Photography by Andrea Wilson
Cameron Beaubier faced one of his best challenges of the season, yet still came out the winner in the end in Saturday’s Daytona SportBike final at Miller Motorsports Park. It was rookie DSB rider and Beaubier’s teammate Garrett Gerloff who had a monster race and nearly took the victory. Gerloff led the first half of the race and then fought back and led again from Beaubier in the closing laps; in what was the best back and forth battle in the class so far this season.
In addition to the riveting race turned in by the top two finishers, JD Beach and Jake Lewis also were in the mix at the end, the quartet of riders crossing the line with only a little over a second between them.
For Beaubier it marked his eighth win of the year and extended his points lead to 71 points over Jake Gagne. Gagne finished off the podium for only the second time this season. For Gerloff it was his third runner-up finish of the season. For third-place Beach it marked his fifth podium in nine races.
Beaubier said some last-minute changes to his Yamaha Extended Service Yamaha R6 didn’t work.
“At the beginning of the race I was struggling really bad,” Beaubier admitted. “My bike honestly felt like a complete different bike. It took me a long time to get up to speed. We made some changes this morning thinking it would be good for this afternoon, but I don’t know what happened. I was struggling pretty bad out there.”
For Gerloff he led 10 of the 16 laps and unlike in the past, was able to fight back and lead again after being passed by Beaubier.
“Cameron passed me into turn one and I just tried to stay right on his wheel,” said Gerloff, who moved into a tie for third with Beach in the standings. “I actually passed him once when I saw JD was catching up to us. It was a fun race and I can’t wait for tomorrow.”
Beach earned his podium on a backup bike.
“This morning I crashed in turn three and completely destroyed my bike,” said Beach, who escaped injury in the fall. “My Red Bull/RoadRace Factory team had to work real hard to get my bike going again. I ended up having to ride my backup bike since I destroyed the one so bad. We had a little setup issue on that bike so I think we’ll be able to get it working good tomorrow.”
AMA Pro Supersport results from Miller Motorsports Park – Saturday, Aug. 3, 2013
1 6 Cameron Beaubier Roseville, CA Yamaha YZF-R6 16 Laps
2 8 Garrett Gerloff Spring, TX Yamaha YZF-R6 +00.174
3 95 JD Beach Philpot, KY Yamaha YZF-R6 +00.726
4 85 Jake Lewis Princeton, KY Yamaha YZF-R6 +01.158
5 32 Jake Gagne San Diego, CA Yamaha YZF-R6 +14.956
6 43 James Rispoli Londonderry, NH Suzuki GSX-R600 +17.631
7 5 Dane Westby Tulsa, OK Honda CBR600RR +20.536
8 50 Bobby Fong Stockton, CA Triumph Daytona 675 +20.649
9 40 Jason DiSalvo Batavia, NY Triumph Daytona 675 +33.144
10 7 Fernando Amantini Caracas, Venezuela Yamaha YZF-R6 +42.067
