Cycle News Staff | August 11, 2019
2019 Sonoma MotoAmerica Results and News
Sunday
SONOMA, CA (August 11, 2019) –Today’s race in the Cycle Gear Championship of Sonoma is further proof that it truly ain’t over till it’s over. With most series observers, including Cameron Beaubier, thinking the 2019 MotoAmerica EBC Brake Superbike Championship was a foregone conclusion after Beaubier crashed out of Saturday’s race and championship leader Toni Elias won, suddenly it wasn’t.
That’s because Elias crashed out of Sunday’s race early and Beaubier rode to victory, his fifth in the last six Superbike races at Sonoma Raceway, and his third of the season. And just like that, the championship is back on with Yoshimura Suzuki’s Elias leading Beaubier and his Monster Energy/Yamalube/Yamaha Factory Racing YZF-R1 by 34 points with three rounds and six races left in the title chase.
With fast-starter Beaubier leading, Elias crashed out of second place on the third lap. From there it was yesterday’s race winner Garrett Gerloff giving chase to Beaubier, the Texan putting up an admirable fight until losing front tire grip that forced him to slow his pace. That allowed Beaubier to cruise to a 5.281-second win, pocketing the 25 championship points that come with it.
“It just feels really good to get a win today after crashing three laps in yesterday, especially just after kind of being in a rut lately, I feel like,” Beaubier said. “I feel like we’ve been really fast. We’ve had really good pace the last few tracks we’ve been to, but we just haven’t been able to put races together. So that one felt really, really good in front of the hometown crowd and stuff like that. At the beginning, I saw 1.2 on my board two laps in and I just kept my head down and kept drilling, kept drilling. I knew Toni (Elias) and Garrett (Gerloff) were going really fast this morning and all weekend. So, I just kept my head down, kept my head down, and I opened up a little gap. Then I kind of settled down a little bit. Then I saw it kind of start closing. Garrett started closing on me, so I started pushing and making a couple mistakes, running wide here and there. I was like, ‘Man, I’m going to do something stupid. I’m going to crash doing this.’ So, I just kind of backed it down a little bit and just made sure I hit my marks. I ended up going a couple tenths faster. But he kept me honest all the way up until seven to go or something like that. I saw plus 3.5 on my board and I was like, ‘Let’s just take this home.’ It feels really good. Obviously, it’s unfortunate I crashed yesterday. I thought it was pretty much all over points-wise going into today. I think it was good for me,though, because I just went out with the intention to win. Don’t go ride careful or nothing like that. Just put your head down and go race. Go race to win. I felt like I rode loose. I felt like I rode good. We’re back in it.”
Gerloff had a solid weekend at Sonoma and leaves Northern California with a win and a second place.
“My team gave me an awesome bike today,” Gerloff said. “I really felt good on it. Wasn’t too different from yesterday. Yesterday I ran the softest front compound there was, and it ended up shredding on me at the end of the race. I tried the little bit harder compound this morning and just hated it. I didn’t like it. I was hoping that with the higher temperature today and stuff that the soft would maybe go a little bit longer, and I think it did but just not the whole race. It sucks. I wish I could have adapted a little bit better to the green tire this morning, but we just didn’t want to take the chance. I felt good at the beginning of the race. Ran off in the chicane on the fifth lap or sixth lap, which helped him (Beaubier) get out a little bit farther in front. Just did everything I could to try to kind of reel him back in. Felt like I was, to a certain extent, but then with like nine laps to go, my front was just so gone that I had trouble just turning the bike into the chicane and the last corner. Just really heavy braking front load corners. That was it. Kind of sucks, but we learned a lot this weekend. It was still a good weekend. First and second is not too bad. It’s cool that we’re right there in the championship, more or less. It feels good. Just try to keep taking steps forward. I’m really excited for Pittsburgh. It’s a track I really like. See how it goes there.”
Third place on Sunday went to Josh Herrin, the Yoshimura Suzuki rider making up for yesterday’s first-lap crash.
“It feels good,” Herrin said. “It sucks coming in being on a factory team and seeing these guys that are expecting a win and not doing good. Not to say that third is great, but I think all of us could say at the team that it feels pretty good today. This weekend hasn’t been good at all. A lot of people have been struggling, besides these two. Like I said, it feels really good. I’m happy to be up here. Hopefully Pittsburgh treats me a little bit better and we can be fighting up there with these guys at least. That would feel really good if we could at least see them at the end of the race. Thanks to the entire team for putting in all the work. I know it sucks being out in the heat and then having to repair a bike all night, so thank you to Jimmy, Frenchie, Ollie, Davey, all the guys, Scott, for putting in the work. Congrats to these guys. I look forward to going to Pittsburgh.”
As much as he gained in Saturday’s race, Elias lost in Sunday’s.
“We made a little change to the front fork,” Elias said. “I was feeling comfortable because I went with the medium tire and I was expecting a great race from mid-race to the end. I was in a good rhythm behind Cameron (Beaubier). I didn’t feel like I was pushing. I didn’t feel like I made a mistake or braked too late, but maybe with the change I did in the front, it was too hard and I just lost the front in one of the bumps. I’m sorry for the team, but I want to look in a positive way. We still have a 34-point lead. It’s not 59 like it was yesterday, but it’s still 34. We still have six races and we’ll see what happens.”
Fourth place went to Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz, the South African finishing third on Saturday. Scholtz battled with Herrin for most of the race and also had Attack Performance Estenson Racing’s JD Beach nipping at his heels for the duration. Beach ended up just over a second behind in fifth place, a day after the Kentuckian finished fourth.
Scheibe Racing BMW’s Jake Gagne was sixth, some four seconds ahead of Omega Moto’s Cameron Petersen. FLY Racing/ADR Motorsports’ David Anthony rebounded from a crash in yesterday’s race to finish eighth. Superbike Underground’s Jeremy Coffey and FLY Racing’s Sam Verderico rounded out the top 10.
With the series heading to Pittsburgh International Race Complex in two weeks, Elias leads the title chase, 266-232, over Beaubier with Gerloff third on 226. Beach is fourth with 159 points, 11 better than Herrin.
Supersport – Jacobsen Gets It
In Sunday’s Supersport race, Celtic HSBK Racing Yamaha rider PJ Jacobsen notched his second win of the season after passing M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Bobby Fong late in the race. Fong, who is leading the championship, tried a couple of times to get back around Jacobsen, but he used discretion to maintain his second-place position rather than put valuable points in jeopardy. Bryce Prince put his Tuned Racing Yamaha on the podium in third.
“Right from the beginning with the bike I felt really good,” Jacobsen said. “It was weird. In the beginning, everyone was running low 40s, high 39s. The pace was really slow. When that was happening, I felt really good. So, I just wanted to move to the front. I haven’t been there so much, but I just decided I wanted to go to the front and just try to lead this thing until the end, and I just pushed as hard as I could. The team, Celtic HSBK Racing, gave me a great bike today. We made some changes overnight, really just with some gearing and a little bit of the suspension. It was working really good. I’m pretty pumped. Also, Jake Zemke helped me with some line choices. I was struggling in the esses with these guys yesterday. So, I think I got everything pretty right today.”
Liqui Moly Junior Cup – Rocco. Again
Sunday’s Liqui Moly Junior Cup race-two podium was a carbon copy of Saturday’s result. Ninja400R.com/Norton Motorsports/Dr. Farr Kawasaki rider Rocco Landers tallied his ninth win out of 11 races so far this season, but the 12-lap event was a battle between him and Altus Motorsports Kawasaki rider Kevin Olmedo, who led the majority of the laps.
Landers seemed to be biding his time, and on the final lap, he pounced and passed Olmedo for the lead, and ultimately, the win. Local rider Marc Edwards matched his third-place finish on Saturday with another third place on Sunday aboard his Feel Like A Pro/RiderzLaw Racing Kawasaki.
“I didn’t have an exact plan as to what corner I’d pass him in, but the couple laps to the end, I just started trying to see what was going on, just tried to step back and think about it,” Landers said. “I really wanted to see what I could do. On the last lap there, I was just following him a little bit. Coming up towards the end, I was like, ‘I got a good run. Just see what happens here.’ I came up on him and got by him. It was a very fun race. He was going so fast, and so was everyone.”
Stock 1000 – That Man Lee
The weekend’s Stock 1000 race saw local rider, defending class champion, and current points leader Andrew Lee get his fourth victory of the season with a dominant performance that saw him start from the pole, get the holeshot into turn one, and lead every one of the 14 laps to the checkers aboard his Franklin Armory/Graves Kawasaki. Michael Gilbert rode his Team Norris Racing Kawasaki to second place after getting by Ameris Bank Kawasaki rider Geoff May with just two laps to go in the race. May finished third to round out the podium.
“The Franklin Armory/Graves Kawasaki crew has been working really hard lately, getting a bike underneath me that I can go out there and ride to my full potential today,” Lee said. “The bike was just feeling really great. I got a good start, and I knew these guys were going to be breathing down my neck. After qualifying, I felt like I had some pretty good pace underneath me. I was looking at the pit board and I was like, ‘Man.’ The grip wasn’t great for me. I was just clicking my markers and getting lap in, lap out, just trying to stay consistent. I’m just happy to come away with three wins in a row. So, hopefully, moving forward we can keep it going.”
Twins Cup – And Then There Were Three
The Twins Cup race saw a big shakeup in the championship after points leader Michael Barnes’ Quarterley Racing Ducati had a technical issue, which took him out of the race lead, out of the race, and unfortunately, out of the championship lead. Roadracing World Young Guns Suzuki rider Alex Dumas then took over the lead, put his head down, and stretched out a gap of more than 12 seconds by the time he took the checkers. Second place went to AP MotoArts Yamaha rider Draik Beauchamp, while Autovest Suzuki rider Joseph Blasius finished a close third.
The race result vaulted Beauchamp into the championship lead with 108 points, Dumas is in second with 107 points, and Barnes was shuffled down to third in the standings. But, he has 106 points, so only three points separate the top three title contenders.
“Michael (Barnes) passed me on the first lap coming into the last corner,” Dumas said. “He was going pretty fast. I followed him for two or three laps until he had a problem. I didn’t know if I could win. I was catching him at some places on the track where I was faster, and he was pulling a gap on me at other places. It was really hard to just keep up with him and stay behind him really close to make a pass. It was pretty much a lonely race at the end. I just took it home, and I’m really happy.”
EBC Brakes Superbike
- Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha)
- Garrett Gerloff (Yamaha)
- Josh Herrin (Suzuki)
- Mathew Scholtz (Yamaha)
- JD Beach (Yamaha)
- Jake Gagne (BMW)
- Cameron Petersen (Yamaha)
- David Anthony (Kawasaki)
- Jeremy Coffey (BMW)
Supersport
- PJ Jacobsen (Yamaha)
- Bobby Fong (Suzuki)
- Bryce Prince (Yamaha)
- Hayden Gillim (Yamaha)
- Joshua Hayes (Yamaha)
- Sean Dylan Kelly (Suzuki)
- Jason Aguilar (Yamaha)
- Nick McFadden (Yamaha)
- Cory Ventura (Yamaha)
- Lucas Silva (Suzuki)
Liqui Moly Junior Cup
- Rocco Landers (Kawasaki)
- Kevin Olmedo (Kawasaki)
- Marc Edwards (Kawasaki)
- Brenden Ketelsen (Kawasaki)
- Josh Serne (Kawasaki)
- Hunter Dunham (Kawasaki)
- Jackson Blackmon (Kawasaki)
- Gauge Rees (Kawasaki)
- Jacob Stroud (Kawasaki)
- Toby Khamsouk (Kawasaki)
Stock 1000
- Andrew Lee (Kawasaki)
- Michael Gilbert (Kawasaki)
- Geoff May (Kawasaki)
- Stefano Mesa (Kawasaki)
- Travis Wyman (BMW)
- Sebastiao Ferreira (Kawasaki)
- Asthon Yates (Yamaha)
- Mike Thornton (Suzuki)
- Gerog Myshlayev (Kawasaki)
- Bradley Ward (Kawasaki)
Twins Cup
- Alex Dumas (Suzuki)
- Draik Beauchamp (Yamaha)
- Joseph Blasius (Suzuki)
- Kris Turner (Suzuki)
- Jason Madama (Yamaha)
- Curtis Murray (Suzuki)
- Daniel Adams (Suzuki)
- Cooper McDonald (Yamaha)
- Aaron Tulchinsky (Yamaha)
- Kris Lillegard (Yamaha)
For ticket Information on the MotoAmerica Series, click HERE
For How To Watch information on the MotoAmerica Series, click HERE
Saturday
SONOMA, CA (August 10, 2019) – Yoshimura Suzuki’s Toni Elias took a giant step towards winning his second MotoAmerica EBC Brakes Superbike title today in the Championship of Sonoma at Sonoma Raceway, the Spaniard finishing second to Monster Energy/Yamalube/Yamaha Factory Racing’s Garrett Gerloff while his main championship rival Cameron Beaubier crashed out of the race on lap two.
2019 Sonoma MotoAmerica Results and News
Elias’ second-place finish combined with Beaubier’s non-finish gives him a 59-point lead in the championship heading into tomorrow’s second EBC Brakes Superbike race, 266-207.
While Elias may have gained the most on a sunny Saturday in Northern California’s wine country, the day belonged to Gerloff. Hot off his win in race two at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca a month ago, the Texan bested Elias by 10.3 second to take his second career EBC Brakes Superbike race win.
Gerloff was quick all day, ending up the second fastest qualifier behind his teammate Beaubier, the three-time series champion who had won the last four Superbike races held at Sonoma. Gerloff didn’t waste much time in taking the lead from Elias after Beaubier crashed out of the lead on the second lap – just moments after passing Elias.
In addition to taking his second win, Gerloff also took big gains in the title chase and is now just a single point behind Beaubier in third place with 206 points.
“I’d definitely like that,” Gerloff said when asked if he was going to win the rest of the races. “I’m not going to complain. Cameron (Beaubier) definitely had pace on all of us, I think. I felt pretty good with used tires. I was close to his pace, but I think he still had a little bit on us. But he looked a little antsy in the beginning and was trying to pass Toni (Elias) right away. I saw the crack where he crashed on. I saw that in the track walk last night. So, I’m glad I did that and was able to kind of see that. After that, I just tried to ride with Toni a little bit and see where he was good and strong. He was riding really well. I just found a spot on the inside of the carousel in turn six. My R1 feels awesome. I feel like I can put it anywhere that I want. So when he went a little wide, I just was able to go right to the underside of him. Then just tried to put my head down and do clean, consistent laps which wasn’t easy because the track temp was way higher than it was this morning. I felt like the first practice was actually the best the track was. Then it just got a little bit slicker and slicker every time we went back out. Even in the race I was just trying to keep it on two wheels because I tore my front (tire) a little bit and it was tough just getting around the right handers. At least we were able to do the full race distance and learned a lot of stuff for tomorrow. We’ll plan accordingly and see how it goes.”
Sonoma Raceway has never been one of Elias’ favorites and it was no different today.
“It’s always a very difficult race here for us,” Elias said. “Looks like the Yamaha’s always work really good here. They did an amazing job today… both. I’m sorry for Cam (Beaubier) because he was riding all the day so good. But we’ve been lucky. We are trying to solve as maximum the problems we have here. It’s not easy. Tomorrow we will continue. We will try more things. But definitely it’s been a really good result for us, for the championship. My team is giving me the best as they can every moment. I try to win the race for the first five laps because was when we could open some gap. Then I was thinking I was able to follow them, but it was not like this. Garrett (Gerloff) passed me and he was opening every lap one or two tenths. I felt I was over my limit trying to keep that. But I decide to be smart and after everything the 20 points were everything for me. 59 (points), it’s great. It’s still a lot. We have to play a lot of points still, but this thing is more falling on our side. Let’s see what will happen, but we are doing a great job. I’m happy.”
Third place today went to Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz, the South African besting Attack Performance Estenson Racing’s JD Beach. Fifth place went to Scheibe Racing BMW’s Jake Gagne in his best finish of the season.
“It definitely has been a difficult season,” Scholtz said after just his third podium of the season. “We’ve had pace. We’ve been there, but we made a couple changes and we went backwards a couple times slightly. This weekend we kind of just went back to last year and how we went through debriefs and setup and just trying not to complicate things and do too many changes. Every session, every time I pulled in, we were making multiple changes. It got to the point where I wasn’t riding the bike as hard as I could because I was always worried about setup or where it was sliding and everything. Coming here and just focusing on me was a big, big step forward for us. Unfortunately, in the first practice I crashed on the second lap, so that didn’t help. But to go out in second practice and end up fourth after how things have gone, we were very, very happy. When the race went on, I think I was back in maybe sixth place and (Jake) Lewis and (Josh) Herrin and everyone were going backwards and forwards. I’ve crashed out of two of the last four races, so I just thought to myself, I’ve got to stay out of the mess and just ride my own race. Guys went down. I kept my head. I’m over the moon for the Westby team. They’ve worked so hard. We’re a family. We’re one of the smaller groups. When I do bad, the atmosphere is terrible, but when I do good it’s an absolute party there. I’m very happy for the boys. We’ll go home, have a mini celebration and come back stronger tomorrow.”
Thrashed Bike Racing’s Max Flinders had his best career Superbike finish in sixth. Ditto for FLY Racing’s Sam Verderico, who finished seventh in the race that featured an exorbitant amount of non-finishers.
The non-finishers included Beaubier, Yoshimura Suzuki’s Josh Herrin, Ducati Richmond/KWR Ducati’s Kyle Wyman, FLY Racing ADR Motorsports’ David Anthony, M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Jake Lewis and Omega Moto’s Cameron Petersen.
Supersport – Gillim Rebounds
After the Supersport race was red-flagged because of a crash on the first lap, it was re-started, and Rickdiculous Racing Yamaha rider Hayden Gillim went to the front and hung on to a narrow lead to capture his fifth win of the season. Second-place finisher and current championship leader Bobby Fong closed the gap to Gillim as the laps wound down and brought his M4 ECSTAR Suzuki home in second. As a result, Gillim closed the points gap to just 13 behind Fong. Third place went to Celtic HSBK Racing Yamaha rider PJ Jacobsen.
“It felt like a really long race,” commented Gillim. “I’m just pumped this year that my starts are getting a lot better. To be able to come out right away in second place was really good. Last year, I was feeling really strong in the carousel. I’ve been trying to get that same feeling back. I got it a little bit at the beginning of the race and was able to make the move on Bobby there. I didn’t know if it was going to happen, though, because it took a long time. But I felt really good. I was starting to get into a bit of a rhythm and was starting to speed up there at the end. I was starting to make some mistakes, so I just got to clean it up.
“To win was good. I basically tried to give it away there at the end, but it was tough. That’s for sure. Tomorrow is going to be even tougher. The track felt a little bit different than in qualifying. The wind picked up, so we had a headwind and tailwind in some certain sections. Just got to figure some stuff out. Just go back and have some more fun tomorrow. I think that’s what I’ve been lacking on lately is just having fun. I’ve been putting too much pressure on myself. I’ve just got to smile more, I think. It was a good race. Just happy to come out with the win.”
Liqui Moly Junior Cup – Landers Gets His Eighth
In Liqui Moly Junior Cup race one, Ninja400R.com/Norton Motorsports/Dr Farr rider Rocco Landers won his eighth race out of 10 so far this season, and though he notched the victory in dominant fashion, it was not without drama. The Californian had a couple of “moments” during the nine-lap event where he and his Kawasaki were not in sync, but the talented 14-year-old maintained his composure to take the checkers by a little over one and a half seconds over second-place finisher Kevin Olmedo aboard the Altus Motorsports Kawasaki. Third place went to Feel Like A Pro/RiderzLaw Racing’s Marc Edwards, the local rider also aboard a Kawasaki.
“It’s super, super, super unfortunate that (his championship rival) Dallas (Daniels) was unable to be here this weekend,” Landers said. “I was looking forward to him coming out here and seeing what we can do and have some battles or whatever. But it sucks that he’s not here. But honestly, we literally would not have the budget to come out here if it wasn’t for Fuzzy and his girlfriend, Tom Adler with Wonder CBD, and Dr. Farr and Ninja400R.com, Norton Motorsports, and Hot Bodies.
And the miscues…
“Hiding expletives, going into the chicane, I grabbed an extra downshift, and it just stuck the bike out. I went off track and I was like, ‘I’ve just got to refocus.’ Then I took the lead again and I ran off. I didn’t run off, but I just grabbed the gas way too hard coming out of the last corner, which is generally a sketchy corner in the first place, but when it gets sort of hot, it’s really sketchy. So, once I got out front, I had that all momentum, I was like this close. I would have crashed. Then I just tried to refocus myself, just get it as smooth as possible and see what we could do and pulled it off.”
EBC Brakes Superbike
- Garrett Gerloff (Yamaha)
- Toni Elias (Suzuki)
- Mathew Scholtz (Yamaha)
- JD Beach (Yamaha)
- Jake Gagne (BMW)
Supersport
- Hayden Gillim (Yamaha)
- Bobby Fong (Suzuki)
- PJ Jacobsen (Yamaha)
- Bryce Prince (Yamaha)
- Joshua Hayes (Yamaha)
Liqui Moly Junior Cup
- Rocco Landers (Kawasaki)
- Kevin Olmedo (Kawasaki)
- Marc Edwards (Kawasaki)
- Josh Serne (Kawasaki)
- Brenden Ketelsen (Kawasaki)
For ticket information on the MotoAmerica Series, click HERE
For How To Watch information on the MotoAmerica Series, click HERE