2017 COTA MotoAmerica Superbike Race 1 Results
Rennie Scaysbrook | April 22, 2017
Elias holds firm for win number one of 2017
Toni Elias continued his love affair with the Circuit of The Americas venue in Austin, Texas, today, clinching race one of the 2017 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship.
Elias held off a determined charge from Yoshimura Suzuki Factory Racing teammate Roger Hayden, who launched a last lap pass at the end of the back straight, only to run wide and hand the win on a plate to Elias.
Third place and first Superstocker was a brilliant Bobby Fong (Quicksilver Latus Motors Kawasaki), who grimly held onto the leading Suzukis before fading late in the race.
It was a disastrous race for the Monster Energy/Yamalube/Yamaha Factory Racing team of Josh Hayes and Cameron Beaubier. Hayes was the victim of Kyle Wyman’s crash. The KWR rider lost the front of his Yamaha YZF-R1 on lap two at turn seven, and with Hayes following right on his tire, he had nowhere to go. Hayes eventually remounted to finish 14th, with Wyman a DNF.
For Beaubier, his love/hate relationship with COTA continued, losing the front of his factory Yamaha at turn 12 while battling with Hayden and Elias. He too remounted, the champion coming home in a respectable eighth place for a few championship points that could prove crucial at the end of the year.
Fourth went to an ecstatic Mathew Scholtz (Yamalube/Westby Racing), the South African holding off Jake Gagne (Genuine Broaster Chicken Honda) in fifth.
2017 COTA MotoAmerica Superbike Race 1 Results