With a new track comes new hope for those trying to stop the Cameron Beaubier runaway freight train that is the 2020 MotoAmerica Superbike Series with Pittsburgh International Race Complex set to host round four of the championship this coming weekend, August 7-9.
Six HONOS Superbike races have been held thus far in 2020 and Beaubier and his Monster Energy Attack Performance Yamaha YZF-R1 have won five of them. And he was leading when he crashed out of the only race he didn’t win.
“I really couldn’t ask for anything more than how this season has started,” Beaubier said. “I made a mistake at Road America 2, but we were able to bounce back from that at Road Atlanta. The team is working well together, and we are on a good roll. I’ve never been this comfortable on a motorcycle and everything is really gelling. We’re looking forward to getting to Pittsburgh and keeping this going. It’s a track I like, and the bike will work well there.”
With his 43rd career AMA Superbike win on Sunday at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, Beaubier now has a 19-point lead on his teammate Jake Gagne, the Californian scoring two second-place finishes over the course of the two races in Georgia. Gagne has been a model of consistency with five podiums in six races.
M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Bobby Fong bounced back from a morning practice crash on Saturday to finish fifth and fourth at Road Atlanta and although it kept him third in the championship, he lost serious points to Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz. Scholtz is now just six points behind Fong after finishing third in both Road Atlanta races.
KWR Ducati’s Kyle Wyman dropped from fourth in the title chase to fifth after a rough weekend in Georgia. Wyman failed to finish Saturday’s race after damaging his radiator, which turned into a blown head gasket. For Sunday’s race, the team had to put in a spare motor and Wyman soldiered on to a sixth-place finish. He is now 10 points behind Scholtz and 16 points behind third-placed Fong.
Josh Herrin had a similar weekend to Wyman with a mechanical putting him out of Saturday’s race on his Scheibe Racing BMW. On Sunday, Herrin finished a spot behind Wyman in seventh.
FLY Racing ADR’s David Anthony finds himself just one point behind Herrin after sixth and eighth-place finishes at Road Atlanta and he’s now just eight clear of M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Toni Elias, the Spaniard having his best weekend in an otherwise miserable season thus far. Elias ended up fourth and fifth in the two races at Road Atlanta.
Thrashed Bike Racing’s Max Flinders and Altus Motorsports’ Max Flinders and Cameron Petersen are ninth and 10th, respectively, as we head to round four in Pittsburgh.
The pair of HONOS Superbike races at PittRace will air live on FS1 on Saturday and Sunday.
Pitt Race Superbike Notes…
The Pittsburgh International Race Complex was constructed in 2002 and MotoAmerica was the first National-level motorcycle race held at the facility in 2017. The track is 2.8 miles long and features 19 corners.
Garrett Gerloff and Toni Elias split the two Superbike race wins last year at PittRace. Gerloff beat his then-teammate Cameron Beaubier by just .326 of a second in race one and Elias topped Beaubier by .340 of a second in race two. That translates to Beaubier losing both races by a combined .666 of a second.
What a difference a year makes. Last year when Elias won race two at PittRace it was his seventh win of the season and he left with a 35-point lead in the championship. Thus far in 2020, Elias has yet to stand on the podium and trails Beaubier by 53 points.
Beaubier earned pole position for last year’s two Superbike races at PittRace, the Yamaha rider lapping at a best of 1:39.472 to beat out Gerloff by .164 of a second. Jake Lewis had his best qualifying effort of the year and started on the front row on the MR ECSTAR Suzuki. Beaubier’s 1:39.472 is the Superbike lap record at Pittsburgh International Race Complex.
Parity has been the name of the game in HONOS Superbike racing at PittRace. Five different riders have won the six MotoAmerica Superbike races held at the track in Beaver County: Toni Elias (2), Cameron Beaubier (1), Roger Hayden (1), Josh Herrin (1) and Garrett Gerloff (1).
With his 43 career AMA Superbike wins, Cameron Beaubier is third on the all-time Superbike win list – 18 wins behind his former teammate Josh Hayes, who is second to the all-time leader Mat Mladin on the list.
Beaubier has already won five races this season in just three rounds. The most wins the four-time series champion has had in a season is eight and he’s done that three times (2015, 2016 and 2018). Beaubier won the title each of those three years. Last year, en route to his fourth title, Beaubier only won five times – a mark he has already matched in 2020.
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