ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – Four-time defending MotoAmerica Superbike champion Cameron Beaubier was unstoppable in Saturday’s season opener at Road America.
The Monster Energy Attack Performance Yamaha rider led every session, breaking the lap record, earning pole position and winning Saturday’s first HONOS Superbike race by a country mile.
Beaubier led every lap to win his eighth Superbike race at the scenic race track in Elkhart Lake, Wis. His win Saturday tied him with his former teammate Josh Hayes for second on the Road America career win list. If Beaubier wins Sunday’s race two, it will be his ninth and that will tie him for the all-time lead with Mat Mladin.
An extremely confident Beaubier led off the line from pole position, led into the first corner and was never headed, eventually winning by 7.8 seconds at a race track where margins of victory are usually less than half a second.
“I don’t know, man,” Beaubier said when asked if this is the best he’s ever ridden in his career. “Just this off-season with Yamaha and Richard (Stanboli) at Attack putting their heads together, they kind of came up with an incredible package. We made a huge step, I feel like chassis, electronics-wise, a little bit motor. Everything’s just working. I feel so good on this thing. I don’t want to jinx nothing. I just want to keep the ball rolling. I’ve just been having pure fun on the thing. We’ve been able to beat our track records back home at Buttonwillow. It’s just been great working with the whole team. Everyone’s kind of come together. It’s been great.
“So, I finally got a good start and just put my head down there at the beginning. Clicked off some good laps at the beginning. Then I saw my gap grew a little bit. I just kept the head down and tried to ride as consistent as I could. Everything’s working really good right now. It’s one of my favorite podiums, my two buddies in the pits up on the podium with me. It’s been really good. I’m definitely ready for things to get back to normal, though. It’s been a little strange not having fans and having to keep your distance with your team after you get a good result. I’m just so pumped to be racing. Everything’s good. Looking forward to tomorrow.”
Second place went to Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz, the South African fighting through after a less-than-stellar start. He mowed the through the pack, however, passing Toni Elias, Bobby Fong and Jake Gagne en route to the runner-up finish.
Scholtz ended up beating Gagne by .705 of a second with Beaubier’s Monster Energy Attack Performance Yamaha teammate Gagne getting the better of M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Fong on the final lap, besting him by just .524 of a second for the final podium spot.
Inde Motorsports Ranch/KWR Ducati’s Kyle Wyman ended up a lonely fifth, the New Yorker some seven seconds clear of Josh Herrin, who was making his debut on the Scheibe Racing BMW S 1000 RR. Herrin, in turn, was 2.2 seconds ahead of Celtic HSBK Racing’s P.J. Jacobsen and his Ducati Panigale V4 R.