AMA SportSport: Saturday Race Results

Road Atlanta SuperSport

After a 0.001 of a second loss at the season’s first race, Joey Pascarella has basically swept all before him as he rolled to three consecutive pole positions and race wins on his LTD Racing Yamaha.

Today, that streak was broken in the most unusual and unexpected way. Pascarella and the rest of the AMA Pro SuperSport field went out for their initial warm-up lap prior to the traditional standing start, and unfortunately, he came upon some fluid on the track that had escaped in a sudden mechanical problem for another competitor.

This unfortunate and unpreventable incident also derailed the hopes of another race favorite, Elena Myers, who lost traction on her Richie Morris Roadracingworld.com Suzuki. Both riders suffered injuries that, in Pascarella’s case, will prevent him from competing tomorrow in the second of two AMA Pro SuperSport races. Myers is expected to compete.

There was still a race to run and now, the four other main characters in this year’s exciting SuperSport series now took center stage. Daytona race one winner Cameron Beaubier and his Rockwall Yamaha teammate, J.D. Beach now basically had the front row to themselves and they took off with Pascarella’s LTD Yamaha teammate, Huntley Nash, and also the third LTD Yamaha rider Tomas Puerta in hot pursuit.

Beaubier and then Beach would lead, each passing and re-passing each other lap after lap. Nash was trying as hard as he could to take the fight to the first two, and one time he did get by Cameron at turn seven, only to have Beaubier re-pass him as they dove down into the turn ten complex.

Out from under the famous Road Atlanta bridge, the three would be battling all the way down the front straight, setting each other up for the next pass. Meanwhile, Puerta was just back from the first three and it would only take the smallest error from any of the three ahead for him to also join the fray. It almost seemed that leading wasn’t the place to be since whomever was in second place coming down into turn ten, he could slip inside the leader under braking and hold the lead all the way under the bridge and past the start finish line.

As the race came down to the last lap, Beaubier and Beach had pulled out a slight margin to Nash and it now was between the two Rockwall Yamaha riders. Beaubier looked like he had it won and then Beach passed him on the long straight coming down to the turn ten complex for the last time, but this time he had enough of a margin that he was able to hold on for the win, finishing 0.108 ahead of Beaubier.

It was an exciting win for Beach and he expressed his delight in the post race press conference, "I have been racing with Cameron since 2007 and I was going to do anything to win, I was just going for it," said J.D. Beaubier was disappointed not to have won, but his run of very strong showings continues as he and Beach show just how competitive the SuperSport class is.

Nash and Puerta also finished up with strong results, Puerta was just beaten at the end by Travis Wyman on his Yamaha. Top Gun entry, David Gaviria on his Kawasaki took sixth and Huntley’s older brother, Sam Nash took seventh on his Yamaha. Eighth was Miles Thornton on his Yamaha, followed by Top Gun riders James Dellinger and James Cohrs in ninth and tenth on their Suzuki and Yamaha motorcycles, respectively.

All in all it was another sensational race, every lap was spellbinding and the skill and respect shown by these Young Gun AMA Pro Racing SuperSport riders is simply awesome to behold.

Highlights from this weekend’s AMA Pro SuperSport doubleheader can be in seen in same-day delay broadcasts Saturday and Sunday evenings on SPEED. Check your local listings for broadcast times.