PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRIAN J NELSON
SONOMA, CA, MAY 4 – No one could top Monster Energy Yamaha’s Cameron Beaubier in the Superbike Shootout’s Pro Superbike race at Sonoma Raceway today. Not even his own teammate Josh Hayes, the three-time AMA Superbike Champion finishing 9.803 seconds behind the rookie.
But unlike the time gap might suggest, it wasn’t complete Beaubier domination. Hayes led early, relinquishing the lead to his younger teammate on lap eight after he got out of shape in turn one and went into the dirt a bit. Once Beaubier got into the lead, he put his head down and kept pulling away from his teammate.
Rounding out the podium was Yoshimura Suzuki’s Martin Cardenas. Fourth place went to ADR Motorsport’s David Anthony, who was strong all weekend but unfortunately had a huge chatter issue due to an unbalanced rear wheel. Cardenas’ teammate Roger Hayden finished fifth, recovering from an off-track excursion on the second lap.
Behind Hayden was KTM’s Chris Fillmore, who had quite a rollercoaster ride of a race. Fillmore went from being in the hunt for the lead to on the ground in the last turn in the early stages of the race – then bouncing back to be in the hunt for a top-five finish. But in the end it wasn’t enough to get past the youngest Hayden brother.
In seventh was Cory West, the EBR rider finishing ahead of Yoshimura Suzuki’s Chris Clark. Meen Motorsport’s Tyler O’Hara finished ninth in his Superbike debut and GEICO Honda’s Chris Ulrich finished 10th.
While besting his teammate Hayes – the second winningest AMA Superbike racer in history – Beaubier will not be just remembered for the huge gap he put on his teammate at Sonoma, but also for his cool-down lap crash in turn eight.
2014 Superbike Shootout
Sonoma Raceway
Pro Superbike Results
1. Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha)
2. Josh Hayes (Yamaha)
3. Martin Cardenas (Suzuki)
4. David Anthony (Suzuki)
5. Roger Hayden (Suzuki)
6. Chris Fillmore (KTM)
7. Cory West (EBR)
8. Chris Clark (Suzuki)
9. Tyler O’Hara (Yamaha)
10. Chris Ulrich (Honda)
