Press Release | October 7, 2020
MotoAmerica Heads to the Brickyard For Round Eight Of MotoAmerica Series
The following is a press release from MotoAmerica…
Irvine, CA (October 7, 2020) – Barring a complete and utter catastrophe, Cameron Beaubier will drive out of Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday night with a fifth MotoAmerica Superbike Championship riding shotgun in his rental car.
Heading into this weekend’s three (yes, three!) HONOS Superbike races at the Racing Capital of the World, Beaubier holds a 103-point lead over his Monster Energy Attack Performance Yamaha teammate Jake Gagne and a 104-point lead over Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz. Semi-simply put, Beaubier could fail to finish any of the three races at The Brickyard and Gagne could win all three and Beaubier would still head to the series finale at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca with a 47-point lead, which would mean he would only have to score 28 points at Laguna to take the crown.
Given the season that he’s having in which he has won 13 of the 14 HONOS Superbike races held, doing the math on this is a waste of time. But humor us. If Beaubier wins all three races at Indy and Gagne finishes second in all three, the points lead will be an insurmountable 118 points with 75 available at Laguna. If he wins twice and Gagne finishes second in those two races, the lead would be 113 points with 100 points available (25 from race three at Indy and the three races at Laguna). Of course, there are other possibilities. Gagne could win and Beaubier finishes eighth, 12th… but that’s math for another day and uses a part of the brain we likely won’t have to use this weekend.
The bottom line is much simpler: If Beaubier does what he normally does and Gagne and Scholtz do what they normally do, the battle for second in the title chase will go to the very last race in California.
To say that Beaubier has been dominant would be a vast understatement. As mentioned, ad nauseam, he’s won 13 of 14 races and was leading when he crashed out of the lead in the only race he didn’t win. You could say he’s on a heater.
“I’m excited to go to Indy again,” Beaubier said. “I have good memories there from 2015 with two great battles with Rog (Hayden) and Josh (Hayes). This has been a dream season for me and the team so far and we plan on continuing this run at Indy and Laguna. Both of those are special racetracks with a lot of history and it’s fun to be a part of that.”
The battle for second in the title chase will surely carry on at The Brickyard. Gagne holds a one-point lead over Scholtz and has been on the podium in 10 of the 14 races with seven of those coming via second-place finishes. Scholtz has stood on the podium 10 times with six second-place finishes. Both have one non-finish apiece.
Neither Gagne nor Scholtz have won a race in 2020, but the same can’t be said for M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Bobby Fong. Fong took what was given him when Beaubier crashed out of race two of Road America 2. He was in second place when Beaubier made his miscue and he was able to fend off Gagne’s constant harassment to earn what was the first AMA Superbike win of his career.
Fong comes to Indy fourth in the standings–58 points from second and 57 points from third. He’s also 22 points clear of his fifth-ranked teammate Toni Elias. Elias, of late, has started to resemble the Elias of old but the Spaniard has only visited the podium once all season–in race one at New Jersey Motorsports Park. Elias’ season has been consistent with five fifth-place finishes and a smattering of fourths… definitely not what the 2017 MotoAmerica Superbike Champion has become accustomed to in what is his first season with the M4 ECSTAR Suzuki team.
KWR Racing’s Kyle Wyman is sixth in the series standings as we head to the penultimate round, 15 points adrift of Elias and just five clear of Scheibe Racing BMW’s Josh Herrin. FLY Racing ADR’s David Anthony and Altus Motorsports’ Cameron Petersen are separated by just nine points in the battle for ninth in the series standings.
Tenth place is currently held by Travis Wyman Racing’s Travis Wyman but Ride HVMC Racing’s Corey Alexander is in contention for that spot–just nine points behind Wyman.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway Notes…
This weekend’s MotoAmerica Superbikes at The Brickyard event will mark the second time the series has visited Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the first time since the series inaugural season in 2015.
Both of the Superbike races in 2015 were won by Cameron Beaubier, but both were ever so close. In race one, Beaubier and his factory Yamaha topped Yoshimura Suzuki’s Roger Hayden by just .040 of a second with Hayden turning the fastest lap of the race with a 1:38.067. In race two, Beaubier again topped Hayden and again it was close – .015 of a second. Beaubier’s teammate Josh Hayes was just as close in third, only .297 of a second behind the winner. Hayden again had the fastest lap–a 1:37.989.
Beaubier was the fastest qualifier in 2015 with his 1:37.247 besting Hayden’s 1:37.949 and Hayes’ 1:38.343 in Superpole.
Three–yes three–HONOS Superbike races will be held at The Brickyard this weekend to make up for the cancellation of the Circuit of the America’s round in Austin, Texas. Three Superbike races will be held at Indy and three more are scheduled for the series finale at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca to allow the series to still consist of 20 HONOS Superbike races.
Only three MotoAmerica classes were run in 2015 as the series joined MotoGP for the Red Bull Grand Prix of Indianapolis. Superstock 1000, which shared the track with the Superbike class, and Supersport were the two classes other than Superbike to race at The Brickyard. Jake Gagne, who is now Beaubier’s teammate on the Monster Energy Attack Racing Yamaha team, won both Superstock 1000 races over Josh Day and Taylor Knapp in race one and Josh Day and Sheridan Morais in race two. The lone Supersport race was won by Graves Yamaha’s Garrett Gerloff over Bobby Fong and JD Beach.
Of the 15 entries in the Supersport class in 2015, eight of those are still in the MotoAmerica Series: Bobby Fong, Cameron Petersen, Travis Wyman, Corey Alexander, Jason Aguilar, Josh Herrin, David Anthony and Kyle Wyman. Only Aguilar is still racing in the Supersport class, however.
Twenty bikes gridded for the Superbike/Superstock 1000 race in 2015. Six of those were Superbikes and the rest were Superstock 1000 entries. Twenty-four Superbikes are entered in this year’s HONOS Superbike races.
One rider who was at Indy in 2015 but not racing in the MotoAmerica races was Toni Elias. The 2017 MotoAmerica Superbike Champion was racing in the MotoGP in a one-off ride with AB Motoracing Honda RC-213V-RS. The following season, Elias was part of the MotoAmerica paddock with Yoshimura Suzuki and he’s never looked back.
A round of the MotoGP World Championship was held at The Brickyard for eight years and ran its last race in 2015, the lone year they were joined by MotoAmerica.
Cameron Beaubier’s two wins at Barber Motorsports Park, September 19-20, were the 50th and 51st career AMA Superbike victories for the Californian. That puts him just 10 wins behind his former teammate Josh Hayes for second on the all-time AMA Superbike win list. Mat Mladin is the all-time leader in AMA Superbike wins with 82.
MotoAmerica Support Class Preview
Landers On The Verge; Supersport Title Fight Rages On
(October 8, 2020) – With a 49-point lead and just two races remaining in the 2020 MotoAmerica Twins Cup Championship, Rocco Landers basically just needs to throw his leg over his SportbikeTrackGear.com Roadracingworld.com Suzuki this weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway to capture his third MotoAmerica Championship in two years.
Gaining a single point is all Landers needs to put an exclamation point on a season that has already seen him wrap up his second successive Liqui Moly Junior Cup Championship. The 15-year-old from Oregon earned the Junior Cup title at Barber Motorsports Park to successfully defend the championship he earned in 2019. The next one to check off the list is the Twins Cup Championship, a title he’s set to earn in his rookie season in the class this weekend.
Landers has won seven of the nine Twins Cup races held in 2020, with The Brickyard and WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca rounds left on the schedule. Landers heads to Indy riding a six race Twins Cup win streak.
Second in the title chase is held by Kaleb De Keyrel on the 1833CJKNOWS Yamaha FZ-07/MT-07, the three-time race winner well clear of third-placed Hayden Schultz and his Hayden Schultz Racing Yamaha. Schultz, in turn, is 24 and 32 points clear of Robem Engineering teammates Toby Khamsouk and Jackson Blackmon, respectively.
With 100 points still up for grabs, the Supersport Championship is far from over with two races set for The Brickyard this weekend and two more for Laguna Seca two weeks later. HONOS Kawasaki’s Richie Escalante leads the only other rider with a chance of stopping him, Sean Dylan Kelly, by 40 points.
Escalante arrives in Indy with 11 wins in 14 attempts thus far in 2020 while M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Kelly is the only other winner in the class with wins in the three races Escalante failed to win. Celtic HSBK’s Brandon Paasch is third in the title chase, 110 points behind Escalante and 40 clear of Aguilar Racing’s Jason Aguilar. Kelly’s teammate rounds out the top five in the series, 24 points behind Aguilar.
The closest title chase is in the Stock 1000 Championship where Altus Motorsports’ Cameron Petersen leads Ride HVMC Racing’s Corey Alexander by 31 points with 50 points up for grabs in the final two races. Petersen, however, has looked unbeatable of late and comes to the World Center of Racing with a six-race win streak. In all, Petersen has won seven of the 10 races. Alexander, meanwhile, has won two races with Celtic HSBK Racing’s PJ Jacobsen the only other race winner in the class in 2020.
Michael Gilbert Racing’s Michael Gilbert is third in the Stock 1000 Championship heading to Indy, but he’s just 12 points ahead of Travis Wyman Racing’s Travis Wyman and 13 ahead of MESA37 Racing’s Stefano Mesa.
As mentioned earlier, the Liqui Moly Junior Cup Championship was wrapped up in Alabama by Landers, the youngster winning his 11th race in 14 starts to take the title in style.
While the championship has been clinched, the battle for second in the Liqui Moly Junior Cup Series rages on with Celtic HSBK’s Sam Lochoff leading BARTCON Racing’s Dominic Doyle by just nine points. Quarterley Racing/On Track Development’s Benjamin Gloddy is fourth and clear of Grant Motors Racing’s Liam Grant and DMK Racing’s David Kohlstaedt, who are tied for fifth.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway Notes…
Everyone wants to race at The Brickyard: In total, 37 riders have entered the Twins Cup race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway; the Supersport class will feature 30 entries; 22 Liqui Moly Junior Cup riders have entered; and there will be 27 Stock 1000 riders attempting to qualify this weekend at Indy.
Rocco Landers has won 25 Liqui Moly Junior Cup races thus far in his career and two more wins at Indy would give him 27. The 15-year-old Landers won’t compete in the series finale at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca as he will be in Europe contesting the Red Bull Rookies Cup round. Landers’ 25 wins have come over the course of two championship-winning seasons from the Oregonian. Despite his success in 2020, however, he won’t match his win total in the Junior Cup class from the 14 races he won in 2019.
In addition to leading the all-time Liqui Moly Junior Cup win list, Landers is now also the winningest rider in the three-year history of the Twins Cup Series with his seven wins thus far in 2020. Alex Dumas, who now competes in the Stock 1000 Series, is second on the list with the five wins from his title-winning 2019 campaign.
Andrew Lee, who will race in the HONOS Superbike class this weekend at Indy, is the all-time leader in Stock 1000 victories with 11 wins. Cameron Petersen is second on the list with his seven wins from this season and he has the ability to get that total to nine with two races left in the 2020 Stock 1000 season.
With his 11 wins thus far in 2020, Richie Escalante has climbed to third on the all-time win list in the class. Escalante is eight wins shy of Garrett Gerloff for second on the all-time list but is 21 wins behind the all-time win leader in the class – JD Beach. With four more races this year, Escalante could get to 15 wins on the year. That would be a high water mark for the class with Beach (2018) and Gerloff (2017) having high-water marks of 11 wins in a single season.
The MotoAmerica Heritage Cup at The Brickyard event has drawn 23 entries with seven manufacturers represented. The motorcycles that will be raced in the Open Exhibition class at Indy range from a 1966 Ducati GP350 to a 2008 Buell XB12R Firebolt and everything in between.
MotoAmerica: How To Watch Round Eight From Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Everything you need to know for round eight of the 2020 MotoAmerica Series to keep you up to date with what’s happening at The Brickyard.
For more information on MotoAmerica, visit www.MotoAmerica.com