PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRIAN J NELSON
FONTANA, CA, APRIL 27 – The first-ever Superbike Shootout at Auto Club Speedway was a barn burner. And the man who took top honors was Yoshimura Suzuki’s Martin Cardenas, the Colombian besting Monster Energy Graves Yamaha’s Cameron Beaubier and Josh Hayes.
Hayes led straight away and kept the lead for most of the race. But right behind him was a pack of riders ready to pounce – Cardenas, his teammate Roger Hayden, Beaubier and Aussie Dave Racing’s David Anthony. Cardenas took second from his teammate Hayden on lap three and set his sights on Hayes.
The battle for third was then fought by Hayden and the rookie Beaubier. The pair were battling hard and made contact a couple of times – most notably in turn six when Hayden hit Beaubier’s rear wheel. Hayden lost some time and lost fourth to Anthony, but was able to gain the position back and keep charging.
With three laps to go, the leaders caught lapped traffic and going into turn five Hayes had to run off track to avoid running into Cardenas. That allowed Beaubier to move into the lead with Cardenas, Hayden and Anthony right behind. But on the next lap, Cardenas took the lead and was able to hold Beaubier off to the finish.
In spite of his miscue, Hayes fought back and reeled the leaders in, passing Anthony with two laps left.
On the last lap Hayes charged after Hayden and was able to nab the last podium spot from by .003 of a second. Anthony brought his Suzuki home in fifth.
Running lonely races behind the top five were HMC KTM’s Chris Fillmore in sixth, Yoshimura Suzuki’s Chris Clark in seventh and Geico Honda’s Chris Ulrich in eighth.
Rounding out the top 10 were privateers Daytona Anderson on a Suzuki and Mathew Orange on a BMW.
The Pro Sportbike race was a different story – pure domination from Latus Racing’s Bobby Fong. Joining Fong on the podium was Y.E.S. Yamaha’s Garrett Gerloff and Team H35’s Benny Solis.
Although GEICO Honda’s Jake Zemke got the holeshot, it didn’t take long for Fong to take his Triumph to the lead and start building a healthy gap on the rest of the pack. And while Fong’s pace was impressive, Gerloff’s charge from the back of the pack to finish second was equally impressive.
Gerloff made an error after the start and his bike cut out, forcing him to put his hand up and move offline. Fortunately for Gerloff, it got back going again and he put his head down and started back through the pack. Around the halfway mark Gerloff passed Solis – who was running a solid second up until then.
Behind Solis was Zemke and Gerloff’s teammate JD Beach. Privateer Chad Lewin, finished in sixth, just ahead of Zemke’s teammate Joe Roberts. And rounding out the top 10 were privateers Jason Aguilar, Andre Ochs and Michael Gilbert.
2014 Superbike Shootout
Auto Club Speedway
Pro Superbike Results
1. Martin Cardenas (Suzuki)
2. Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha)
3. Josh Hayes (Yamaha)
4. Roger Hayden (Suzuki)
5. David Anthony (Suzuki)
6. Chris Fillmore (KTM)
7. Chris Clark (Suzuki)
8. Chris Ulrich (Honda)
9. Daytona Anderson (Suzuki)
10. Mathew Orange (BMW)
Pro Sportbike Results
1. Bobby Fong (Triumph)
2. Garrett Gerloff (Yamaha)
3. Benny Solis (Yamaha)
4. Jake Zemke (Honda)
5. JD Beach (Yamaha)
6. Chad Lewin (Yamaha)
7. Joe Roberts (Honda)
8. Jason Aguilar (Yamaha)
9. Andre Ochs (Yamaha)
10. Michael Gilbert (Yamaha)
