Saturday marked the completion of the Valentino Rossi-hosted 100km dei Campioni at the nine-time World Champion’s ranch in Tavullia, Italy, with Americans JD Beach and Sammy Halbert finishing seventh in the 100km two-rider team race against a who’s who of racing stars from around the world.
The main-event race was won by five-time Supermoto World Champion Thomas Chareyre and his Brazilian teammate, Moto2 racer Diogo Moreira, with Rossi and Honda factory MotoGP racer Luca Marini finishing second. Third place went to the duo of Lorenzo Baldassarri and Elia Bartoloni.
“The 100km race is something like no other,” Beach said, prior to getting four hours of sleep and a flight back to Kentucky. “The last time I did it was five years ago, and the race has improved so much in its 10th year. It’s a crazy race with how the track layout is, and how it’s a team race, with pit stops to do a transponder swap.”
Let’s let Beach describe the race.
“We qualified eighth overall and Sammy (Halbert) started the race, which features a Le Mans-style starting procedure,” Beach said. “He got off to a great start, with fast opening laps, until a crash in front of him caused him to stall the bike. Sammy made up ground before our first pit stop (each rider does five laps, five times). I went out for my first run and ended up closing the gap to the top 10 (Halbert had dropped to 16th or so). Then we came in for the next pit stop, and Sammy put us into the top 10 before I headed out again. I was feeling great in my second run and made up some time to get us to eighth.
“After our next change, Sammy ran into some trouble and got hit from behind and stalled it again, putting us back to 10th. My next run I started matching the third-to fifth-place racers’ lap times and pulled us back to eighth. Sammy then matched my times and got us to up to seventh. We kept moving forward and on my fourth run I got us up to sixth until the fourth lap of my stint when I lost the rear brake and went back to eighth. On Sammy’s last run he got us back to seventh and just a small gap up to sixth. On my last run, I strung together some good laps but came up just a little short on sixth place, so we finished seventh. With the pace we had we could have been fighting for a podium with just a little luck.”
With two-time MotoAmerica Stock 1000 and 2023 Mission King Of The Baggers Champion Hayden Gillim manning the team’s pit stops, the team also utilized a two-way radio Cardo System, with Gillim counting down the laps and reporting the info to the riders.
Beach and Gillim will head home on Sunday morning with smiles on their faces after racing and rubbing elbows with the best of the best at the GOAT’s ranch. It’s what dreams are made of.
“The entire event is something very special,” Beach said. “For the most part, it’s laid back but it’s crazy how strict the security is as they actually have the same security that works at Misano for the GP. Plus, probably 30 marshals and an entire medical crew.”
Beach also came away impressed with how friendly the riders were when they managed to sneak away from the mob of fans.
“Most of the GP guys, and especially the VR46 guys, keep to themselves and away from the crowd because they just get mobbed,” Beach said. “During the Americana race, Marco Bezzecchi and other VR46 guys were cheering me on, which was very cool. During warmup for the 100km, Luca (Marini) and I were in different groups, so he was out watching. I came into the pits to check times and talk to Hayden and Luca went out of his way to come over and say he liked my style and gave me some track pointers. Also, before the 100km, Franco (Morbidelli) came up to me and said he enjoyed watching me during the Americana, which was also really cool. Andrea Migno was super friendly and was glad I was there. And, of course, when I had the chance to talk to Valentino (Rossi), he was super friendly and a pleasure to talk to.”
