PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANDREA WILSON
MONTEREY, CA, JULY 21 – Y.E.S. Graves Motorsports Cameron Beaubier again proved to be the class of the class in the Daytona SportBike final today at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, the Northern California leading both portions of a red-flag interrupted race on a bright and sunny afternoon on the Monterey Peninsula.
Beaubier had the measure of his rivals after nine laps of Laguna, the Roseville, California, resident leading Roadrace Factory’s Jake Gagne and Y.E.S Graves Yamaha’s Garrett Gerloff by 2.3 seconds after the first nine laps. At that point, Ted Rich crashed his Yamaha on the exit of turn 11 and the R6 ended up in the middle of the front straight, forcing the AMA to throw a red flag.
From there the race was shortened to 14 laps from the originally scheduled 20 laps, meaning there would be a five-lap spring to the finish.
It mattered not to Beaubier. This time the Yamaha man led from pole position into the first corner and was never headed, pulling away to a 2.9-second win over his teammate Gerloff after slowing on the final lap. Gerloff, meanwhile, got the better of a duel with Gagne to record his best finish since finishing second in the Daytona 200 back in March.
Fourth place went to Jason DiSalvo on the Latus Motors Triumph, the veteran holding off the advances of Roadrace Factory’s JD Beach by .3 of a second.
Meen Motorsports Racing’s Jake Lewis ended up sixth, topping GEICO Honda’s Dane Westby by 1.4 seconds. James Rispoli was next on the National Guard/Celtic Suzuki in eighth. D&D Motorsports’ Bobby Fong finished ninth on a Triumph, some two seconds clear of the third Triumph in the top 10 ridden by former Daytona 200 winner Joey Pascarella.
Daytona SportBike
1. Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha)
2. Garrett Gerloff (Yamaha)
3. Jake Gagne (Yamaha)
4. Jason DiSalvo (Triumph)
5. JD Beach (Yamaha)
6. Jake Lewis (Yamaha)
7. Dane Westby (Honda)
8. James Rispoli (Suzuki)
9. Bobby Fong (Triumph)
10. Joey Pascarella (Triumph)
