Yamaha’s Garrett GerloffJust as Yamaha’s Cameron Beaubier showed who was boss in the Superbike class during MotoAmerica testing at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Yamaha Extended Services/Graves Motorsports Yamaha’s Garrett Gerloff dominated the Supersport class.Aboard his Yamaha YZF-R6, Gerloff led seven of eight sessions over the two-day test, and kept posting quicker and quicker times. He finished the day with a 2:11.987, finishing 0.859 of second quicker than his teammate, the reigning MotoAmerica Supersport Champion JD Beach (2:12.846).
Garrett Gerloff says: ”It’s just testing,” the 20-year-old Texan said. “Everything feels good. It feels good to be where I’m at, but I just want to focus on the race – that’s what really counts. Definitely, feel good today, feel good with where the bike’s at. Hopefully, the track and the conditions are the same for when we come here for the race so that we can do the same thing that we are doing now.“For sure there’s no room for slacking off because everybody else is going to be working their butts off to be faster than me or faster than whoever at the race. So I’m just going to keep doing the same thing I’m doing, I feel like I have a solid program together. We’ll see what happens.”Rounding out the top five were Wheels In Motion/Motosport.com/Meen Motorsports Yamaha’s Joe Roberts, M4 Sportbike TrackGear.com Suzuki’s Valenin Debise, and HB Racing/Meen Yamaha’s Dakota Mamola.The 2016 MotoAmerica Championship begins its second season April 8-10 at Circuit of the Americas, running as a support series for MotoGP.
2016 COTA MotoAmerica Supersport Test Results, Combined:
1. Garrett Gerloff (Yamaha) 2:11.987 2. JD Beach (Yamaha) 2:12.846 3. Joe Roberts (Yamaha) 2:13.149 4. Valentin Debise (Suzuki) 2:13.700 5. Dakota Mamola (Yamaha); 2:14.677 6. Cameron Petersen (Suzuki) 2:14.878 7. Benny Solis (Honda) 2:15.491 8. Xavier Zayat (Suzuki) 2:16.036 9. Jay Newton (Yamaha) 2:17.621 10. Travis Wyman (Yamaha) 2:17.747
This week, Senior Editor Nic de Sena rides the all new Ducati Monster. Big changes have been made by Ducati–has the company ruined the considerable heritage of the iconic Monster–or are the changes worth it? In the second part of the show, we chat with Nick Ienatsch, Founder and Head Instructor at the Yamaha Champions Riding School. He says: “We aim to change your riding life by introducing you to Champions Habits: The techniques, approaches, skills, and the mindsets of the best riders in the world. These Champions Habits are the foundation of safety and consistency to whatever speed you ride, in any venue on any bike. Street riders, this is just as much for you as track riders. The best way to make safe riders is to make good riders.“ We hope you enjoy this episode!
