Cycle News Staff | September 8, 2019
2019 New Jersey MotoAmerica Results (Updated)
Sunday
MILLVILLE, NJ (September 8, 2019) – Cameron Beaubier will need a little help from his friends in the final round of the 2019 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship at Barber Motorsports Park in two weeks, but he at least has a chance after winning the second EBC Brakes Superbike race in the Championship of New Jersey on Sunday.
2019 New Jersey MotoAmerica Results (Updated)
Beaubier, who finished second on Saturday and won on Sunday to claw back into championship contention with just the two races at Barber left on the 2019 schedule, trails Toni Elias by 16 points, 333-317. Yoshimura Suzuki’s Elias had an off-weekend and finished fourth in both races, giving up 19 points to his rival Beaubier and his Monster Energy/Yamalube/Yamaha Factory Racing YZF-R1.
On Saturday, Beaubier lost out to his teammate Garrett Gerloff and on Sunday he had his hands full with Attack Performance Estenson Racing’s JD Beach. Gerloff, meanwhile, was declared unfit to race after a big crash in the morning warm-up session that left him concussed. Beaubier and Beach were joined up front by Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz, but the South African ended up finishing third, some seven seconds behind Beaubier.
Beaubier was also able to gap Beach in the closing laps, besting the two-time Supersport Champion by 1.44 seconds after 23 laps for his fourth win of the season and the 36thof his Superbike career.
“At the beginning I was pretty confident going in just because I felt like I had pretty good pace there at the beginning of the race yesterday, and then after latching onto (Garrett) Gerloff he kind of pulled us three away from the field,” Beaubier said. “Then at the end it was us two. I was pretty confident that my bike was going to be better than it was yesterday, but I was struggling pretty bad at the beginning when the tires were new. I felt like I couldn’t really take advantage of the grip I had with the previous setup we had yesterday. But it felt okay at the end of the race. I was able to manage the tire decent. JD (Beach) was riding awesome. Then I saw my pit board when I was in second. I didn’t know who it was, but I saw that gap close right back up onto us. I was like, ‘Oh man. I’m in for a long last 10 laps.’ I’m really happy we got this win and kind of the monkey off of our back, type of thing. I’m more relieved than anything. I feel like we’ve been fast at every round, one of the fastest guys if not the fastest, but we just have not been able to put it together when it counts. So today feels really good. Obviously, I’m bummed for my teammate that he couldn’t line up with us today. I think for sure obviously his pace has been incredible all weekend. He definitely would have been another Yamaha in the mix. I feel really good going into Barber. We’re still in striking distance. We’re closing the points down. Just going to keep my head down and see what happens.”
Beach was happy to have turned his season around with a third and a second in the two races at NJMP.
“Going into the race, I told Cameron what my race plan was so he would know,” Beach joked. “We got going and it started off great. Then he kind of was screwing the plan up. So, I had to get out front. I led a few laps. The bike was feeling really good today. We were just trying to go. Towards the end Cameron got back by me. I started to lose the front just a little bit, and he picked the pace up just a bit. I just kind of lost touch a little bit. For half the year, how it’s been going, it’s been tough. To get a third and a second in the same weekend is great. I just got to thank my whole Attack Performance Estenson Racing team. We’ve still got one more round to go, so we’ll see what we can do.”
Scholtz was also pleased to be back on the podium, a day before his 27th birthday.
“I think the season has been a little bit up and down for us,” Scholtz said. “Pittsburgh was the first race we kind of thought that we had something. Our practice times weren’t that bad, but then by lap six or seven I was dropping one to two seconds off every single lap and I finished 30-something seconds behind Cam (Beaubier) and (Garrett) Gerloff. So, we really thought that we needed something because things were looking bad. But they worked hard to give me a good bike for Sunday in Pittsburgh and that really put us in a really good place for our setup, in a very small area so that’s looking good. Obviously, yesterday’s race wasn’t what I wanted. The guys worked really hard. Gave me a bike that was really good. This morning’s warm-up wasn’t the greatest either, but we could tell that our lap times were really consistent. I think this track that’s one of the main things. You have to worry about consistency. One corner sets you up to do the rest of the circuit. This race I got a pretty terrible start, like I usually do. I banged bars a couple times with (Jake) Lewis and (Kyle) Wyman. I got up to third and I could kind of see that I was catching JD and Cam, but I sort of caught them, then I would mess up somewhere. They would gap me, and I’d catch them, mess up. It was back and forth. Then with eight laps to go, I was almost tucking the front in every corner, so I just had to settle. But it’s great to be back on the podium. It’s really, really great for the team. I think it’s going to really boost them and get us going for 2020, pushing everybody. Barber is one of my favorite tracks. I’ve been told that they resurfaced it. I’m thinking that the lap times are going to be really, really quick there. So, I’m looking forward to it. Hopefully, end the season off pretty strong and come back fighting for podiums in every race in 2020.”
Elias was at the opposite end of the spectrum. He was happy. But only happy to have New Jersey in his rear-view mirror after a difficult weekend.
“It was a tough weekend, maybe the toughest I’ve had in a long time,” Elias said. “We tried to improve and change things, but it seemed it was impossible to improve. I went six seconds faster in the race today than yesterday, but still it was not enough to improve my position.I see things in positive way, and we are still leading the championship by 16 points going into the final round. I’d rather be ahead than be behind. We will analyze and if we have to change our setup completely, okay, we will do it. We will go and play as hard as we can at Barber and see what happens.”
M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Jake Lewis finished fifth, one spot better than on Saturday, and ahead of sixth-placed Kyle Wyman on the Lion Fuel/Cyclance/KWR Ducati. Yoshimura Suzuki’s Josh Herrin was seventh with Scheibe Racing BMW’s Jake Gagne ending his weekend with an eighth-place finish.
FLY Racing/ADR Motorsports’ David Anthony and Omega Moto’s Cameron Petersen rounded out the top 10.
With Beaubier now trailing Elias by 16 points, Gerloff holds on to third though he’s dropped to 41 points behind after missing Sunday’s race. Beach is 20 points adrift of Gerloff in fourth place and 24 points ahead of Herrin, who is now just three points in front of Scholtz.
Supersport: Jacobsen Closes In
Sunday’s Supersport race two was another good one for New Yorker PJ Jacobsen as the Celtic HSBK Racing Yamaha rider held off hard-charging and determined championship leader Bobby Fong aboard his M4 ECSTAR Suzuki.
Jacobsen and Fong diced with each other as the laps wound down, and Jacobsen bested Fong at the checkers by .028 of a second. Further back in third was Rickdiculous Racing Yamaha rider Hayden Gillim. With the double-win at NJMP, Jacobsen now trails Fong in the championship by just 10 points, and Gillim is in third and 25 points behind Jacobsen, so the championship will come down to the final round at Barber Motorsports Park in two weeks.
“It was a really good,” Jacobsen said. “Never been on the podium here. It was good. New Jersey is like my home. I’m from pretty close to here. I was pretty excited on myself and the team. The bike and everything were just working really well this weekend, so I was really happy. That was the main goal this whole weekend was to just win both races. Going for the championship, that’s what you have to do. It was just gain points on Bobby and seeing where Hayden is, as well. It’s just funny because about halfway through the season everyone just thought it was going to be Hayden and Bobby until the end. So, I think we proved them wrong. Now it’s me and Bobby. Hayden’s still not out, but it’s going down to the wire.”
Liqui Moly Junior Cup: Landers’ 12thWin
Saturday’s Liqui Moly Junior Cup race one winner Rocco Landers, who also clinched the 2019 class championship on Saturday, celebrated his title in the best way possible. Aboard his Ninja400R.com/Norton Motorsports/Dr. Farr Kawasaki, Landers won Sunday’s race two with a gap of nearly seven seconds over Quarterly Racing/On Track Development Kawasaki’s Damian Jigalov. Third place went to Altus Motorsports Kawasaki rider Kevin Olmedo for a Kawasaki Team Green podium sweep.
After his 12th Liqui Moly Junior Cup victory of the season, Landers said, “First off, thanks to my dad for getting the bike ready, and working so hard last night. In yesterday’s race, we had some problems with the setup and stuff, so we worked it out. We sat down and focused on that last night. We got it worked out, so super stoked we finally got it down. Just tried to go around as many people as possible and see if I could make a little gap, and it worked. Here we are.”
Twins Cup: Dumas On The Verge
Former Liqui Moly Junior Cup Champion Alex Dumas has been on a roll in the latter half of the Twins Cup season, and on Sunday, the Roadracing World Young Guns Suzuki rider won his fourth race in a row and fifth out of the past six races.
Dumas withstood a staunch challenge from RBoM Racing/Blud Lubricants/HJC Suzuki rider Jackson Blackmon, who raced in both Liqui Moly Junior Cup and Twins Cup this weekend and made the podium in both classes. Copoulos Built/RBoM Racing’s Curtis Murray rounded out the podium for a Suzuki sweep.
“For sure, heading into the weekend, I knew that Jackson would be fast,” said Dumas. “We were racing together when we were, like, 12 years old. I knew it was going to be a good weekend. I was just heading into this race thinking about the championship. We’re just heading to Barber with winning in our head, so it’s going to be good.”
Stock 1000: Done Deal For Lee
Last year’s Stock 1000 Champion Andrew Lee successfully defended his title when he clinched the 2019 Stock 1000 Championship after winning Sunday’s race, which concluded the MotoAmerica Championship of New Jersey.
Lee, aboard his Franklin Armory/Graves Kawasaki, started from the pole, and then, the race was red-flagged and had to be restarted. Despite the drama, Lee stayed in front and kept his closest title rival Stefano Mesa behind him. Ride HVMC Freeman Racing Kawasaki rider Corey Alexander gave Lee everything he could handle, and Lee crossed the finish line a scant .145 of a second ahead of Alexander in second. Mesa finished third aboard his Mesa37 Racing Kawasaki for a Team Green podium sweep.
“First, I want to thank everyone who got me here,” Lee said. “Franklin Armory, Graves Kawasaki, Jason Pridmore for basically telling me to do it again or else. He gave me an ultimatum. Basically, our friendship. It’s been a long season and I’m happy that we could cap it off this way. These guys have been keeping me honest every round. So, to be able to do it again, with this stiff competition in the lights, I’m just really happy to be here.”
EBC Brakes Superbike
- Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha)
- JD Beach (Yamaha)
- Mathew Scholtz (Yamaha)
- Toni Elias (Suzuki)
- Jake Lewis (Suzuki)
- Kyle Wyman (Ducati)
- Josh Herrin (Suzuki)
- Jake Gagne (BMW)
- David Anthony (Kawasaki)
- Cameron Petersen (Yamaha)
Supersport
- PJ Jacobsen (Yamaha)
- Bobby Fong (Suzuki)
- Hayden Gillim (Yamaha)
- Bryce Prince (Yamaha)
- Joshua Hayes (Yamaha)
- Richie Escalante (Yamaha)
- Braeden Ortt (Yamaha)
- Nick McFadden (Yamaha)
- Jason Aguilar (Yamaha)
- Nolan Lamkin (Yamaha)
Liqui Moly Junior Cup
- Rocco Landers (Kawasaki)
- Damian Jigalov (Kawasaki)
- Kevin Olmedo (Kawasaki)
- Dominic Doyle (Kawasaki)
- Jackson Blackmon (Kawasaki)
- Eziah Davis (Kawasaki)
- Teagg Hobbs (Kawasaki)
- Gauge Rees (Kawasaki)
- Isaiah Burleson (Kawasaki)
- Jacob Stroud (Kawasaki)
Twins Cup
- Alex Dumas (Suzuki)
- Jackson Blackmon (Suzuki)
- Curtis Murray (Suzuki)
- Draik Beauchamp (Yamaha)
- Michael Barnes (Ducati)
- Chris Parrish (Yamaha)
- Jason Madama (Yamaha)
- Darren James (Yamaha)
- Cooper McDonald (Yamaha)
- Kris Lillegard (Yamaha)
Stock 1000
- Andrew Lee (Kawasaki)
- Corey Alexander (Kawasaki)
- Stefano Mesa (Kawasaki)
- Frank Babuska Jr. (Kawasaki)
- Ashton Yates (Yamaha)
- Miles Thornton (Suzuki)
- Felipe MacLean (Suzuki)
- Manuel Segura (Kawasaki)
- Corey Heflin (Yamaha)
- Roi Holster (Yamaha)
For ticket Information on the MotoAmerica Series, click HERE
For How To Watch information on the MotoAmerica Series, click HERE
Saturday
MILLVILLE, NJ (September 7, 2019) – Monster Energy/Yamalube/Yamaha Factory Racing’s Garrett Gerloff continued to hold the hot hand in the MotoAmerica EBC Brakes Superbike Series, the Texan winning race one in the Championship of New Jersey for his fourth win in the last six races.
2019 New Jersey MotoAmerica Results
Gerloff had his hands full for the entire 23 laps of the New Jersey Motorsports Park race with his teammate Cameron Beaubier, the three-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion ending up 1.7 seconds behind at the finish line. Attack Performance Estenson Racing’s JD Beach rebounded from a tough stretch of races to finish third, his first podium since his victory in race two at VIR the first weekend in May.
The Gerloff, Beaubier and Beach podium gave Yamaha a one-two-three for the first time this season. Gerloff and Beaubier used their strong finishes to gain some points on championship leader Toni Elias, the Yoshimura Suzuki rider ending up a distant fourth on the day – some 25 seconds behind Gerloff.
With tomorrow’s race two and the two races at Barber Motorsports Park for the season finale remaining, Beaubier trails Elias by 28 points, 320-292, with Gerloff 44 points in arrears in third. Beach strengthened his hold on fourth in the championship with a 13-point gap over Josh Herrin, who was seventh today on the second Yoshimura Suzuki.
“Cameron was right there,” Gerloff said of his teammate. “I got to follow him through the first few laps and our bikes both seemed like they were really good everywhere. I felt comfortable and I saw plus zero forever, and JD (Beach) was right behind us too. So, Yamaha is really doing well with this track, and shining. I found a few spots where I thought it was pretty good. Made the pass on the line and was just trying to put my head down and do laps, but there was no getting away from him. We were together. The track fell apart, for sure. Everything was a little greasy, but the Dunlops felt really good. I felt like I was able to be consistent and hit my marks every lap. That was it. Just tried to be consistent. I feel good for tomorrow. Just motivated, for sure. I just want to finish the year off strong.”
Although he didn’t win, Beaubier had clawed back valuable points on Elias.
“Garrett had a little pace on us in both practices this morning,” Beaubier said. “We made a little change going into – well, a pretty big ride height change going into the race. I felt pretty comfortable right away. But then I started having little problems on the front. I had a couple pretty close calls. Was kind of yo-yo-ing with Garrett behind him. I got by him going into one, but way too deep. I had to try to play catch-up again. It was a tough race. Hats off to him. He rode really good. It’s really good to have three Yamahas up on the box. Obviously, I wanted to win and gain some more points on Toni, but I’ll take what I can get right now. Going to go look at some data and come back swinging tomorrow and see what happens.”
Beach was happy with a return to the podium, the two-time Supersport Champion and the Attack team finding a cure for the chatter issue that has slowed him of late.
“We’ve struggled a little bit all year,” Beach said. “I know I’ve gotten a win this year, but we’ve been off just a little bit. I think it just comes down to this is just my first year on this bike. We just couldn’t get something figured out. We honestly just changed the foot pegs and the tank for race two at Pittsburgh and the bike was way better. Then this morning, this is the first time here on this bike, so the first session out was just kind of trying to fine-tune the bike a little bit. Then in the second session, I was P3 for a while and got fourth at the end, which is my best since I think Virginia. So, I just feel good on the bike again. It’s great to finally feel good and enjoy being out on track and to get third. It feels really good. We still have a race tomorrow. We’ve got some stuff to change, so we’ll see what we can do.”
With Elias a distant fourth, he had some three seconds on Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz, the South African holding off M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Jake Lewis by just .060 of a second for fifth place. Herrin, in turn, hands his full with Scheibe Racing BMW’s Jake Gagne with the Yoshimura Suzuki besting the BMW by .169 of a second.
Lion Fuel/Cyclance/KWR Ducati’s Kyle Wyman finished ninth with FLY Racing/ADR Motorsports’ David Anthony rounding out the top 10.
Supersport: Jacobsen In The Mix
Saturday’s Supersport race started out well for championship contender Hayden Gillim, who battled for the lead until he lowsided out of the race and handed the lead to fellow championship contender Bobby Fong aboard the M4 ECSTAR Suzuki. Fong held the lead over his teammate Sean Dylan Kelly and a hard-charging PJ Jacobsen. Jacobsen bided his time and passed Kelly followed by Fong as the laps wound down. Kelly and Fong drag-raced to the finish line, and Jacobsen prevailed by .046 of a second at the checkers.
For Jacobsen, it was his third win of the season, and he moved up to second in the championship, 15 points adrift of Fong. Gillim’s crash dropped him back to third in the standings, but he is still in contention for the title.
“I got a good start and then led the first lap, but I didn’t feel so good on the first lap,” Jacobsen said. “Kind of weird. But I knew that they were going to come past me with a pretty fast pace. Then after that, there was just some pretty crazy battling. It wasn’t even battling in the corner. It was like on the straightaway. Like, who’s going to just put someone in the fence? So, I just wanted no part of that. I was happy just to even come home after that one. But it was going on for a while, and then Sean looked like he was struggling a little bit with rear grip, so I passed him. Then once I had that rhythm I kept going to the front towards Bobby when Hayden crashed. I felt pretty good, but again when I got to the front, I felt a little strange. I don’t know if the wind picked up or what, I just didn’t feel that great. So, I think I can make some improvements for tomorrow. I just kind of sat there. I rode a pretty good race. I’m pretty happy about that. I got more points on Bobby, so pretty excited for tomorrow, and we’ll see what happens. Hopefully it’s not as crazy as it was in the beginning of the race today, because it was a bit dangerous for a bit. We’ll see what happens.”
Liqui Moly Junior Cup: Landers Crowned!
In Saturday’s Liqui Moly Junior Cup race, Ninja400R.com/Norton Motorsports/Dr Farr Kawasaki rider Rocco Landers won his 11th race of the season, which is the most wins accumulated in one season for any Junior Cup rider in MotoAmerica history. With the victory, Landers clinched the 2019 Championship, and there are still three more races left to go in the season. Second place on the day went to MonkeyMoto/AGVSport/Blud Lubricants Kawasaki’s Jackson Blackmon, with Hunter Dunham Racing’s Eziah Davis finishing third for a Kawasaki podium sweep.
“In the beginning (of the race), I was just trying to get a good first lap and try to see if I could get away, and I couldn’t,” Landers said. “I looked back and Jackson (Blackmon) was there. He got by me. I was like, ‘So what’s going to happen?’ Then I looked back and I had a few seconds on (Kevin) Olmedo and Dominic (Doyle) and Damian (Jigalov), I think it was. Then me and Jackson just rode together. Then, on the last lap, I saw Kevin went by me and then highsided, and I was like, ‘That sucks.’ Then I just tried to get the draft and see what I could do with that and I pulled it off and got the championship.”
EBC Brakes Superbike
- Garrett Gerloff (Yamaha)
- Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha)
- JD Beach (Yamaha)
- Toni Elias (Suzuki)
- Mathew Scholtz (Yamaha)
- Jake Lewis (Suzuki)
- Josh Herrin I(Suzuki)
- Jake Gagne (BMW)
- Kyle Wyman (Ducati)
- David Anthony (Kawasaki)
Supersport
- PJ Jacobsen (Yamaha)
- Bobby Fong (Suzuki)
- Sean Dylan Kelly (Suzuki)
- Richie Escalante (Yamaha)
- Nick McFadden (Yamaha)
- Xavier Zayat (Yamaha)
- Braeden Ortt (Yamaha)
- Benjamin Smith (Yamaha)
- Cory Ventura (Yamaha)
- Jason Aguilar (Yamaha)
Liqui Moly Junior Cup
- Rocco Landers (Kawasaki)
- Jackson Blackmon (Kawasaki)
- Eziah Davis (Kawasaki)
- Cody Wyman (Yamaha)
- Jacob Stroud (Kawasaki)
- Damian Jigalov (Kawasaki)
- Toby Khamsouk (Kawasaki)
- Teagg Hobbs (Kawasaki)
- Gus Rodio (Kawasaki)
- Benjamin Gloddy (Kawasaki)
For ticket information on the MotoAmerica Series, click HERE
For How To Watch information on the MotoAmerica Series, click HERE