Cameron Beaubier: “I Will Get Back There”
Paul Carruthers | July 25, 2013
PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANDREA WILSON
Cameron Beaubier makes no bones about the fact that he longs to return to the World Championship. And racing in front of the MotoGP crowd, former friends, team managers, mechanics and the like from his days in Europe only made that desire stronger at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
“I like it,” Beaubier said when asked if he likes racing when MotoGP is in town. “I definitely like it. A couple of the guys I worked with in the past like on 125s are here. My team manager on KTMs when I raced 125s… now he’s the team manager of the satellite Ducati team, which is cool. I saw Marc [Marquez – his teammate on KTMs for a season in GP racing] on Friday and talked to him for a second. It’s cool to race in front of these guys. It kind of sucks because basically the AMA gets pushed off to the side a little bit just because MotoGP is the main show, but I think it’s good to perform good in front of these guys. Just to keep my name out there and in front of the European scene. I think it’s good.
Seeing his former teammate Marquez win MotoGP races only increases the craving to get back to the GPs
“I want to get back to Europe and racing over there eventually,” Beaubier said on Sunday afternoon after winning again in the Daytona SportBike class.
But first things first and that might be an AMA Superbike ride. Or maybe straight to Moto2?
“It would be cool if I got a shot to ride Superbike, but I guess we’ll see,” Beaubier said. “But it would also be cool to see what I could do over in Europe in Moto2. I think another year or so here would benefit me if I got the opportunity to ride with the Joshes [Hayes and Herrin, his Yamaha teammates on Superbikes]. I want to do it right, that’s for sure.”
When Beaubier last contested the GPs, he was young. As in 16. Too young, he says.
“The last time I got into the World Championship a little soon,” he said. “I was so young and I wasn’t ready. I was racing against the best in the world on 125s and I was on the KTM, which wasn’t as good as the Aprilias and stuff and I kind of got in over my head. I had a couple of decent races going. But it was a cool experience to learn those tracks for when I get back there eventually. I know some day I will get back there. It’s just a matter of time.”
To read more about Beaubier’s race at Laguna Seca click here
Paul Carruthers | Editor
Paul Carruthers took over as the editor of Cycle News in 1993 after serving as associate editor since starting his career at the publication in 1985. Carruthers has covered every facet of the sport in his near-28-year tenure at America's Daily Motorcycle News Source.
