BRASELTON, Ga. – Cameron Beaubier won three races in a row before crashing out of the lead during the most recent MotoAmerica Superbike race at Road America, proving that no one is perfect.
However, he looked pretty close to that on a scorching hot Saturday at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta as the four-time MotoAmerica Superbike champion rode to his fourth victory of the season in dominating fashion.
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Beaubier led off the start, but it was Jake Gagne leading the way through the esses on the opening lap. Although his lead was short lived, it still marked the first time the Monster Energy Attack Performance rider had led a Superbike race.
Once his teammate Beaubier sped past, the two teammates circulated together for a few laps before Beaubier pulled away. The points leader slowing in the closing stages of the race to beat Gagne by 4.786 seconds, but said his race was by no means mistake-free.
“I had a couple mistakes in there that I was able to salvage pretty good,” Beaubier said. “They were just scary more than anything. Like Jake (Gagne) said, it was hot and greasy out there. I had a couple pretty good front-end pushes. One down into three where I had that little mistake this morning in Superpole. It was just hot and greasy. Jake got an incredible start from the second row. I knew he was going to be fast. I tried to get by him as quick as I could and just put my head down. But our gap was kind of yo-yo-ing a little bit. To be honest, going into the race I didn’t expect that. So, hats off to him. He’s riding awesome. Hats off to Matty (Scholtz). Three Yamahas up here on the box. It feels really good. It’s going to be another tough one tomorrow. I’m ready for it.”
The win was the 42nd AMA Superbike victory of Beaubier’s career and his sixth at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. He now leads the championship by 14 points over Gagne, 100-86.
Gagne, meanwhile, was well clear of Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz, the South African trailing the Californian by 16.3 seconds at the end of the 19-lap race. The third-place finish was Scholtz’ second podium of the year.
Elias rode his M4 ECSTAR Suzuki to fourth, well clear of his teammate Bobby Fong who had crashed in the morning session at speed and injured his right hand. Fong, in turn, had a big lead over FLY Racing ADR Motorsports’ David Anthony, the Australian also having a lonely ride to sixth.