2016 Road America MotoAmerica Preview
The 2016 MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American Road Race Series has been one hell of a season so far. With enough upsets and redemption in the first handful of rounds, if you aren’t tuned in to all of the action, you’re certainly missing out. This coming weekend (June 3-5) will be no different for the Honda Superbike Showdown at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis.
The Honda Superbike Showdown will make up three events on the MotoAmerica calendar. The Honda Superbike Showdown of Wisconsin at Road America; Barber Motorsports Park’s Honda Superbike showdown of Alabama (June 10-12); and the final event, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca’s Honda Superbike Showdown of California (July 8-10). With these title sponsor events, there is usually a hefty prize on the table. And the rider who accumulates the most points during that time will be taking home a new 2016 Honda Civic Sedan…which can actually tow a couple bikes, surprisingly.
As the numbers stand in the Superbike class, four-time Superbike Champion Team Graves Yamaha’s Josh Hayes is atop the leader board, a mere 11 points ahead of his teammate Cameron Beaubier. Hayes, Beaubier, Yoshimura Suzuki’s Roger Hayden and Toni Elias, Broaster Chicken/Roadrace Factory’s Jake Gagne, HSBK Aprilia’s Claudio Corti, Latus Motors Racing’s Bobby Fong, and the rest of the Superbike stars will walk into Road America on equal footing in regards to the Honda Superbike Showdown points
Now, with the series within a series taking place, the 2016 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship point standings are still being hotly contested. Hayes, Beaubier, Hayden and Elias are within a 26-point spread after four of nine rounds.
Hayes leads the points, but the four-time champion struggled through the beginning of the series, uncharacteristically not collecting any victories in the first six races. At VIRginia International Raceway, though, Hayes he turned the tide that had been against him all season, winning his first race of the 2016 season, and, more importantly, his 59th career Superbike victory. He followed that up with a second place finish, which put him over the top in points.
Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 pilot Roger Lee Hayden – the brother of 2006 MotoGP Champion Nicky Hayden – has remained consistent for 2016. At VIR he collected a second and fourth place finish while his teammate Elias, a Moto2 Champion, saw two consecutive third-place finishes. The Suzuki boys are 21 and 26 points behind points leader Josh Hayes, respectively.
Beaubier returns home after his debut in the World Superbike Championship this past weekend at Donington Park in England. Beaubier stepped in as a replacement for Sylvain Guintoli on the factory Yamaha team who is still recovering from a brutal highside crash two weekends ago. Beaubier did well in qualifying, securing a ninth place start on a completely foreign bike. His weekend saw him crash out in race one and take home a tenth place finish for race two. But having experienced the world stage, we have to assume he picked up a couple new tricks to show the MotoAmerica field, at one of his favorite tracks, no less.
“Every year when we go to Road America, I’m excited to be there,” said Beaubier, who finished first and second in the two races there last year. “I’ve had some good finishes there in the past, some good race wins on a 600 and a 1000 at Road America. I like the fast, flowing track and it’s a track that brings out some great fans as well. I really look forward to going there.
“I’m not too worried about the points situation right now. Obviously, I’d love to have the points lead, but it’s still pretty early days in the championship. No matter what, I’m going to do my best to win both races. You have to do what you can to be consistent, but you’re not going to win the championship if you’re not winning races.”
Road America Superstock 1000 Preview
Bobby Fong has been impressing fans all season by keeping up with the scrappy Bazzaz Superstock 1000 class riders aboard his all new Latus Motors Racing Kawasaki Zx-10R. The California-based rider took home two second place finishes which puts him within 11 points of Aprilia HSBK rider and class leader, Claudio Corti. Wheels In Motion/Meen Motosports’ Josh Herrin sits in third in the Superstock title chase, 27 points behind Corti.
Road America Supersport Preview
During the terrible weather and due to oil being left on the track, Y.E.S Graves Motorsports rider Garrett Gerloff crashed out of the second Supersport race at New Jersey Motorsports Park in round three.
It seemed as if Gerloff had suffered an injury but that didn’t seem to slow him down anyway at VIR, where he pulled off a double in the 600cc class at VIR. He leads the Supersport class with 31 points ahead of his nearest competitor, Valentin Debise.
Debise was deprived of his first career win at VIR, losing out to Gerloff by a margin of .038. The M4 SportbikeTrackGear.com Suzuki rider has been doing quite well, this season Debise is sitting just three bike ahead of reigning MotoAmerica Supersport Championship JD Beach. Cameron Petersen is fourth in the title fight at Wheels In Motion/Meen Motorsports’ Joe Roberts fifth.
Road America Supertock 600 Preview
Bryce Prince of Tuned Racing is currently in the lead of the Superstock 600 Championship by 33 points over HB Racing/Meen Motorsports’ Dakota Mamola, with Prince winning three of the six races in 2016. Mamola, Travis Wyman and Michael Gilbert have all taken victories this season as well.
Road America KTM RC Cup Preview
The KTM RC Cup made its debut at Road America, during the 2016 MotoAmerica AMA/FIM Road Racing series. This year, they kicked things off at Road Atlanta back in May. The series is designed to help young riders develop the skills they’ll need to compete at higher levels with an age range of 14-22 year olds. So far, they’ve already completed six races as we head into Road America, this weekend.
The championship is being led by Anthony Mazziotto III but hot on this heels is Brandon Paasch. With only five points beween them, Jody Barry, the only other victory contender outside of Mazziotto and Paasch, sits in third, 44 points away from the leader. The way things have been between Mazziotto and Paasch, it looks like it’ll come down to the wire for the two young hopefuls.
2016 Road America MotoAmerica TV/Broadcast Schedule
As MotoAmerica rolls into Road America this weekend, be sure to check out all the action on BeIN Sports. Here is the air schedule:
beIN SPORTS (ALL TIMES EDT)
- June 4 – Superpole 1&2, Supersport/Superstock 600 Race 1 (Live), 3:30 p.m.
- June 5 – Superbike Race 1 & 2/Supersport/Superstock 600 Race 2 (Live), 1 p.m.
beIN SPORTS CONNECT
- June 4 – Superbike Superpole 1 (Live), 2:45 p.m.
- June 4 – Superbike Superpole 2 (Live), 3:20 p.m.
- June 4 – KTM RC Cup Race 1 (Live), 4:10 p.m.
- June 4Â – Supersport/Superstock 600 (Live)Â 4:45 p.m.
- June 5Â – Superbike Race 1 (Live)Â 1 p.m.
- June 5Â – KTM RC Cup Race 2 (Live)Â 2:50 p.m.
- June 5Â – Supersport/Superstock 600 Race 2 (Live)Â 3:30 p.m.
- June 5Â – Superbike Race 2 (Live)Â 4:45 p.m.
