ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – Monster Energy Attack Performance Yamaha’s Cameron Beaubier won his third consecutive MotoAmerica HONOS Superbike race of the season on a sunny Saturday at Road America.
Beaubier led this one flag-to-flag, beating M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Bobby Fong by 6.325 seconds, which was less that his previous wins here three weeks ago when he won by 7.8 and 14.3 seconds, respectively. In winning Saturday’s race, Beaubier became the all-time winningest rider at Road America with his 10th Superbike victory. It was also the 41st win of Beaubier’s Superbike career.
“To be honest, those first couple laps when I was trying to hang it out and open a gap, it wasn’t comfortable,” Beaubier said after winning in front of large crowd. “I didn’t have nearly the amount of grip up front and in the rear that we have yesterday morning and also this morning. I think the track temperature was just pretty high and it got pretty greasy out there. So, I wasn’t really able to roll the corners exactly like I wanted to. Once I saw that the gap started opening, I just tried to hit my marks and ride consistent. Hats off to both these guys. Bob (Fong) really upped the pace this morning and got me a little worried going into the race. I had obviously a pretty comfortable gap yesterday, but today wasn’t that case. We’re going to go try to improve what we can improve on our bike. Regardless, my R1 is just working so good right now. I’m really comfortable on it. Just hope to keep it going.”
The runner-up spot was Fong’s best finish of the season after his fourth and DNF from round one.
“We did a lot of homework,” Fong said. “We definitely improved the bike. The lap times didn’t show it today compared to last round, but we definitely improved the bike quite a bit. I’m okay in the first sector, the second and the middle, but I’m losing maybe four tenths, three tenths a lap just in the last sector. We’re messing with the electronics a lot. We don’t know exactly where to go with the electronics on the last sector. Just figuring it out. It’s just a puzzle. We’re putting it together piece by piece. I am working on trying to ride a little bit differently. Last round it seemed like I was charging stuff a little too hard. So, I’m backing off a little bit. Hopefully, we can find something today and bring it tomorrow.”
Third place Saturday went KATO Fastening/KWR Ducati’s Kyle Wyman, the New Yorker in a battle for most of the race for the position. The war went to the final lap with Wyman making a pass in the chicane before Elias retaliated. Elias beat Wyman to the line, but it was determined that he’d passed under a standing yellow flag at the marshal post and was docked two seconds. That bumped Elias back to fourth, which took him off the podium but still gave him his first championship points of the season.
Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz finished fifth, the South African getting a bad start and never really recovering. Beaubier’s teammate Jake Gagne was next, the Californian battling for third early on before having a mechanical issue that forced him to slow and then recover for sixth.
Scheibe Racing BMWs’ Josh Herrin was seventh with FLY Racing ADR Motorsports’ David Anthony barely besting Celtic HSBK Racing’s P.J. Jacobsen for eighth. Altus Motorsports’ Cameron Petersen rounded out the top 10 on his Suzuki GSX-R1000.
After three races, Beaubier leads the title chase with a perfect 75 points. Gagne retains second with 46 points, six more than Wyman’s 40 points. Herrin is fourth with 35 points with Fong moving to fifth with 33 points.