Two-time and defending Champion Cameron Beaubier was the fastest rider during qualifying practice Friday at the MotoAmerica Championship of Pittsburgh at Pittsburgh International Race Complex (a.k.a. PitRace), neat Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Riding his Monster Energy/Yamalube Yamaha YZF-R1 Superbike on Dunlop control tires, Beaubier lapped the 2.8-mile, 19-turn road course in 1:40.914 in Qualifying Practice Two to claim bragging rights for the day.
“Me and my bike are just gelling right now,” Beaubier told Roadracingworld.com. “Also, my team, they’ve been working hard, putting me on the best bike they can, and it’s working right now. I’m having fun riding it right now. I feel like I’ve been kind of fighting it through the season and it’s been beating me up a little bit, but now we’re gelling.”
Second-best on the day was current MotoAmerica Superbike Championship point leader Toni Elias. Elias was only sixth-fastest in the morning session but jumped up to the second slot with a 1:41.801 on his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000.
“I’m very happy because at the test here I suffer a lot,” said Elias. “It means after the test the things we received, the way we work it has been very correct. That’s why we win all these races. Today, I felt the bike was more like [on] a rail. The rear grip, changing directions was much better. The bike is like [on] a rail now compared to the test.”
Elias’ teammate Roger Hayden was just a tick slower at 1:41.899, which he was very pleased with, all things considered.
“This morning I kind of got up to speed since I didn’t get a ton of laps here at the test,” said Hayden, who first learned of his brother Nicky Hayden’s tragic accident during the MotoAmerica test at PittRace in May. “At least I knew which way I was going and everything seemed to be going pretty good. In the second session we struggled a little bit with some different stuff, mainly it was really hard to get a clean lap. And if I got one clean lap it was hard to get two. So mid-session was a bit of a waste with a lot of mistakes and some bad traffic, but overall it wasn’t a bad day. We’ve got some areas where we can improve, but overall I think it’s a good start.”
All of the top riders mentioned that tire wear on the track, which has been completely repaved in 2017, was excessive and they were trying to figure out which tire will work the best over race distance, which is 18 laps.
Fourth overall and top dog in the Superstock 1000 class Friday was Jake Lewis with a time of 1:41.904 on his M4 ECSTAR Suzuki GSX-R1000. Lewis started the day on the repaired version of the GSX-R1000R he crashed during practice at Sonoma, but that machine wasn’t quite right and he switched to the GSX-R1000 he has been racing all season for the afternoon session.
Danny Eslick was fifth overall and second in Superstock 1000 with a lap at 1:42.135 on his TOBC Racing Yamaha YZF-R1.
Jake Gagne had a good day and posted the sixth-best time overall, a 1:42.206, on his Genuine Broaster Chicken Honda CBR1000RR SP Superbike.
Beaubier’s teammate Josh Hayes ended up seventh overall with a 1:42.344, but Hayes said he focused on setting his bike up to do race pace on hard tires.
Kyle Wyman (who helped design the new chicane recently installed between Turns 15 and 16 to help make the track safer) was eighth with a 1:42.451 on his Décor Brilliance/Lucas Oil/KWR Yamaha Superbike.
Frenchman Sylvain Barrier posted the ninth-fastest lap of 1:42.495 on his Brixx Performance BMW S1000RR in spite of it being his first day ever on the track.
Yamalube/Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz was fastest overall at the test and third fastest overall in Friday morning’s session, but the South African crashed early in Friday afternoon’s session. And because Scholtz crashed in a section of the track’s interior, there was no way for him or his bike to get back to the pits, causing him to lose the vast majority of the session. The lap of 1:42.628 that Scholtz did Friday morning held up as the 10th-best time of the day.
Scholtz’s Superstock 1000 Championship rival Bobby Fong ended up 11th with a 1:42.637 on his Quicksilver Latus Motors Racing Kawasaki ZX-10R.
Anthony West earned the 12th and final spot in Superpole by recording a 1:42.677 on his Fly Racing/Motul/ADR Motorsports Kawasaki ZX-10R Superstock machine, making it 11 of the top 12 riders within 0.876 second of each other on Friday.
MotoAmerica Championship of Pittsburgh
MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American Road Racing Series
Pittsburgh International Race Complex
Wampum, Pennsylvania
August 25, 2017
Motul Superbike/Bazzaz Superstock 1000 Qualifying Practice Two Results (all on Dunlop tires):
1. Cameron Beaubier (Yam YZF-R1), Superbike, 1:40.914
2. Toni Elias (Suz GSX-R1000), Superbike, 1:41.801
3. Roger Hayden (Suz GSX-R1000), Superbike, 1:41.899
4. Jake Lewis (Suz GSX-R1000), Superstock 1000, 1:41.904
5. Danny Eslick (Yam YZF-R1), Superstock 1000, 1:42.135
6. Jake Gagne (Hon CBR1000RR SP), Superbike, 1:42.206
7. Josh Hayes (Yam YZF-R1), Superbike, 1:42.344
8. Kyle Wyman (Yam YZF-R1), Superbike, 1:42.451
9. Sylvain Barrier (BMW S1000RR), Superbike, 1:42.495
10. Bobby Fong (Kaw ZX-10R), Superstock 1000, 1:42.637
11. Anthony West (Kaw ZX-10R), Superstock 1000, 1:42.677
12. Mathew Scholtz (Yam YZF-R1), Superstock 1000, 1:42.710, crash
13. Hayden Gillim (Suz GSX-R1000), Superstock 1000, 1:43.118
14. David Anthony (Kaw ZX-10R), Superstock 1000, 1:43.276
15. Jason DiSalvo (BMW S1000RR), Superbike, 1:43.349
16. Bryce Prince (Yam YZF-R1), Superstock 1000, 1:43.755
17. Max Flinders (Yam YZF-R1), Superstock 1000, 1:46.455
18. Jeremy Cook (BMW S1000RR), Superstock 1000, 1:50.206
19. Roi Holster (Yam YZF-R1), Superstock 1000, 1:51.229
20. Steven Zoumaras (Kaw ZX-10R), Superstock 1000, 1:51.840
21. Stefan Dolipski (BMW S1000RR), Superstock 1000, 1:52.255