MotoAmerica Superbike Challenge at Miller Motorsports Park
Miller Motorsports Park
Tooele, Utah
June 28, 2015
Provisional Superbike Race Two Results (all on Dunlop tires):
1. Josh Hayes (Yamaha), 18 laps
2. Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha), -4.247 seconds
3. Roger Hayden (Suzuki), -12.600
4. Jake Lewis (Suzuki), -22.504
5. Chris Fillmore (KTM), -26.396
6. Danny Eslick (Honda), -57.630
7. Bernat Martinez (Yamaha), -68.700
8. Sebastiao Ferreira (Kawasaki), -72.551
9. Mathew Orange (BMW), -92.109
10. Elena Myers (Suzuki), -7 laps, DNF
11. Chris Ulrich (Suzuki), -13 laps, DNF, crash
Provisional Championship Point Standings (after 12 of 18 races):
1. Hayes, 245 points
2. Beaubier, 241
3. Lewis, 171
4. Hayden, 169
5. Martinez, 117
6. Myers, 94
7. Eslick, 92
8. Ulrich, 81
9. Fillmore, 75
10. Orange, 40
11. Stefano Mesa, 35
12. TIE, Ferreira/Ricky Orlando, 14
14. Aaron Hersh, 13
More, from a press release issued by MotoAmerica:
It’s A Dry Heat: Hayes Wins Battle Of Miller
JD Beach Rolls On With 7th Supersport Win Of The Year
TOOELE, UTAH, JUNE 28 – Death, taxes and Josh Hayes winning AMA Superbike races. The three certainties of life.
Hayes and his Monster Energy/Graves Motorsports Yamaha R1 did on Sunday at Miller Motorsports Park what he’s done so many times over his career – he swept a doubleheader, recording the 54th and 55th Superbike wins of his career on a day that featured temperatures in the triple digits in Utah. The two wins, combined with his teammate Cameron Beaubier’s two runner-up finishes, translates to Hayes leaving Miller with the points lead in the 2015 MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American Superbike Championship – albeit by just four points with a three-week break before the series heads to the Monterey Peninsula for round seven of the nine-round series at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
With Beaubier second in both races, third in both fell to Yoshimura Suzuki’s Roger Hayden, though he deserved better in race two. In the heat of a battle with Hayes for the win, Hayden’s Suzuki encountered a mechanical problem that forced him to go into survival mode. Beaubier was able to catch and pass the Kentuckian and it left Hayden with another third-place finish – his sixth of the season to go with his three runner-up finishes.
Hayden’s Yoshimura Suzuki teammate Jake Lewis carded a pair of fourths on the day to maintain his third in the championship, though Hayden is closing in and now trails the series rookie by just two points, 171-169.
In race one, Hayes and Beaubier battled for the entire 18 laps with the veteran besting his young teammate by just .280 of a second. Hayden struggled in race one and couldn’t keep pace with the two Yamahas, finishing 13.9 seconds behind and less than a second ahead of teammate Lewis.
Fifth overall went to Josh Day, the Westby Racing rider taking the Superstock 1000 win in the process. Sixth overall and fifth in Superbike was Chris Fillmore, the KTM factory rider turning in a good effort to hold off Turbo Turtle Racing’s Danny Eslick by less than half a second after their race-long battle. Then came TOBC Racing’s Taylor Knapp in eighth overall and second in the Superstock 1000 class, just a tick ahead of Aprilia HSBK’s Sheridan Morais, who was third in Superstock. Bernat Martinez rounded out the top 10 overall with his seventh-place finish in Superbike.
Hayden got his race-one woes fixed to run at the front of race two with Hayes, the Suzuki rider pestering Hayes for most of the race and even leading at one point. But then the Suzuki slowed and Hayden was forced to abandon the chase, watching Hayes disappear in the distance and then also getting passed by Beaubier. All that allowed Hayes to cruise to his seventh win of the season.
“It’s an incredible weekend,” Hayes said after his doubleheader sweep. “It’s tough sometimes when Cam (Beaubier) keeps beating me session after session and you just have to keep your wits about you and stay the course. The team’s always a huge help and a bit inspiration for me when it comes down to doing the work. We work well together and we stay steady and finally find ourselves in positions like this. I’m just excited I’m still in the show after falling down in Atlanta. We’ll keep plugging away and find ourselves in a good spot so big thanks to my team.”
The Superstock 1000 victory again went to Day, the R-1 mounted Floridian ending up fifth overall after barely holding off Fillmore, who was again a fighting sixth overall and fifth in Superbike. Then came Morais, who this time got the better of Knapp. Superstock 1000 Championship points leader Jake Gagne was credited with seventh in the Superstock class after crashing, remounting and riding the rest of the race without brakes. Gagne was a non-finisher in race one when his R1 suffered an electrical problem.
Gagne still leads the championship after a difficult day for the Roadrace Factory Rider, 209-192, over Knapp.
“Things went a lot better for us this weekend,” Day said. “I wish we could have found our problem with the front a lot sooner so we could have been up there at the other races, but it is what it is and that’s how racing goes sometimes. But now we have it all sorted pretty well and we should be good for us for the rest of the year.”
The norm in Supersport racing is a dog fight to the finish. Turns out that Yamalube/Y.E.S/Graves Motorsports Yamaha’s JD Beach wasn’t in the mood for the norm on Sunday at Miller Motorsports Park. Beach put his head down from the start and pulled away at a clip of a second a lap virtually at will, slowing to celebrate across the finish line with a margin of victory of 9.9 seconds over Latus Motors Racing Triumph’s Bobby Fong and Beach’s teammate Garrett Gerloff. It was a dominating performance and Beach’s fifth in a row and seventh of the season.
Fourth place went to South African Cameron Petersen, the Roadracing Factory rider having his best weekend thus far in what is his rookie season of racing in the U.S. Petersen was a spot better than he was on Saturday, reversing the finishing order with M4 Suzuki/SportbikeTrackGear.com’s David Anthony, who had bested him for fourth a day earlier.
“Going into the race I was feeling good,” Beach said. “We had a really good race yesterday and I was just hoping I could repeat it. I knew Garrett (Gerloff) and (Bobby) Fong and (Josh) Herrin were going to be going a lot faster today and the first few laps would be really important. My team just gave me an awesome bike today and this weekend and now it’s time to start doing our homework and getting ready for Laguna Seca.”
Beach now leads Gerloff and Herrin, who dropped out of Sunday’s race with a mechanical problem, by 44 points, 240-196, with Gerloff and Herrin tied for second.
Sunday’s Bazzaz Superstock 600 race was won by Wheels in Motion/Motosport.com/Meen Motorsports’ Joe Roberts, the Californian earning his eighth win of the season. Unlike the day before, Roberts had his hands full with his series rival Richie Escalante, the Tizuyuca, Mexico, resident finishing just .225 of a second behind Roberts. Third place went to Tuned Racing’s Bryce Prince, the Californian riding mostly alone after ditching the pack he was racing with early on.
Roberts now leads Escalante by 237 points, 220-183. Travis Wyman, eighth today, is third with 151 points.
“I tried to be consistent in the low 29s,” Roberts said. “We were a bit off the qualifying pace, but it’s so hot out and the tires weren’t really hooking up as they were in the qualifying so low 29s I thought was a good pace. I just held out and brought it home for the victory.”
Braeden Ortt won his first KTM RC 390 Cup race of the season in Sunday’s race two, the 15-year-old Canadian coming out the best of a massive pack fighting for victory. At the flag, Ortt was just .346 of a second ahead of 14-year-old Brandon Paasch, the rider from New Jersey making his debut in the MotoAmerica KTM RC390 Cup a successful one. Paasch, who normally competes in the Moriwaki Cup in the British Superbike Series, was just a fraction of a second ahead of Anthony Mazziotto III. Hayden Schultz and series points leader Gage McAllister were also in the battle for victory with those two finishing fourth and fifth ,respectively.
McAllister now has 127 points to Ortt’s 80 points with Ortt moving past Hayden Schultz for second in the title Chase. Schultz, fourth today, is three points behind Ortt.
“I managed to line it up perfectly and try to break the draft and it worked out really well for me,” Ortt said.
SUPERBIKE RACE 1: Josh Hayes (Yamaha); 2. Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha); 3. Roger Hayden (Suzuki); 4. Jake Lewis (Suzuki); 5. Chris Fillmore (KTM); 6. Danny Eslick (Honda); 7. Bernat Martinez (Yamaha); 8. Chris Ulrich (Suzuki); 9. Elena Myers (Suzuki); 10. Sebastiao Ferreira (Kawasaki).
SUPERBIKE RACE 2: 1. Josh Hayes (Yamaha); 2. Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha); 3. Roger Hayden (Suzuki); 4. Jake Lewis (Suzuki); 5. Chris Fillmore (KTM); 6. Danny Eslick (Honda); 7. Bernat Martinez (Yamaha); 8. Sebastiao Ferreira (Kawasaki). 9. Matthew Orange (BMW).
SUPERSTOCK 1000 RACE 1: 1. Josh Day (Yamaha); 2. Taylor Knapp (Yamaha); 3. Sheridan Morais (Aprilia); 4. Mark Heckles (Yamaha); 5. Shane Narbonne (Yamaha); 6. Oleg Pianykh (Yamaha); 7. Mark Harper (Yamaha); 8. Chad Swain (Suzuki); 9. Devon McDonough (Aprilia).
SUPERSTOCK 1000 RACE 2: 1. Josh Day (Yamaha); 2. Sheridan Morais (Aprilia); 3. Taylor Knapp (Yamaha); 4. Mark Heckles (Yamaha); 5. Shane Narbonne (Yamaha); 6. Oleg Pianykh (Yamaha); 7. Mark Harper (Yamaha); 8. Marcel Irnie (BMW); 9. Devon McDonough (Aprilia).
SUPERSPORT RACE 2: 1. JD Beach (Yamaha); 2. Bobby Fong (Triumph); 3. Garrett Gerloff (Yamaha); 4 Cameron Petersen (Yamaha); 5. David Anthony (Suzuki); 6. Tomas Puerta (Yamaha); 7. Kyle Wyman (Yamaha); 8. Corey Alexander (Yamaha); 9. Kaleb De Keyrel (Yamaha); 10. Benny Solis Jr. (Honda).
BAZZAZ SUPERSTOCK 600 RACE 2: 1. Joe Roberts (Yamaha); 2. Richie Escalante (Yamaha); 3. Bryce Prince (Yamaha); 4. Wyatt Farris (Yamaha); 5. Michael Gilbert (Yamaha); 6. Conner Blevins (Kawasaki); 7. JC Camacho (Yamaha); 8. Travis Wyman (Yamaha); 9. Andy DiBrino (Yamaha); 10. Gage McAllister (Yamaha).
KTM RC CUP RACE 2: 1. Brandon Ortt; 2. Brandon Paasch; 3. Anthony Mazziotto III; 4. Hayden Schultz; 5. Gage McAllister; 6. Justin McWilliams; 7. Brandon Altmeyer; 8. Josh Serne; 9. Alejandro Gutierrez Mejia; 10. Gabe Miller.
More, from a press release issued by Yamaha:
Hey! Hey! Hayes Doubles At Miller Motorsports Park To Take Superbike Championship Lead; Beaubier Finishes 2nd, Also Now 2nd In Standings
Tooele, UT – June 28, 2015 – Fortunes flipped between the two Monster Energy/Graves/Yamaha Superbike teammates at high-energy, high-altitude Miller Motorsports Park as four-time and defending AMA Superbike Champion Josh Hayes won both of Sunday’s Superbike races to rise from second in the standings to a four-point lead in the Championship over teammate and double second-place finisher Cameron Beaubier.
The progression of Superbike Race 2 was decidedly different from how things played out in Superbike Race 1. Instead of multiple passes between the two Yamaha YZF-R1-mounted teammates, Josh, who started from the pole had to work his way into the lead over Roger Hayden, and Cameron got shuffled back into fourth at the beginning on the 18-lap feature event.
With Josh in the lead and building a gap, Cameron worked his way into second as the laps wound down, but the checkered flag flew before he could catch all the way up to Josh. It was a valiant effort from the 22-year-old Californian, and his efforts resulted in the second 1-2 finish of the day for the team and the 11th podium result of the 2015 season for Cameron.
“It’s been an incredible weekend,” Josh said. “My team is such an inspiration to me when I see how hard they work all the time to give me the best bike out there. I’m really happy to be right in the thick of this Championship, especially after I dug myself a little bit of a hole earlier in the season. I’m looking forward to (Mazda Raceway) Laguna (Seca).”
Cameron said, “Honestly, I rode my heart out today. It took all I could to run the laptimes I did. I’ll get with my guys and see what we can do to close this gap to Josh. Congratulations to him, he was ripping here all weekend.”
The Monster Energy/Graves/Yamaha team will return to action on the weekend of July 17-19, when the MotoAmerica series shares the world stage at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca during World Superbike weekend.
Watch Round 6 Of The MotoAmerica Championship On CBS Sports Network
MotoAmerica Round 6 from Barber Motorsports Park will air on Sunday, June 5, at 6:00 PM EST with a replay later that day at 9:00 PM EST.
For the complete MotoAmerica TV broadcast schedule on CBS Sports Network, visit http://www.motoamerica.com/motoamerica-tv-schedul…
For more Yamaha racing news, results, photos, and videos, visit http://www.YamahaMotorsports.com/Racing Also, check out “YamahaMotorUSA” on your favorite social media site.
More, from a press release issued by Geiger Media Global:
Chris Ulrich moves forward with GEICO Suzuki at Miller Motorsports Park
TOOELE, Utah (June 28) — Chris Ulrich continues to make progress with his GEICO Suzuki, posting an eighth-place finish in the first Superbike race Sunday at Miller Motorsports Park before an unfortunate incident sidelined him in the second race of the MotoAmerica Superbike Challenge.
Ulrich and Team Hammer switched manufacturers for the 2015 season, and the team continues to make progress.
“Looking at the positives, we got through another tough weekend and we are moving forward in the races, which is good,” Ulrich said. “We just have to clean up those little things on Friday that held us back this weekend, so if we can get that taken care of for Laguna Seca and come out of there with two good finishes that would be great.”
Ulrich struggled with the bike in qualifying and started 15th for Sunday’s two 18-lap races, but he and the team made adjustments and got the Suzuki faster.
“We had our struggles in qualifying but we got it together for the race,” Ulrich said. “We made a lot of changes from the morning. We tried two different bikes and made a lot of changes and that really helped us drive the bike forward and improve the lap times, so that was positive.”
Ulrich marched forward to finish eight in the Superbike class and 11th overall in the Superbike/Superstock 1000 race.
“We raced ourselves up to eighth in the Superbike class and got 11th overall, almost 10th overall, which would have been good,” Ulrich said.
More adjustments were made for the second race, in which Ulrich battled Danny Eslick for several laps.
“We made a couple of changes to help some of the stuff I was struggling with in the first race, and I think my pace was good,” Ulrich said. “I got myself to the lead of that four-bike battle. When you are battling with a guy like Danny Eslick you better bring you’re A-game and I thought I had it.
“I got by him and I was trying to make a gap. I went into Turn 5 and I broke at the same place I have been braking all weekend and had good success and no problems ever. I had one little slide and I caught it, but the second slide did me in. It was right as I was rolling off the brake going in there and turning the bike.”
Ulrich went down but got back up and tried to continue but had to go behind the wall.
“Eslick and I had a great battle going there for a while,” Ulrich said. “He got in underneath me and I got around him, but when I pulled around he got up underneath me and I think he hit my elbow with his front tire. It was good. It was a nice battle, but unfortunately I didn’t finish the battle.”
Ulrich and Team Hammer return to action with the MotoAmerica Series at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on July 17-19.
“I really like Laguna Seca. It’s a cool track and very historic,” Ulrich said. “GEICO is the title sponsor for the weekend, so all my friends from GEICO will be out there. I want to do well in front of my title sponsor. It will be a good weekend.”
More, from a press release issued by Miller Motorsports Park:
Hayes Sweeps Superbike Races
Beach, Roberts and Ortt Victorious in Support Races
TOOELE VALLEY, UTAH (June 28, 2015) – Four-time Superbike champ Josh Hayes was as hot as the weather as the MotoAmerica Superbike Challenge wrapped up a weekend of very competitive and entertaining motorcycle road racing at Miller Motorsports Park on Sunday.
With temperatures in the Tooele Valley soaring to 102 degrees, Hayes claimed the 54th and 55th victories of his storied career in the double Superbike races on Sunday. In both cases, Hayes’ factory Yamaha teammate Cameron Beaubier finished second, with factory Suzuki rider Roger Hayden taking third. However, the circumstances were different in the two 18-lap events.
In Race 1, Hayes and Beaubier broke away from the pack, finishing a razor-thin 0.280 second apart at the checkered flag. Hayden struggled with a shock absorber problem to take third another 13.7 seconds behind, ahead of his teammate Jake Lewis and Superstock 1000 class winner Josh Day (Yamaha). In Race 2, Hayden was much more competitive, swapping the lead with Hayes through the first 12 laps while Beaubier circulated 3.5 seconds behind. With six laps to go, Hayden’s engine dropped a valve and he helplessly watched Beaubier sweep by for second, as he nursed his ailing machine home in third. Beaubier was 4.247 seconds behind at the end, with Hayden 8.4 seconds further back. As in Race 1, Lewis and Day completed the top five.
It was a weekend of redemption for Day, who has taken over the Westby Racing Yamaha after Dane Westby was tragically killed in a road accident earlier this year. After struggling through recent races, claiming one win amidst a spate of accidents, Day took both Superstock 1000 class wins and seems dialed-in for more success in the races to come. Taylor Knapp (Yamaha) was second in class and eighth overall in Race 1, just ahead of Sheridan Morais (Aprilia), who was third in class and ninth overall. In Race 2, Knapp and Morais swapped places, with Morais second in class and seventh overall while Knapp was third in class and ninth overall. Local rider Oleg Pianykh of Salt Lake City finished sixth in class in both races on his Yamaha, 15th overall in Race 1 and 13th overall in Race 2.
It was a clean sweep for Yamaha’s JD Beach in the second Supersport race of the weekend, as he reeled off another dominant victory to pad his points lead. He took the checkered flag with a 9.979-second margin of victory to secure his seventh win of the season and fifth consecutive, well clear of the real battle of the race, which was for second. Beach’s teammate Garrett Gerloff, Triumph’s Bobby Fong and privateer Yamaha rider Josh Herrin staged a titanic fight for the runner-up spot, but Herrin stopped on course with a mechanical failure on the last lap of the 18-lap contest and left the scrap to Fong, who finished second, and a disappointed Gerloff in third, 0.209 second behind. Cameron Peterson (Yamaha) and David Anthony (Suzuki) completed the top five.
Joe Roberts also made it a clean sweep for the weekend in the final Bazzaz Superstock 600 race. As on Saturday, he mirrored Beach by taking his fifth consecutive and seventh overall win of the season to stretch his class points lead, and also as on Saturday, it was a much closer race. Richie Escalante made him work for it coming to the checkered flag, finishing only 0.225 second behind. Bryce Prince took third for the second day in a row, with Wyatt Farris and Michael Gilbert taking fourth and fifth, respectively. All the top five riders, as on Saturday, were on Yamahas. Local rider Brian Childree of Salt Lake City, riding a Honda, finished 17th.
The young riders in the KTM RC390 Cup Series put on another tremendous show on Sunday, featuring another land-rush finish with the top five separated by a mere 0.585 second. Braiden Ortt emerged victorious today, with Brandon Pasch 0.346 second behind. Anthony Mazziotto took the final podium spot, another 0.042 second back. Hayden Schultz and points leader Gage McAllister, who won on Saturday, rounded out the top five. Local rider Devin Husband of Sandy, Utah, improved on the previous day’s performance to finish 13th.
The next weekend of high-speed, two-wheeled action at Miller Motorsports Park will take place July 25-26, when the Superbike Fest event will feature WERA Motorcycle Roadracing, America’s top pro-am motorcycle road racing series, along with the Utah Sport Bike Association’s VORTEX Masters of the Mountains series. Between now and then, on July 11 there will be Round 3 of the Lucas Oil Off Road Regional Racing Series and Round 5 of the Utah Kart Championship, and then Round 5 for the sports cars of the NASA Utah Region and Round 3 for the Utah Supermoto Championship on July 18-19.
For additional information about upcoming events or Miller Motorsports Park, call 435-277-RACE (7223) or visit the track’s website at www.MillerMotorsportsPark.com.
About Miller Performance
Miller Performance oversees two operational units: Miller Motorsports Park, a state-of-the-art motorsports facility for automobiles, motorcycles, karts and off-road vehicles located 35 minutes from Salt Lake City in Tooele, Utah; and the Ford Performance Racing School, the world’s only Ford-sponsored driving school that includes the Raptor Assault and ST Octane Academy programs, plus a Teen Driving School and Highway Safety School. For more information, visit www.MillerPerformanceUSA.com.