Press Release | September 10, 2020
NJMP Awaits The MotoAmerica Superbike Series This Weekend
MotoAmerica Superbike Preview
The Story Remains The Same: Can Anyone Stop Cameron Beaubier?
The following is a press release from MotoAmerica…
Irvine, CA (September 9, 2020) – Seven different riders have won AMA Superbike races at New Jersey Motorsports Park in the 11-year history of the series in the Garden State. Of those seven, three of them will be doing battle in the two HONOS Superbike races during the MotoAmerica Superbikes at New Jersey event this weekend, September 11-13.
Cameron Beaubier arrives in New Jersey as the dominant force in the MotoAmerica HONOS Superbike class with nine wins in 10 races. Photo by Brian J. Nelson
Led by four-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion Cameron Beaubier, the series arrives in New Jersey for round six of the nine-round series with the first of back-to-back races with the teams packing up on Sunday night and heading to Barber Motorsports Park for round seven, September 18-20.
Beaubier and his Monster Energy Attack Performance Yamaha will face off against 22 others in the HONOS Superbike races in search of his fifth career win on the 2.25-mile, 14-turn racetrack. Among those entered and hoping to stop him from doing just that are the other two active racers who have won at NJMP on a Superbike – M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Toni Elias and Scheibe Racing BMW’s Josh Herrin.
Following his ninth win of the 10-race-old season two weeks ago at the Ridge in Washington State, Beaubier holds a commanding 54-point lead in the championship. Thus far in 2020, Beaubier has been unstoppable, leading virtually every practice and qualifying session, starting eight of the 10 races from pole position, and winning nine of the 10 races. Only his teammate Jake Gagne has bettered him in qualifying, the former MotoAmerica Superstock 1000 Champion earning pole position for round five at the Ridge.
The only person other than Beaubier to win a race in 2020 is M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Bobby Fong, the 2019 MotoAmerica Supersport Champion taking advantage of Beaubier’s only miscue of the year – a crash out of the lead in race two of Road America 2–to take the first HONOS Superbike victory of his career.
The four men at the front in the majority of this year’s races are the four men at the top of the point standings. Beaubier leads Gagne by 54 points with the latter standing on the podium in eight of the 10 races.
Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz is third in the title chase, the South African finishing second to Beaubier in four races while earning podium finishes in two other races. Scholtz is 22 points behind Gagne and 76 points in arrears of Beaubier.
The aforementioned Fong is fourth and already 111 points behind Beaubier. His title aspirations were squashed by a race-one crash at Pittsburgh International Race Complex that ended up putting him out of race two as the pain in his left hand/wrist made racing impossible. Fong, however, remains the only man other than Beaubier to taste victory in 2020 and he comes to NJMP fresh off two podium finishes at the Ridge and a few weeks of healing time.
The fight for points in the bottom half of the top 10 is intense with Herrin currently holding down fifth on the Scheibe Racing BMW but by just nine points over KWR Ducati’s Kyle Wyman, the New Yorker coming off a miserable round at the Ridge where he failed to score a point, and Fong’s M4 ECSTAR Suzuki teammate Toni Elias.
Elias, a three-time winner at NJMP, is having a difficult season and has seen his podium-less streak grow to an unthinkable 11 races. Of late, however, Elias seems to be getting closer to the form that you’d expect of a 32-time MotoAmerica Superbike race winner.
Sixteen points behind Wyman/Elias is team owner/racer David Anthony, the FLY Racing ADR Motorsports-backed Australian sitting eighth in the standings. Two men are trying to close the gap to Anthony and those two are Altus Motorsports’ Cameron Petersen, the current points leader in the Stock 1000 class, and Anthony’s teammate, Bradley Ward. Petersen and Ward trail Anthony by 15 and 16 points, respectively, with Ward rounding out the top 10 in the series after five rounds (and 10 races).
The HONOS Superbikes will take to the NJMP racetrack for the first time on Friday morning at 11:20 for qualifying practice one. They will compete for pole position in the Superpole session at 11:15 a.m. on Saturday, followed by HONOS Superbike race one at 4:10 p.m. On Sunday, race two will take place at 3:10 p.m.
The HONOS Superbikes will be joined at NJMP by the four MotoAmerica Series support classes – Supersport, Liqui Moly Junior Cup, Stock 1000 and Twins Cup.
New Jersey Motorsports Park Notes…
AMA Superbike racing has been held for the past 11 years in succession at New Jersey Motorsports Park with this year’s race marking the 13th AMA Superbike event at the facility in Millville. The discrepancy in those two numbers stems from the 2016 season when NJMP hosted two rounds of the MotoAmerica Series.
That’s Mr. New Jersey to you: The most successful AMA Superbike racer at NJMP is far and away Josh Hayes. Hayes, who is currently a rider coach in the MotoAmerica paddock, has won 11 of the 24 Superbike races held at NJMP. Fittingly, Hayes won the first two Superbike races held at NJMP in 2009 and followed that up with two more wins in 2010. In fact, the four-time AMA Superbike Champion won seven of the first eight races held in New Jersey. Hayes also won the first two Superbike races of the MotoAmerica era at NJMP in 2015.
Three active MotoAmerica racers have won Superbike races at NJMP: Cameron Beaubier, Toni Elias and Josh Herrin. Beaubier leads the way with four wins (two in 2016, one in 2018 and one in 2019), followed by Elias’ three victories (one in 2016, two in 2017) and Herrin’s two wins (one in 2013 and one in 2018).
If you see Roger Hayden walking around the paddock at NJMP this weekend during a break in his announcing duties on MotoAmerica Live+, buy him a soda or something. Hayden, who won twice in New Jersey during his Superbike career, finished second five times. Included in those five second-place finishes were a .044 of a second loss to Josh Hayes in 2015, a .156 of a second loss to Toni Elias in 2016 and a .039 of a second loss to Elias in 2017.
Four-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion Cameron Beaubier arrives at NJMP with nine wins from the 10 HONOS Superbike races held thus far in 2020. His ninth win pushed his career total to 47 AMA Superbike wins, which puts him third on the all-time AMA Superbike win list behind Mat Mladin (82 wins) and Josh Hayes (61 wins).
Garrett Gerloff, who is now racing in the World Superbike Championship, is the current Superbike lap record holder at NJMP. The Texan earned pole position last year with a record-setting 1:20.323.
Gerloff went on to win Superbike race one a year ago at NJMP, besting his Yamaha teammate Beaubier by 1.7 seconds. Beaubier bounced back the following day to beat JD Beach by 1.4 seconds for the victory. Gerloff, meanwhile, was declared unfit to race on Sunday after crashing during morning warm-up and suffering a concussion.
The fastest race lap of last year also went to Gerloff with the Texan lapping at 1:20.588 in race one. Beach had the fastest lap in race two – a 1:20.785 – en route to second place behind Beaubier.
MotoAmerica Support Class Preview
Battles Set To Rage As New Jersey Welcomes MotoAmerica
HONOS Kawasaki’s Richie Escalante met the first stumbling block in his 2020 MotoAmerica Supersport season at the Ridge Motorsports Park two weeks ago, though his reason for tripping up was through no fault of his own. Now we get to see how Escalante responds to his first crash of the MotoAmerica season and his first non-finish after the most dominating rider in the series thus far was taken out of the second race at the Ridge in the first corner.
The Liqui Moly Junior Cup Series resumes at NJMP this weekend with Rocco Landers (1) on the prowl for his eighth win in a row. Photo by Brian J. Nelson
Bring on New Jersey Motorsports Park and round six of the series.
Picking up the pieces after Escalante was knocked off his Kawasaki ZX6R in the first corner was M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Sean Dylan Kelly, the Floridian riding away to an easy victory – his second of the season. The win combined with Escalante’s misfortune also gives us a championship fight again as the pair are now separated by 30 points instead of 55, which was the margin going into Sunday’s race two at the Ridge.
Escalante, by virtue of his eight wins and one second-place finish, leads the title chase with 220 points with Kelly, and his two wins and seven second-place finishes, second on 190 points.
Celtic HSBK Racing’s Brandon Paasch also looked set to take advantage of Escalante’s crash as he was battling for the lead with Kelly in race two. Unfortunately, Paasch crashed out of the battle and thus failed to gain any ground in the championship. Paasch is now 88 points behind Escalante and 58 points behind Kelly. However, Paasch will be racing on his home track this coming weekend at NJMP.
Fourth in the Supersport Series point standings is held by Aguilar Racing’s Jason Aguilar, the Californian racing to his second podium finish of the season in race two at the Ridge. He leads M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Lucas Silva by 12 points in the battle for fourth with Silva coming off his first career MotoAmerica podium finish – also in race two at the Ridge.
If all that isn’t interesting enough for you, let’s not forget the on-going war of words as it relates to Escalante and the Kawasaki ZX6R vs. Kelly and the Suzuki GSX-R600 and the much quieter Paasch and the Yamaha YZF-R6.
If Superbike Championship points leader Cameron Beaubier and Escalante are the hottest riders in the MotoAmerica paddock right now, then Rocco Landers is a fast-gaining third in that battle.
Landers has won seven Liqui Moly Junior Cup races in a row and three of the last four Twins Cup races as the 15-year-old does double duty in a spirited effort to walk away from 2020 with two MotoAmerica titles.
In the Liqui Moly Junior Cup Series battle, Landers and his Norton Motorsports/Ninja400R/Dr. Farr/Wonder CBD-backed Kawasaki Ninja 400 are doing their best to not make it one. He is now 48 points clear of Dominic Doyle, the BARTCON Racing-backed South African fighting to hold back the spirited efforts of late by fellow countryman Samuel Lochoff on the Celtic HSBK Ninja 400. Those two are now separated by 25 points in the fight for second in the title chase.
In Twins Cup, Landers finds himself firmly in the fight for the title with 1-833-CJKNOWS Accident & Injury Law’s Kaleb De Keyrel just eight points clear of Landers, 135-127. Both riders have won all six of the races (three races apiece) as the championship has quickly turned into a two-man race.
Jason Madama is third in the championship heading to NJMP, the Syndicate Racing/Apex Assassins-backed racer from Colorado is locked in a battle royale for that spot with Robem Engineering teammates Jackson Blackmon and Toby Khamsouk and Hayden Schultz Racing’s Hayden Schultz. Those four are separated by just eight points in the fight for third.
The Stock 1000 Championship also looks like it will go the distance with Altus Motorsports Cameron Petersen leading Ride HVMC Racing’s Corey Alexander by 12 points. Petersen has the hot hand heading to NJMP, however, with the South African winning the last three races.
Third in the title chase is held by M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s rising star Alex Dumas, though the French Canadian suffered a broken elbow in a crash at the Ridge and he will be fighting that injury if he indeed lines up in New Jersey. Dumas is 11 points ahead of Michael Gilbert Racing’s Michael Gilbert, the Californian finishing second to Petersen at the Ridge for his best result of the season thus far. Stefano Mesa and Travis Wyman Racing’s Travis Wyman are tied and just a point behind Gilbert heading to NJMP even though Mesa didn’t travel to Washington State to race at the Ridge. Wyman, meanwhile, finished fourth at the Ridge.
NJMP MotoAmerica Support Class Notes…
Celtic HSBK Racing’s PJ Jacobsen won both of the Supersport races a year ago at NJMP, the New Yorker topping M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Bobby Fong and Sean Dylan Kelly in race one. In race two, Jacobsen bested Fong and Hayden Gillim.
Jacobsen also qualified on pole position for the race with his best lap of 1:22.341. Jacobsen and his Yamaha YZF-R6 also set the fastest race lap – a 1:22.709 in race one.
Andrew Lee took victory in the lone Stock 1000 race last year, the Californian narrowly topping Corey Alexander by just .145 of a second. Stefano Mesa finished third, less than a second behind Lee.
Both Liqui Moly Junior Cup races at NJMP last year were won by Rocco Landers. In race one, Landers beat Jackson Blackmon and Eziah Davis. In race two, it was Damian Jigalov and Kevin Olmedo chasing Landers to the finish line.
Alex Dumas, who would go on to win the Twins Cup Championship in his debut season, took the victory in the Twins Cup race at NJMP last year. Dumas beat Blackmon and Curtis Murray with Blackmon just .354 of a second behind Dumas.
How To Watch MotoAmerica Round Six From New Jersey Motorsports Park
* ALL TIMES EASTERN
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| Friday, Sept 11: |
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| 11:20 AM |
HONOS Superbike Qualifying Practice |
MotoAmerica Live+ Begins |
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| Saturday, Sept 12: |
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| 9:50 AM |
HONOS Superbike Free Practice |
MotoAmerica Live+ Begins |
| 1:15 PM |
Stock 1000 |
Facebook Live |
| 2:00 PM |
Supersport Race 1 |
Live on Eurosport and MAVTV |
| 4:00 PM |
HONOS Superbike Race 1 |
Live on FS1, Eurosport & Fox Sports Asia |
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| Sunday, Sept 13: |
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| 10:15 AM |
HONOS Superbike Warm Up |
MotoAmerica Live+ Begins |
| 12:15 PM |
Twins Cup Race 2 |
Facebook Live |
| 1:00 PM |
Supersport Race 2 |
Live on Eurosport and MAVTV |
| 3:00 PM |
HONOS Superbike Race 2 |
Live on FS1, Eurosport & Fox Sports Asia |
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| Tuesday, Sept 15: |
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| 12:30 PM |
MA Rewind |
SuperSport South Africa |
| 8:00 PM |
MA Rewind |
Fox Sports FS2 |
| 9:00 PM |
Liqui Moly Junior Cup 1 |
Fox Sports FS2 |
| 9:30 PM |
Liqui Moly Junior Cup 2 |
Fox Sports FS2 |
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| Saturday, Sept 26: |
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| 2:30 PM |
Inside MA |
NBC Sports Network |
For more information on MotoAmerica, visit www.MotoAmerica.com
