Photography by Andrea Wilson
The question was could Cameron Beaubier make a break at Road America in Saturday’s Daytona SportBike race. With its long straights it’s tough to break the draft on Road America’s four-miles, but just as he did in the Daytona 200, Beaubier made the breakaway look routine en route to his second straight victory in the series.
On the fourth lap of the 13-lap final Beaubier, on the Yamaha Extended Service/Monster Energy/Graves Yamaha R6, got away from RoadRace Factory Yamaha’s Jake Gagne. The victory illustrated Beaubier’s mastery of the historic Wisconsin circuit, moving away with a perfect combination of late-braking and perfect drives out of the turns.
Beaubier said a perfect motorcycle enabled him to pull away.
“My crew gave me a great bike today,” Beaubier said. “I just focused on putting in good laps and was fortunate to be able to get out front and stay there. It feels great to win this race.”
For Gagne it was a case of being in the perfect position, but not quite being able to hang in with the leader once the pace picked up.
“I made a few little mistakes and he was riding really good,” Gagne said of losing touch with the leader.
There were two great battles inside the top ten. One was for the final podium spot with training mates JD Beach and Jake Lewis, then a four-way battle for fifth between Garrett Gerloff, Bobby Fong, James Rispoli and Dane Westby. The quartet shuffled positions back and forth several times with Gerloff turning a near perfect last half lap to secure the position.
In the final podium spot Lewis tried, but couldn’t quite get in position to draft Beach to the flag.
AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike Results, June 1, 2013
1 6 Cameron Beaubier Roseville, CA Yamaha YZF-R6 13 Laps
2 32 Jake Gagne San Diego, CA Yamaha YZF-R6 +02.693
3 95 JD Beach Philpot, KY Yamaha YZF-R6 +15.157
4 85 Jake Lewis Princeton, KY Yamaha YZF-R6 +15.456
5 8 Garrett Gerloff Spring, TX Yamaha YZF-R6 +20.860
6 50 Bobby Fong Stockton, CA Triumph Daytona 675 +21.385
7 43 James Rispoli Londonderry, NH Suzuki GSX-R600 +21.467
8 5 Dane Westby Tulsa, OK Honda CBR600RR +21.469
9 40 Jason DiSalvo Batavia, NY Triumph Daytona 675 +51.377
10 21 Elena Myers Discovery Bay, CA Triumph Daytona 675 +51.451
