2018 Utah MotoAmerica Results & Recap: Usual Suspects Claim Wins (Elias, Beaubier, Beach)

July 23, 2018

2018 Utah MotoAmerica Results Yamaha Cameron Beaubier — Yamaha's Cameron Beaubier

2018 MotoAmerica Results from Utah Motorsports Campus

The 2018 MotoAmerica Championship headed to Utah this past weekend for round six of 10.

It was the usual suspects once again claiming victories across the top classes.

In the Motul Superbike races, Suzuki’s Toni Elias and Yamaha’s Cameron Beaubier split the wins. In the Supersport class is was all Yamaha’s JD Beach who once again doubled aboard the Yamaha YZF-R6.

In the Superbike class, Beaubier has 248 points – 49 ahead of Elias. In the Supersport class, Beach leads the way with 215 points, 72 ahead of Hayden Gillim.

Following are the major highlights of Utah MotoAmerica.

2018 Utah MotoAmerica Results Suzuki Toni Elias — Suzuki’s Toni Elias

2018 Utah MotoAmerica Results, Superbike: Saturday Recap:

Yoshimura Suzuki’s Toni Elias stalked Monster Energy/Yamalube/Yamaha Factory Racing’s Cameron Beaubier for 14 of the 17 laps of the Utah Motorsports Campus.

Then he pounced, taking the lead with three laps to go and holding off the attacking Beaubier to win the Championship of Utah by .494 of a second on a hot sunny day on the outskirts of Salt Lake City.

Elias’ sixth win of the season was an historic one in that it marked Suzuki’s 200th victory in AMA Superbike racing. And it was an important one for Elias and the Yoshimura Suzuki crew in that it stopped Beaubier’s four-race win streak and showed that the team had fixed what ailed them in the previous two rounds at Road America and WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

It also moved the Spaniard to within a race of Beaubier in the championship as the defending MotoAmerica Superbike Champion now trails the two-time series champ by 24 points heading into tomorrow’s second Motul Superbike race at UMC.

The race at the front only featured Beaubier and Elias with Beaubier taking the lead from the Spaniard on the opening lap. He would hold that lead until the 14th lap before he was caught a little off-guard by Elias going into turn one. From there it was a dogfight, with Beaubier making a pass on Elias on the final lap that didn’t stick. The margin of victory at the flag: 0.494 of a second.

Claiming third was Attack Performance/Herrin Compound Yamaha’s Josh Herrin, the 2013 AMA Superbike Champion.

“It is nice to get that 200th victory for Suzuki,” Elias said. “We started off the weekend with a little Japanese-American barbecue, but at the end my team put the bike back together, so I could continue the plan. We worked well. We improved. We have the same situation that we had before. Good bike. We are comfortable that I can fight.

“But I found a tough guy (in Beaubier). He was fast. Very persistent. His pace was a little bit faster than mine. I was playing my cards at the end, and I found my moment. I could pass him.

“The last two, three corners, we had a little bit of trouble, but I could win the race. I am happy. My team deserves a lot of credit for this victory. We did it and now we have to continue like this. We will try to improve for tomorrow, and I will try to be more strong and more consistent.”

2018 Utah MotoAmerica Results, Superbike: Sunday Recap:

Cameron Beaubier learned a valuable lesson yesterday. Don’t let Toni Elias stay close to you if you have the pace to put him away. Today Beaubier and his YZF-R1 had the pace and he was pulling away from Elias when yesterday’s Motul Superbike race-one winner crashed out on the sixth lap of the Championship of Utah at the Utah Motorsports Campus.

From that point forward, Beaubier continued to stretch his advantage on the battle for second place between M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Jake Lewis, Yoshimura Suzuki’s Roger Hayden, Monster Energy/Yamalube/Yamaha Factory Racing’s Garrett Gerloff and Yamalube/Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz.

On the sixth lap, Beaubier had almost six seconds in hand. By the end of the race that gap was 4.2 seconds as he cruised to victory – his fifth of the season and the 29th of his Superbike career. The Californian now sits alone in fourth on the all-time list, having pulled out of a tie with former World and AMA Superbike Champion Ben Spies.

“We’ve been working on our starts this year,” Beaubier said. “A couple have been pretty bad. A couple have been decent. I felt like today was pretty good. I was pretty decent in the first section. I was able to get around Toni (Elias) in the first couple of corners. I just wanted to put my head down and try to go from the beginning. It’s pretty tough to race that guy (Elias) in the last couple laps.

“We were able to do it. I came around the last section and I saw yellow flags. I saw the pit board and it said I had a decent gap, so I backed it down. I was just trying to hit my marks and be consistent and take as little risk as possible. That was the most stressful for me, just try and make it to the finish.

“I feel really relieved after today to be able to win here and get a second place and come out with the points lead makes me feel really good going into the remaining races. Looking forward to getting back on the bike in a couple weeks’ time and try to continue on this roll.”

Second place ultimately went to Gerloff, and third to Lewis.

2018 Utah MotoAmerica Results Yamaha JD Beach — Yamaha’s JD Beach

2018 Utah MotoAmerica Results, Supersport: Saturday Recap:

hen Valentin Debise had a mechanical problem on the startline for the Supersport race at UMC and was forced out of the race before it started, it seemed Monster Energy/Y.E.S./Graves Yamaha’s JD Beach might have been able to breathe a little easier.

But that wasn’t the case as Rickdiculous Racing’s Hayden Gillim gave him everything he had before eventually coming up 1.3 seconds short at the finish line.

For Beach it was win number six on the season as he grew his championship lead over Gillim to 57 points, 190-133.

“The weekend definitely didn’t start out the way we hoped,” Beach said. “The front-end (of the bike) had a few problems, and that set us back a little bit. And to start off on our back foot was frustrating because this is a track that I’ve always done well at. We made some changes before the race, and I knew that Hayden (Gillim) was going really fast this weekend.

I was truly bummed to not see (Valentin Debise) start the race because I thought it was going to be really fun between the three of us. I’m definitely looking forward to the race tomorrow because I know it’s going to be a fight the whole race. So he (Debise) got to rest while we raced today, and we got some notes for tomorrow, so it should be fun.”

Third place went to TSE Racing’s Cory West.

2018 Utah MotoAmerica Results, Supersport: Sunday Recap:

The MotoAmerica Supersport field have been fought between the Frenchman, Rickdiculous Racing Yamaha rider Hayden Gillim, and Gillim’s Kentucky neighbor JD Beach, who currently leads the championship. In Saturday’s race, Debise was unable to start due to a mechanical issue, and Beach held off Gillim for the victory.

The tables turned a bit in Sunday’s race as Gillim crashed out, and Debise stuck close to Beach throughout the majority of the 15-lap contest. But, as was the case yesterday, Beach once again prevailed. Debise finished second and Fastline Performance/Tuned Racing’s Braeden Ortt finished third for his second podium result of the year. Beach now holds an 82-point lead over Gillim in the championship.

“It was a really good race,” Beach said after his seventh win of the season. “Val (Debise) was riding really good. He’s super-fast. Me and him kind of got a gap to third, to Hayden (Gillim). Then Hayden wasn’t able to bring the gap back. I thought we were going to have a three-rider battle until he went down.

“After about lap five or so, I started struggling with the front tire a lot. Val was able to get a little bit of a gap on me but, after about lap 10 or so, I think he made a little bit of a mistake.

“The front seemed like it got better. The last five laps, I felt like it was a whole new bike. I was able to get by him on the front straightaway, and I tried to put my head down the last three laps or so. I did my fastest lap on the last lap. I felt really good. I’m really looking forward to the next round. It’s a small track so I think we’re going to have a lot of guys up at the front. It should be a good battle.”

2018 Utah MotoAmerica Results, Saturday

Motul Superbike

Toni Elias (Suzuki)
Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha)
Josh Herrin (Yamaha)
Garrett Gerloff (Yamaha)
Jake Lewis (Suzuki)

Supersport

JD Beach (Yamaha)
Hayden Gillim (Yamaha)
Cory West (Yamaha)
Nick McFadden (Suzuki)
Braeden Ortt (Yamaha)

Liqui Moly Junior Cup

Alex Dumas (KTM)
Ashton Yates (Kawasaki)
Cory Ventura (Yamaha)
Renzo Ferreira (Kawasaki)
Damian Jigalov (Yamaha)

Twins Cup

Chris Parrish (Suzuki)
Danielle Diaz (Kawasaki)
Justin Filice (Suzuki)
Aaron Tulchinsky (Yamaha)
Ryan Roth (Yamaha)

2018 Utah MotoAmerica Results, Sunday: