FILE PHOTO BY BRIAN J NELSON
ELKHART LAKE, WI, MAY 29 – Monster Energy Graves Yamaha’s Cameron Beaubier kicked off the fourth round of the MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American Road Racing Championship at Road America by leading the way in the Superbike/Superstock 1000-combined sessions.
Beaubier’s fast time of 2:13.716 set earlier in the day was unbeatable in the wet afternoon session. His teammate Josh Hayes trailed Beaubier by .381 of a second. Not far behind the Yamaha duo was Yoshimura Suzuki’s Roger Hayden was not far behind in third.
Hayden’s teammate Jake Lewis was fourth ahead of the top Superstock 1000 rider—Taylor Knapp—on the TOBC Racing Yamaha. In sixth was RoadRace Factory’s Jake Gagne, also on a Superstock 1000 Yamaha.
GEICO Suzuki’s Chris Ulrich was seventh ahead of GN Gonzales Racing’s Shane Narbonne. Turbo Turtle Racing’s Danny Eslick was ninth and rounding out the top 10 was Superstock rider Josh Day on the Yamalube/Westby Racing machine.
Yamalube/Y.E.S./Graves/Yamaha’s JD Beach was the man to beat in the Supersport class. Beach topped both sessions, setting a 2:20.078 in the first qualifying session of the weekend before Mother Nature ultimately shortened the session. Trailing Beach by .381 of a second was teammate Garrett Gerloff. Wheels In Motion/Motorsport.com/Meen Yamaha’s Josh Herrin was third, 1.675 seconds adrift of Beach.
Behind Herrin was RoadRace Factory teammates Cameron Petersen and Tomas Puerta, finishing fourth and fifth, respectively. In sixth was Tuned Racing’s Corey Alexander, ahead of M4 Suzuki/SportbikeTrackGear.com’s David Anthony.
Bobby Fong ended the day in eighth on his Latus Motors Racing Triumph. Rounding out the top 10 was Kyle Wyman on his self-run Yamaha effort and Road Race Factory’s Ben Young.
Superstock 600 points leader Richie Escalante topped the times in the first qualifying session on his privateer Yamaha, edging out Herrin’s teammate Joe Roberts by .177 of a second. Privateer Suzuki rider Nick McFadden was third.
The KTM RC390 Cup series made its debut today at Road America. They too were supposed to have their first qualifying session this afternoon, but due to the weather the decision was made to give them another free practice session and save qualifying for tomorrow.
2015 Moto America
Road America Day One Results
Superbike/Superstock 1000 Combined Times
1. Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha) 2:13.716
2. Josh Hayes (Yamaha) 2:14.097
3. Roger Hayden (Suzuki) 2:14.188
4. Jake Lewis (Suzuki) 2:15.423
5. Taylor Knapp (Yamaha) 2:17.287
6. Jake Gagne (Yamaha) 2:17.926
7. Chris Ulrich (Suzuki) 2:18.858
8. Shane Narbonne (Yamaha) 2:19.119
9. Danny Eslick (Honda) 2:19.713
10. Josh Day (Yamaha) 2:19.997
Supersport Qualifying 1
1. JD Beach (Yamaha) 2:20.078
2. Garrett Gerloff (Yamaha) 2:20.459
3. Josh Herrin (Yamaha) 2:21.753
4. Cameron Petersen (Yamaha) 2:21.885
5. Tomas Puerta (Yamaha) 2:21.902
6. Corey Alexander (Yamaha) 2:22.293
7. David Anthony (Suzuki) 2:22.495
8. Bobby Fong (Triumph) 2:22.654
9. Kyle Wyman (Yamaha) 2:23.786
10. Ben Young (Yamaha) 2:24.558
Superstock 600 Qualifying 1
1. Richie Escalante (Yamaha) 2:22.985
2. Joe Roberts (Yamaha) 2:23.162
3. Nick McFadden (Suzuki) 2:24.958
4. Bryce Prince (Yamaha) 2:25.115
5. Travis Wyman (Yamaha) 2:25.357
6. Wyatt Farris (Yamaha) 2:25.367
7. Carl Soltisz (Yamaha) 2:26.131
8. Conner Blevins (Yamaha) 2:26.221
9. Jason Aguilar (Yamaha) 2:26.869
10. JC Camacho (Yamaha) 2:27.058
