File photo by Brian J. Nelson
MILLVILLE, NJ (Sept. 11, 2015) — Monster Energy/Graves Yamaha’s Cameron Beaubier topped the charts Friday in practice for the MotoAmerica Superbike season finale at New Jersey Motorsports Park. Beaubier, who leads the series standing coming into the event, clocked a lap at 1:21.031 on his factory Yamaha R1 Superbike. That time was over six-tenths of a second faster than his Yamaha teammate, defending series champ Josh Hayes, who went 1:21.691. Perhaps the surprise of the session was the performance of TOBC Racing Yamaha’s Taylor Knapp, who tripped the timing lights at 1:21.875 on his Superstock 1000 machine.
Yoshimura Suzuki’s Roger Hayden, who turned in a 1:21.970, was fourth. The top four were the only riders into the 1:21s of the afternoon combined qualifying session. Kyle Wyman rounded out the top five with a 1:22.427 on the Wyman Racing Yamaha.
The MotoAmerica Superbike Championship chase is down to the two Yamaha factory riders with Beaubier holding a distinct advantage with his 18-point lead over Hayes.
Even though he has the lead Beaubier has to be careful. If Hayes wins both races and Beaubier finishes third in both, the title will go to Hayes. That would put them equal on points, but Hayes would have 10 wins to Beaubier’s eight. But if Beaubier were to finish second in one race and third in the other, the title is his. Obviously, finishing in front of Hayes does the trick no matter what.
Another surprise Friday was the fact that newly-crowned Bazzaz Superstock 600 champ, moved up to race Supersport in the season finale and he topped the series regulars with a 1:22.164 on his Wheels in Motion/Motosport.com/Meen Yamaha. That time by Roberts would have placed him fifth among the Superbike/Superstock riders!
In Roberts’ absence Bryce Prince headed the Superstock 600 riders with a time of 1:24.546. In KTM cup it was Xavier Zayat leading the way with a time of 1:35.511.
MotoAmerica Superbike/Superstock 1000 Practice 2
1. Cameron Beaubier, Yamaha, 1:21.031.
2. Josh Hayes, Yamaha, 1:21.691.
3. Taylor Knapp, Yamaha, 1:21.875. SStk
4. Roger Hayden, Suzuki, 1:21.970.
5. Kyle Wyman, Yamaha, 1:22.427. SStk
6. Jake Gagne, Yamaha, 1:22.489. SStk
7. Danny Eslick, Aprilia, 1:22.504. SStk
8. Chris Fillmore, KTM, 1:22.819.
9. Sheridan Morias, Aprilia, 1:22.829. SStk
10. Jake Lewis, Suzuki, 1:22.846.
Supersport Q1
1. Joe Roberts, Yamaha, 1:22.164.
2. Garrett Gerloff, Yamaha, 1:22.847.
3. Tomas Puerta, Yamaha, 1:22.851.
4. JD Beach, Yamaha, 1:23.006.
5. Josh Herrin, Yamaha, 1:23.048.
Bazzaz Superstock 600 Q1
1. Bryce Prince, Yamaha, 1:24.546.
2. Wyatt Farris, Yamaha, 1:24.830.
3. Richie Escalante, Yamaha, 1:24.848.
4. Nick McFadden, Yamaha, 1:25.379.
5. Travis Wyman, Yamaha, 1:25.738.
KTM RC Cup Q1
1. Xavier Zayat, 1:35.511.
2. Jody Barry, 1:36.346.
3. Gage McAllister, 1:36.382.
