The MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American Road Racing Series is
racing this coming weekend at Utah Motorsports Campus, a familiar venue for
America’s premier motorcycle road racing series. This year, however,
MotoAmerica will not be racing on the usual 3.0-mile Outer/Perimeter Course and
instead will be racing on the 2.2-mile East Course for the first time.
Using the shorter East Course eliminates the 3000-foot-long
main straightaway of the Outer/Perimeter Course and makes the straightaway
between Tooele Turn and Clubhouse Corner the longest on the East Course.
Using the East Course also changes the complexion of the
race starts. Instead of a half-mile run from the grid to the long, wide Turn
One of the Outer/Perimeter Course, the East Course only offers a 100-meter run
from the grid to a tighter Turn One.
Finally, using the East Course also adds in seven new
corners that only some riders in the MotoAmerica have ever ridden through.
“It’s fun because it’s pretty flowing,” said M4 ECSTAR
Suzuki rider Jake Lewis, who rode a streetbike on the East Course during a
riding school in the recent past, “but Turn One is a lot tighter.”
In preparation for the event on the unfamiliar East Course,
Yoshimura Suzuki’s Toni Elias and Josh Herrin tested on the track on May 10. As
a result, the gearing on their GSX-R1000 Superbikes has been made significantly
shorter than they would have it for the Outer/Perimeter Course.
Defending MotoAmerica Superbike Champion Cameron Beaubier didn’t get to test on the East Course and said he didn’t remember ever riding on it in the past, but he said he familiarized
himself with the new track by watching some on-board videos.
“It looks good,” said Beaubier. “The first part looks pretty
fast and flowing, and we already know the second part. We already have a pretty
good base setup, so I’m going to focus on getting the gearing figured out. We’ll
see how it goes.”
During the setup day Friday, there were rumors going around the
MotoAmerica paddock saying new sealer patches put in place ahead of last
weekend’s UtahSBA race event on the East Course caused 23 crashes in one day.
But UtahSBA President Scott Rybarik told Roadracingworld.com debunked that rumor, saying they only had
14 crashes all weekend, and only one of those crashes appeared to involve one of the new
patches, and that crash was more the result of a rider losing focus on a
cool-down lap.