Cameron Beaubier Takes Control With Indy MotoAmerica Double
Monster Energy Yamaha Rider Taking 18-Point Lead To Series Finale
If Cameron Beaubier wins his first MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North America Superbike Championship at New Jersey Motorsports Park in September, he will likely look back to his doubleheader sweep of the two races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway as the turning point. He may also want to invite Roger Hayden over for dinner a few times just to say thanks.
Beaubier came into the penultimate round of the MotoAmerica Championship at the Brickyard tied with his Monster Energy Graves Yamaha teammate Josh Hayes for the championship points lead. With his two wins at Indy, he leaves with an 18-point lead with just the two New Jersey races remaining, September 11-13. And it’s an 18-point lead because Hayden and his Yoshimura Suzuki hounded Beaubier in the pair of races, coming up just short in both, but taking away points from Hayes. So now, based on how these three have dominated the season thus far, the scenario for New Jersey is an interesting one.
And the bottom line is this: Hayes may want to start sending flowers to Hayden. If Hayes wins both races and Beaubier finishes second in both, Beaubier will take his first career Superbike title by eight points. If Hayes wins both and Beaubier slips to third in both, the pair will end the series in a tie. And the championship will go to Hayes because he would end the season with 10 race wins to Beaubier’s eight.
Beaubier ended up beating Hayden by .015 of a second in Sunday’s Superbike race – a race that was red flagged with a lap to go because of rain and wet conditions. When the running order was reverted back a lap, Beaubier was ahead. Barely. Hayes was also in the battle today after not being a factor on Saturday. He was .297 of a second behind at the finish.
Fourth place in today’s Superbike race went to Hayden’s Yoshimura Suzuki teammate Jake Lewis, the 18-year-old Kentuckian besting Roadrace Factory’s Jake Gagne by some four seconds. Gagne, however, was the best of the Superstock 1000s and earned his 10th victory of the season.
Sixth overall and second in the Superstock 1000 class went to Josh Day, the Westby Racing rider finishing well clear of HSBK Aprilia’s Sheridan Morais to earn his sixth podium finish of the season.
Tyler O’Hara rode his Chisum/Motul Racing Yamaha to eighth overall and fourth in Superstock 1000 with TOBC Racing’s Taylor Knapp and GEICO Suzuki’s Ulrich rounding out the top 10. Ulrich was fifth in the Superbike class.
“I’m definitely really pleased,” Beaubier said after his eighth win of the season. “Eighteen points is a decent gap, but I know how good this guy (Hayes) is at New Jersey so it’s going to be a pretty stressful-type weekend. I’m hoping for dry weather there and just do the best I can. This weekend was awesome. This race was pretty tough the last few laps when it was raining. I think all of us were riding a little timid and it seemed like whoever was in front was just going a little bit slower because they didn’t know how much grip there was. It was easier to ride around in second than to lead in those conditions. I knew the last couple of laps, it was raining pretty good, and I had a feeling they were going to throw the red flag so I was doing everything I could just to stay in front just in case it would go back a lap or whatever – if it didn’t go to the checkered.”
With eight rounds and 16 races in the books, Beaubier leads Hayes by the aforementioned 18 points, 336-318. Hayden, who has three seconds in the last three races, is third with 245 points – 22 points clear of his teammate Lewis. Elena Myers is now fifth in the Superbike standings with 133 points.
Gagne’s double win at Indy gives him a 43-point cushion over Knapp, 294-251, and with 50 points up for grabs in New Jersey he’s almost guaranteed his first MotoAmerica Superstock 1000 title. Brit Mark Heckles is a comfortable third in the series with 208 points.
SUPERBIKE RACE 2: 1. Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha); 2. Roger Hayden (Suzuki); 3. Josh Hayes (Yamaha); 4. Jake Lewis (Suzuki); 5. Chris Ulrich (Suzuki); 6. Elena Myers (Suzuki).
SUPERSTOCK 1000 RACE 2: 1. Jake Gagne (Yamaha); 2. Joshua Day (Yamaha); 3. Sheridan Morais (Aprilia); 4. Tyler O’Hara (Yamaha); 5. Taylor Knapp (Yamaha); 6. Mark Heckles (Yamaha); 7. Shane Narbonne (Yamaha); 8. Garrick Schneiderman (Yamaha); 9. Barrett Long (Yamaha); 10. Steve Rapp (BMW).
Saturday Report
Monster Energy/Graves Motorsports Yamaha’s Cameron Beaubier won his seventh MotoAmerica Superbike race of the season on Saturday afternoon at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the 22-year-old Californian extending his championship lead to nine points over his teammate and series rival Josh Hayes in the process. The win, however, didn’t come without a race-long battle with Yoshimura Suzuki’s Roger Hayden, the Kentuckian coming up just .040 of a second short at the finish line. That means Hayden has lost the last two races to Beaubier (Indy and Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca) by a combined .124 of a second.
Hayes, meanwhile, was never a factor in this one as he battled to the finish just to earn the final podium spot, besting Yoshimura Suzuki’s Jake Lewis by .087 of a second as the pair crossed the famous yard of bricks.
The win was not only the seventh on the season for Beaubier, but he will also go down in history as the first-ever winner of a Superbike race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
A champion was also crowned at the Brickyard on Saturday with Yamalube/Y.E.S./Graves Motorsports Yamaha’s JD Beach clinching the 2015 MotoAmerica AMA/FIM Supersport Championship with a third-place finish in the red-flag interrupted final.
With his nearest rival Josh Herrin crashing out of the battle for victory on the first lap after the re-start, Beach didn’t have to do much to earn the crown. But he still finished third behind his teammate Garrett Gerloff and the Latus Motors Racing Triumph of Bobby Fong, with those two battling to the bitter end. At the finish it was Gerloff taking his second win of the season and his first since May by .036 of a second over Fong.
“The one thing I can tell you is that everybody at the house is going to be a lot more happy because I’ve been grumpy and mean and have just been so stressed over this,” Beach said after earning his first professional title. “It’s something that I’ve wanted for a long time and I’ve worked since I was a kid to have this. It was just me and my dad going dirt track racing and then moving away from my dad and moving back east and living with a great family. We all had the same goal and having Hayden (Gillim) win the Supersport Championship last year and being able to bring it home this year… it’s just an amazing thing. I’m just thankful to have a team behind me like I do and a family there that has the same goals as me. Me and Hayden are always pushing each other each day and it’s just amazing.”
With just the two races at New Jersey Motorsports Park remaining, Beach has an insurmountable 57-point lead over Gerloff, who moved ahead of the non-scoring Herrin by five points with his victory today at Indy.
Fourth place in Saturday’s Supersport final went to newly crowned Superstock 600 Champion Joe Roberts, the Wheels in Motion/Motosport.com/Meen Motorsports Yamaha rider moving up to the Supersport class after wrapping up the Superstock 600 title at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca three weeks ago. Roadrace Factory’s Cameron Petersen rounded out the top five, the South African chasing Roberts across the finish line.
With Beaubier and Hayden fighting for the victory and Hayes and Lewis battling over third in the Superbike final, fifth place went to a lonely Jake Gagne, who in the process won his 10th Superstock 1000 race of the season to extend his championship points lead to 29 points over TOBC Racing’s Taylor Knapp. Knapp ended up third in the Superstock 1000 class and seventh overall, one spot behind Westby Racing’s Joshua Day.
HSBK Aprilia’s Sheridan Morais was eighth with Atom Racing’s Steve Rapp and GN Gonzales Racing’s Shane Narbone rounding out the top 10 overall. All three were in the Superstock 1000 class where they finished fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively.
“That was a really important race for me to win in this tight championship with Josh (Hayes),” Beaubier said. “I know tomorrow it might be a little tougher. It will be his (Hayes) third day on this track and I’m sure they are going to go back and work hard on the bike for tomorrow. The battle was awesome, like Roger (Hayden) said, going into turn one and trying to out-brake each other. That seemed like the only place where we could really pass each other because we had the rest of the track really dialed. I felt like I was sliding all over the place, entry, mid-corner, exit, and when I was behind him I know he was doing the same. I know we were hanging out. I had fun and I have to thank my team.”
SUPERBIKE RACE 1: 1. Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha); 2. Roger Hayden (Suzuki); 3. Josh Hayes (Yamaha); 4. Jake Lewis (Suzuki); 5. Elena Myers (Suzuki); 6. Chris Ulrich (Suzuki).
SUPERSPORT FINAL: 1. Garrett Gerloff (Yamaha); 2. Bobby Fong (Triumph); 3. JD Beach (Yamaha); 4. Joe Roberts (Yamaha); 5. Cameron Petersen (Yamaha); 6. Travis Wyman (Yamaha); 7. Hayden Gillim (MV Agusta); 8. Bryce Prince (Yamaha); 9. Corey Alexander (Yamaha); 10. Benny Solis Jr. (Honda).
