – 84
David Anthony, Murrieta, Calif., Kawasaki – 47
Anthony Kosinski, Crumstown, Ind., Yamaha – 37
Frankie Babuska, Pelham, N.Y., Yamaha – 17

Supersport Race 1

JD Beach came into Utah riding a four-race win streak on the fast and flowing Utah Motorsports Campus racetrack. Make that a five-race win streak after Beach and his Monster Energy/Yamalube/Y.E.S./Graves Motorsports Yamaha R6 won his fourth Supersport race of the season and his fifth in a row in Utah.

The win also gave the 2015 MotoAmerica Supersport Champion the points lead for the first time in the 2017 season.

Beach won this one with two very fast opening laps while his teammate Garrett Gerloff struggled to find a way around M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Valentin Debise. After two laps, Beach led Gerloff by 2.1 seconds and that gap would hold steady until the closing laps when Gerloff gained ground in traffic.

At the finish line it was Beach by 1.060 seconds. Debise, meanwhile, faded to third place and was 24.128 seconds behind at the finish.

JD Beach

“I kind of just went into the race with the same plan I always do and tried to get a good start. I pushed the first few laps and we had some really good pace, but I definitely used up my tires a lot because towards the end of the race the bikes started to move a lot. I think I lapped five or six guys and I didn’t even see a blue flag (requiring lapped riders to move out of the way) until the last rider I lapped. That kind of threw off my rhythm a little bit towards the end of the race, but we’ve got some really good notes for tomorrow and we need to make some improvements so we can stay in front of Garrett (Gerloff) and (Valentin) Debise. I hope we can get back up there tomorrow and get another win.”

Fourth place went to Team H35 Honda’s Benny Solis over M4 The 22 Project’s Daytona Anderson.

Aguilar Racing Yamaha’s Jason Aguilar finished sixth overall, but that was good enough to give him his first career MotoAmerica victory in the Superstock 600 class. The win also moved Aguilar to within two points of series points leader Connor Blevins, the Excel Machine Racing Kawasaki rider finishing third today.

Jason Aguilar

“It was a really good race, we made a lot changes to the bike before the race and I actually struggled quite a bit the first couple laps. I was a little bit worried, honestly, I thought I made the wrong decision, but I ended up coming (on) good. We ran really good lap times that were a second faster than where we were in qualifying, so I’m happy with it. We’ve got to go back to the drawing board and make a little more happen tomorrow because the other guys are going to be right there.”

Gilbert, Aguilar and Blevins on the podium for Superstock 600 Race 1

Second in the Superstock 600 class went to Team MG55’s Michael Gilbert, the Californian who led the series prior to Road America now just six points behind Blevins in the title chase.

Palmetto Motorsports Team New Zealand’s Shane Richardson and M4 medAge Suzuki’s Nick McFadden finished fourth and fifth in class, respectively.

Supersport Race 1 Results

JD Beach, Owensboro, Ky., Yamaha
Garrett Gerloff, New Waverly, Texas, Yamaha
Valentin Debise, Albi, France, Suzuki
Benny Solis, North Hollywood, Calif., Honda
Daytona Anderson, Riverside, Calif., Suzuki
Jason Aguilar, Placentia, Calif. Yamaha
Jayson Uribe, Napa Valley, Calif., Yamaha
Michael Gilbert, Santa Ana, Calif., Yamaha
Connor Blevins, Oklahoma City, Okla., Kawasaki
Shane Richardson, Wellington, New Zealand, Kawasaki

Superstock 600 Race 1 Results

Jason Aguilar, Placentia, Calif., Yamaha
Michael Gilbert, Santa Ana, Calif., Yamaha
Conner Blevins, Oklahoma City, Okla., Kawasaki
Shane Richardson, Wellington, New Zealand, Kawasaki
Nick McFadden, Owensboro, Ky., Suzuki
JC Camacho, Deer Park, Texas, Suzuki
Braeden Ortt, Calgary, Alberta, Yamaha
Ezra Beaubier, Roseville, Calif., Yamaha
Andrew Lee, Clovis, Calif., Yamaha
Gauge Rees, Roy, Utah, Yamaha

Supersport Race 2

What seemed inevitable based on the hard battles the two have had all season long turned into reality today when Monster Energy/Yamalube/Y.E.S./Graves Yamaha teammates Garrett Gerloff and JD Beach crashed together on the final lap of the Supersport final at the Utah Motorsports Campus.

The error, which Beach took full responsibility for, allowed M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Valentin Debise to take the victory, his second of the season as the two Yamaha men were literally left in the dust trying to free their bikes from each other’s. For Debise it was a gift win that he was happy to take.

Valentin Debise

“When I saw the dust I knew there were only two guys in front of me, so it was easy to know who it was. So I look and they weren’t working towards the front, or they weren’t in the same position, and after that I just go and take my win. At VIR, I crash twice and give them (Gerloff and Beach) the win, so (today) they made a mistake and I take it (the win). It was a really good points (day) for me, and I was the same as them (in speed) for about four to five laps, which was good. I tried to keep up, but I wasn’t able. It feels good to be back with a win.”

With the top two men in the championship crashing out, the podium featured two fresh faces in M4 Rickdiculous Racing Suzuki’s Daytona Anderson and Rickdiculous Racing’s Jayson Uribe, the latter in his first-ever MotoAmerica weekend. For both it was their first foray onto a MotoAmerica podium.

Anderson ended up getting the better of Uribe, who races in the Spanish Moto2 Championship, by just .843 of a second.

Fourth place went to Aguilar Racing’s Jason Aguilar with the Californian picking up his second straight Superstock 600 victory in the process. He was some 12 seconds clear of Team MG55’s Michael Gilbert, the SportRider Magazine editor taking the runner-up spot for the second straight day.

Sixth fell to M4 medAge Suzuki’s Nick McFadden, the Kentuckian braving the pain of having his collarbone operated on just a week before the race to earn the final Superstock 600 podium spot.

Following his perfect weekend in Utah, Aguilar now leads the Superstock 600 title chase by nine points over Gilbert, 135-126. Connor Blevins, seventh today, is third with 125 points.

Jason Aguilar

“I was behind Daytona (Anderson) and Jayson (Uribe) pretty much the whole time, I was kind of watching them go at it. I was just kind of thinking in the back of my head that this isn’t my class (Supersport), so I don’t want to get involved in this. I was just trying to bring it home and saw I had a big gap off my pit board. I just laid down a couple good laps and paced myself. I just rode it home.”

Supersport Podium - Race 2 — Supersport Podium – Race 2

Supersport Race 2 Results

Valentin Debise, Albi, France, Suzuki
Daytona Anderson, Riverside, Calif., Suzuki
Jayson Uribe, Napa Valley, Calif., Yamaha
Jason Aguilar, Placentia, Calif. Yamaha
Michael Gilbert, Santa Ana, Calif., Yamaha
Nick McFadden, Owensboro, Ky., Suzuki
Connor Blevins, Oklahoma City, Okla., Kawasaki
Braeden Ortt, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Yamaha
JC Camacho, Deer Park, Texas, Suzuki
Nolan Lampkin, Indianapolis, Ind., Suzuki

Supersport Championship Standings

JD Beach, Owensboro, Ky., Yamaha – 172
Garrett Gerloff, New Waverly, Texas, Yamaha – 171
Valentin Debise, Albi, France, Suzuki – 124
Benny Solis, North Hollywood, Calif., Honda – 111
Jason Aguilar, Placentia, Calif., Yamaha – 67
Daytona Anderson, Riverside, Calif., Suzuki – 66
Connor Blevins, Oklahoma City, Okla., Kawasaki – 65
Michael Gilbert, Santa Ana, Calif., Yamaha – 62
Brandon Paasch, Freehold, N.J., Yamaha – 60
Nick McFadden, Owensboro, Ky., Suzuki – 53

Superstock 600 - Race 2 Podium — Superstock 600 – Race 2 Podium

Superstock 600 Race 2 Results

Jason Aguilar, Placentia, Calif., Yamaha
Michael Gilbert, Santa Ana, Calif., Yamaha
Nick McFadden, Owensboro, Ky., Suzuki
Conner Blevins, Oklahoma City, Okla., Kawasaki
Braeden Ortt, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Yamaha
JC Camacho, Deer Park, Texas, Suzuki
Nolan Lampkin, Indianapolis, Ind., Suzuki
Shane Richardson, Wellington, New Zealand, Kawasaki
Caroline Olsen, Halden, Norway, Yamaha
Ezra Beaubier, Roseville, Calif., Yamaha

Superstock 600 Championship Standings

Jason Aguilar, Placentia, Calif., Yamaha – 135
Michael Gilbert, Santa Ana, Calif., Yamaha – 126
Conner Blevins, Oklahoma City, Okla., Kawasaki – 112
Nick McFadden, Owensboro, Ky., Suzuki – 104
Shane Richardson, Wellington, New Zealand, Kawasaki – 92
JC Camacho, Deer Park, Texas, Suzuki – 90
Braeden Ortt, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Yamaha – 73
Anthony Mazziotto III, Hammonton, N.J., KTM – 65
Andrew Lee, Clovis, Calif., Yamaha – 54
Brandon Cleland, Fort Worth, Texas, Suzuki – 34

KTM RC Cup Race 1

Cory Ventura showed what he was capable of at the previous round of the KTM RC Cup Series in Road America when he finished second. Today he went one better, the 15-year-old Californian winning his first MotoAmerica race after a thrilling three-way battle to the finish with Benjamin Smith and Jackson Blackmon.

It all came down the last lap and Ventura got through the final three miles the best, taking victory over Smith by just .021 of a second with Blackmon third – just .061 of a second behind.

Cory Ventura

“The race was really good, we got off to a good start, probably my best start of the season, and I just stuck with these two fast guys (Smith and Blackmon). I tried to get up there and mix it up early on in the race, and tried to break away one lap, but both of them draft past me about halfway down the straight. I knew that wouldn’t have been eligible to do, so I just kind of sat back and knew I had to save my tires a little bit to wait for the right moment and time to make my move. They pulled a gap on me for a second and had me worried, so I to push really hard to get back up there. I just happened to make moves really fast and coming into that last lap there were those lappers, which spooked me a little bit because I didn’t know what they were doing. Jackson (Blackmon) got around one but maybe lost some momentum getting around the other one and I came up on these fast guys. I did whatever I could going into Turn 14. Jackson was killing it through that corner and I had to do something. I knew he was faster than me through (Turns) 15 and 16, and had me down there. I got the pass made and led the rest of the race to the finish line.”

Fourth place went to Toni Elias protégé Francesco Perez, the young Spaniard in his first MotoAmerica race and on his first trip outside of Europe. Perez came out on top of a battle with Gavin Anthony and Brett Voorhees and Trevor Standish. Perez was riding an M4 Roadracing World-backed wild card.

Smith continues to lead the championship standings over his Quarterley Racing/On Track Development teammate Draik Beauchamp, 127-99. Beauchamp crashed on the final lap but was able to remount and finish 11th. Blackmon, who also rides in the Dale Quarterley-owned team, is third in the series standings with 93 points.

KTM RC Cup Race 1 Results

Cory Ventura, Union City, Calif., KTM
Benjamin Smith, Glenmoore, Pa., KTM
Jackson Blackmon, Rock Hill, S.C., KTM
Francesco Perez, Barcelona, Spain, KTM
Gavin Anthony, Hilliard, Ohio, KTM
Brett Voorhis, Citrus Heights, Calif., KTM
Trevor Standish, Roswell, Ga., KTM
Toby Khamsouk, Banning, Calif., K
Gray Pham, San Diego, Calif., KTM
Alex Dumas, Quebec, Canada, KTM

KTM RC Cup Race 2

Quarterley Racing/On Track Development’s Jackson Blackmon missed the first two KTM RC Cup races of the season because of an off-season training accident. But since then the 16-year-old South Carolinian has proven to be a front-runner and today he won his third race of the season at the Utah Motorsports Campus.

The win, like all the KTM RC Cup races, was close with Blackmon topping his teammate Benjamin Smith by .169 of a second after nine laps.

Jackson Blackmon

“It’s a little easier planning, for sure, with two people (up front), I tried to have a plan going into that last lap, but it just kind of worked out how I did it and it worked well. I went into the first turn and I just tried to put my head down. I knew he (Smith) was going to go for the spot where he normally got me in Turn 5, so I went in a little hot and he got the drive off it. I was able to draft him into (turn) six and just put my head down. I think going into (turn) 11, I just tried to let off the brakes and pick up the gas, and it worked out.”

Some nine seconds behind the lead duo came Spaniard Francesc Perez, the Toni Elias protégé making the most out of his first visit to America by finishing on the podium in his second-ever MotoAmerica race (he was fourth yesterday). Perez came out on top of a battle with yesterday’s race winner Cory Ventura.

Francesc Perez

“I enjoyed (the race) a lot, this is my first time here in this amazing country, and I liked it a lot. I started in the back, but then I started moving up and I finished third. We did a great battle with Cory (Ventura) for third and I am happy. Toni (Elias) has been helping me since four years ago, since 2013, and he helps me a lot, so I am very happy to get this result (to show his help is working).”