Press Release | October 11, 2020
Superbike Race Two
Three things of note jump out after a three-HONOS Superbike race weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway: for starters, Italian Lorenzo Zanetti ended a winless drought for Ducati in AMA Superbike racing that dated back to 2010. Then there was Bobby Fong’s arrival as a bonafide MotoAmerica Superbike star with a weekend that saw him win two races and finish second in the only one he didn’t win. And it all wrapped up with the bow on top being the fact that Cameron Beaubier emerged from a somewhat difficult weekend with a fifth MotoAmerica Superbike Championship in his back pocket.
The grid charges off the start for race three.
For the first time all season, Monster Energy Attack Performance Yamaha’s Beaubier wasn’t the dominant force at Indy. With the weight of trying to put the championship on ice in the penultimate round, Beaubier had some struggles. He crashed out of Saturday’s race one and it put a visible dent in his confidence for Sunday’s two races. Even with the pressure, he persevered and finished on the podium in both races – third in race two and second in race three. With that, he takes an insurmountable 97-point lead to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in two weeks where he hopes to return to his winning ways in an attempt to match Josh Hayes’ 16-win season from 2012.
“A long time,” Beaubier said when asked how long Sunday’s second race felt like it lasted. “To be honest, I felt like I just lost a little confidence after three crashes this weekend, and the little electrical gremlins we had, which it doesn’t happen often, but the Superbikes, the electronics are so complex that just one little thing you do wrong can just kind of throw everything off. Luckily everything was fine that last race today, but after the tires heat cycle, I just had no confidence, man. Sure, I could have gone faster but I wanted to bring this thing home after crashing three times and having my guys stay up until midnight a couple nights this weekend fixing my bike. Obviously, I’m over the moon happy, but I’m just relieved at the same time to get this plate for my guys, for Monster Attack Yamaha and everyone at the team, my family, my friends, everyone that supports us. 6D my helmet sponsor, it’s their first Superbike Championship and I think Attack’s first Superbike Championship as well.
Zanetti took a historic win in race two on the Ducati.
“I just had pure fun this year. It was so fun just ripping off those wins. I was just really enjoying riding my bike all year. I’ve never felt so comfortable on a bike and just at home with my guys. We really built a family together, Yamaha and me. It’s just such a privilege to ride for them. This is my eighth-year riding for them, and we’ve been able to rack up six championships together. I’m just so thankful for the opportunity and everything they’ve given me. Just going to enjoy this one and go have fun at Laguna.”
Zanetti, meanwhile, started Sunday morning off with a victory on his Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati New York Panigale V4 R Superbike in the second of the three HONOS Superbike races following his first podium a day earlier. The win ended a drought for Ducati in the AMA Superbike Series as it was Ohioan Larry Pegram who rode his privateer Ducati to the Italian manufacturer’s last victory at Auto Club Speedway in Southern California on March 27, 2010.
In winning at The Brickyard, Zanetti also became the first Italian to win an AMA Superbike race since Alessandro Gramigni rode a Fast By Ferracci Ducati to victory at Brainerd in 1996.
Zanetti was in a race-long battle with Saturday’s race-one winner Fong and his M4 ECSTAR Suzuki for the duration of race two on a cloudy and cool Sunday morning, the Italian taking over for the first time with three laps to go. On the final lap, Zanetti was able to hold off Fong by just .196 of a second. Beaubier was third, .323 of a second from the win with his teammate Jake Gagne a close fourth. With the top four covered by just .505 of a second it was the best HONOS Superbike race of the year, thus far.
Fong was in command in race three.
“I compared yesterday, and the key of today is the work of the guys during the night,” Zanetti said. “They changed the balance for the bike. Yesterday, I’m not really confident on the front tire. Today I did a really good job. This morning in warmup I was in first place so I think that the whole race I can win. It’s not easy because from yesterday also the tire (temperature) is different, maybe seven or eight degrees less. So just try to keep calm because yesterday when I tried to stay in front to Bobby (Fong) I did a mistake, so today I just stay on back for half part of the race and study. So, when I try in the last four or five laps, the tire is dropped and it’s difficult to manage. Some parts of the track Bobby is better than me, and some I’m better. So, it’s difficult, but in the end is all right. I don’t want to think a lot. Just try to improve a little bit again for the second race of today and try to be again on the podium. This is incredibly important for me but also for Ducati because four months ago not many people trust in me that I can do it, to be able to ride in the U.S. and win some races. So, I think it’s a really good target today for me.”
The third race was all Fong. After a red flag came out when his M4 ECSTAR Suzuki teammate Toni Elias crashed out of the lead (and right in front of him), Fong simply dominated. Chased by Gagne and Zanetti, Fong’s win got really comfortable when Gagne crashed and Zanetti ran straight at the end of the front straight, joining in fourth place. Gagne was able to remount from his blunder to finish seventh, but the miscues moved Beaubier to second and he was able to hold off Zanetti’s charge to take the spot – 9.8 seconds behind the fleeing Fong.
“No, it’s a good feeling,” Fong said when asked if this was the best weekend of his life. “First of all, I just want to say congratulations to Cameron (Beaubier). The whole pack has been chasing him all year long. He’s rode so good all year long. Hopefully, we’ll battle with him at Laguna. We all know if he didn’t have a championship to win, he would have been right there with me or in front of me. Who knows? But it’s been a good weekend. I can’t complain. It’s been weird, though. This weekend we haven’t changed anything on the bike. We started FP1 and we made minor changes, a few clicks of something, whatever. Usually every weekend we have a completely different motorcycle every session, almost. This was the first weekend where I said, ‘Just don’t touch it. I’ll figure it out.’ We made a little bit of TC stuff and fork maps, but other than that this was the most consistent motorcycle I’ve rode this year. So, it definitely paid off and I definitely had a good feeling out there. Had plenty of moments out there on the front (tire), just trying to get a 36 (1:36 lap time) for a while but it didn’t happen. Thankful to get some money and get the win. Looking forward to Laguna.”
That’s title number five for Cameron Beaubier in MotoAmerica Superbike.
With Fong (2-1 finishes), Zanetti (1-3 finishes) and Beaubier (3-2 finishes) getting the most out of the weekend, what of the rest?
Scheibe Racing BMW’s Josh Herrin mixed it up with the lead pack in both races before eventually finishing sixth and fourth, giving him the fourth highest point score on the day.
Gagne was then the best of the rest, though the Californian looked to deserve even better as he was set to finish on the podium for a second straight day until the crash in race two. Still, he ended the day with fourth- and seventh-place finishes.
Altus Motorsports’ Cameron Petersen, who wrapped up the Stock 1000 title on Saturday, finished sixth and seventh in the two races on Sunday; KWR Racing’s Kyle Wyman ended up ninth and fifth with his brother Travis riding the Travis Wyman Racing BMW to two eighth-place finishes.
2020 Indianapolis MotoAmerica Results—Superbike Race Two
| 1 |
Lorenzo Zanetti |
(Ducati) |
| 2 |
Bobby Fong |
(Suzuki) |
| 3 |
Cameron Beaubier |
(Yamaha) |
| 4 |
Jake Gagne |
(Yamaha) |
| 5 |
Toni Elias |
(Suzuki) |
2020 Indianapolis MotoAmerica Results—Superbike Race Three
| 1 |
Bobby Fong |
(Suzuki) |
| 2 |
Cameron Beaubier |
(Yamaha) |
| 3 |
Lorenzo Zanetti |
(Ducati) |
| 4 |
Josh Herrin |
(BMW) |
| 5 |
Kyle Wyman |
(Ducati) |
Supersport Race Two
With his 13th race win of the season, Richie Escalante clinched the 2020 Supersport Championship in Sunday’s race two in style. Escalante completed another perfect weekend with wins in both races, and he did it in his usual fashion of surviving the early-lap onslaught of his competitors, persevering, and running fast laps all the way to the finish line.
Escalante (54) charged to the win and the 2020 MotoAmerica Supersport Championship title.
On Sunday, he withstood challenges from M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Sean Dylan Kelly, who crashed out of Saturday’s race, and MESA37 Racing Kawasaki rider Stefan Mesa, who this weekend added the Supersport class to his usual repertoire of competing in Stock 1000. Kelly and Mesa threw everything they had at Escalante, and Kelly even led the race in all but one of the opening five laps, but then, Escalante established himself at the front and took the win by a little more than a second over second-place finisher Kelly. Mesa worked his way into second place on lap four and five, then Kelly overtook him, and Mesa brought it home in third place to complete the all-Latino podium.
2020 Indianapolis MotoAmerica Results—Supersport Race Two
| 1 |
Richie Escalante |
(Kawasaki) |
| 2 |
Sean Dylan Kelly |
(Suzuki) |
| 3 |
Stefano Mesa |
(Kawasaki) |
| 4 |
Brandon Paasch |
(Yamaha) |
| 5 |
Xavier Zayat |
(Yamaha) |
Liqui Moly Junior Cup Race Two
After winning Saturday’s Twins Cup race, clinching the class championship, and winning Liqui Moly Junior Cup race one, Landers completed another perfect weekend on Sunday when he also won Liqui Moly Junior Cup race two.
The Norton Motorsports/Ninja400R/Dr. Farr/Wonder CBD Kawasaki rider started from the pole, got the holeshot, and led all but the second-to-last lap to take the checkered flag by a scant .157 of a second over BARTCON Racing Kawasaki rider Dominic Doyle.
Doyle (25) and Landers (1) going at it, but Landers would come out on top.
The South African put in a strong performance and got even stronger in the final couple of laps when he took the lead on lap 10 of 11 and very nearly had the measure of Landers. Doyle came up just a little short and had to settle for second place.
Third place went to Celtic HSBK Racing Kawasaki’s Sam Lochoff, who started back in eighth position on the grid, was in fourth after the opening lap, and then battled Isaiah Burleson for the final spot on the podium. Lochoff secured third place on lap eight and maintained the position to the finish line.
“Today’s race was pretty good,” Landers said. “I’m stoked for Dom (Doyle) to finally get back up there with me. Under the circumstances, I think it’s super awesome how fast he’s going right now. I was struggling with the edge grip and driving grip the whole race. So, I didn’t have the feel that I normally would. Yesterday, I felt a little bit better, could be the heat of the asphalt. But I’m happy with the win.”
2020 Indianapolis MotoAmerica Results—Twins Cup Race Two
| 1 |
Rocco Landers |
(Kawasaki) |
| 2 |
Dominic Doyle |
(Kawasaki) |
| 3 |
Maximiliano Rocha |
(Kawasaki) |
| 4 |
Benjamin Gloddy |
(Kawasaki) |
| 5 |
Liam Grant |
(Kawasaki) |
Superbike Race One
If you wanted some drama in the MotoAmerica Superbike Series, your wish was granted in the first of three HONOS Superbike races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway with M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Bobby Fong emerging from the melee at The Brickyard with his second-career AMA Superbike victory.
Fong (50) won a dram-packed opening Superbike race at Indy.
In circumstances eerily similar to his first win of the year and first of his career at Road America earlier in the season, Fong was again in second place when runaway championship leader Cameron Beaubier crashed out of the lead. And, again, it was Beaubier’s Monster Energy Attack Performance Yamaha teammate Jake Gagne who ended up hounding Fong to the checkered flag.
In today’s race, which featured two red flags and two Beaubier crashes, Fong was in second place when Beaubier crashed on the fourth lap of the third restart, but he was pressuring the Yamaha man when the crash occurred. From there Fong was chased by Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati New York’s Lorenzo Zanetti, the Italian taking the lead at one point before running off the track. Zanetti managed to stay upright, however, and he fought his way back to third place by the end of the 15-lap race, which translated to three different manufacturers on the podium and four different brands in the top five with Josh Herrin ending up fifth on the Scheibe Racing BMW.
Not a sight we’re used to seeing as Beaubier crashed out of race one.
Meanwhile, following Zanetti’s mistake, Gagne was on the move and closing in on Fong, the two Californians crossing the line with just .228 of a second between them. At Road America, Fong beat Gagne by .509 of a second.
There was drama before the race even started with Beaubier deemed late to get out of pit lane for the start of the sighting lap, meaning that he would be forced to start from the back of the grid. He did just that, going from 20th to sixth in one lap before the first red flag came out for Kyle Wyman’s crash coming on to the front straight.
Beaubier started sixth on the next restart and was in the lead pack when both he and Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz went down almost simultaneously in fluid that was leaked onto the track by a previously crashed motorcycle. After the cleanup, Beaubier was able to make the restart while Scholtz was being transported to the hospital with an ankle injury.
On the third start, Beaubier got into the lead quickly but wasn’t getting away from the pursing Fong when he crashed on the fourth lap in the final corner, the same spot that claimed Wyman. The four-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion’s bike was too damaged to continue, and he was forced to be a spectator for the rest of the race.
Elias (24) led off the start.
When asked post-race if this win at Indy felt better than the Road America victory based on the amount of pressure he was applying to Beaubier when the crash occurred, Fong nodded before saying, “I didn’t know how to feel because we’re just so used to Cameron (Beaubier) just checking out. Then when I saw I was reeling him in and I saw my lap time I was like, ‘We’re going pretty fast.’ I felt pretty good, too. I wasn’t out of control. I could see his body language change a little bit when we were riding, pushing hard for sure. It was unfortunate. With the drop in the tires you really have to be gentle flicking it into that last turn. It is really easy to lose the rear on corner entry. I saw him go down. I’m like, ‘Oh man. Now I got a long race.’ I knew Jake (Gagne) and I knew (Lorenzo) Zanetti and Toni (Elias) were going to be behind me, so I was just trying to hit my marks and tried not to do anything stupid. It got so slick out there it’s like one little extra juice in the throttle, you’ll get shot to the moon. I just tried to stay steady and ride my own race.”
Gagne took over second when Zanetti ran off the track, and he closed on Fong before coming up just short at the finish.
“Obviously, we want to win, but hats off to Bobby (Fong),” Gagne said. “He rode really good. Hats off to all these guys. We’re riding really good. It was a bummer to see Cam (Beaubier) go down. It was a bummer to see Mat (Scholtz) go down. Obviously, it was crazy with a couple of those restarts and a couple heat cycles on the tire. It made it tough starting on the second row. My starts weren’t too good. Those guys were going fast right away and it took me a little while to get into a good flow. Then I kind of started just inching back on those two guys. Then the Ducati ran off and missed that shift. I was trying to get to Bobby, but there were just some sections he was faster, and some sections I was a little faster so we were kind of teeter-tottering back and forth. The only shot I kind of thought I could have is if I could get up there close on the last sector and get a great drive up the last turn and see if I could get that Yamaha some draft, but I just didn’t nail that last sector. My last turn wasn’t too good. Again, hats off to Bobby and hats off to all these guys. Hopefully, we get a couple of these more Yamahas back here tomorrow. After seeing a couple more of those Yamahas go down, I was like, ‘I got to bring this thing home.’ We got some points and another second place, but we want to fight for a win, so we’ll see what happens tomorrow.”
Zanetti was right on Fong before running off track.
As mentioned, Zanetti led before his off-track excursion and he ended the day third in what was just his second MotoAmerica round (and his third race). It was the first podium for Ducati in the series since Kyle Wyman did it twice at Road America 2 earlier in the season.
“Is the second race, but in the end it’s the first with a Superbike,” Zanetti said. “So originally was stock (bike). So, it’s the first time I have the potential to try for the podium, but it’s not easy when you are young, and you have many fast riders and you try to understand and manage in a couple days. It’s not too easy. I tried this morning a little bit base to understand how is my potential in the race. But in this race, it’s unbelievable. Three restarts, oil on the track, so it’s not easy to expect it. I just try to follow Bobby (Fong) on the first part of the race. When I see him drop a little bit on the tire, I tried to catch him and did my rhythm, tried to win. I did a stupid mistake. I missed a gear. So, unfortunately, I go on the gravel. I go back. I see Toni (Elias) struggle on the tires so I pushed too much in the last four laps. When I overtake him I got on the podium so I arrive on the podium. It’s not easy. It’s important for me, for the team. I want to thank you all to give me the chance to fight on a good bike with good riders. Thanks also to MotoAmerica, to give me the opportunity.”
M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Toni Elias took over third for a few laps after Zanetti’s miscue, but he had no grip and couldn’t keep the Ducati behind him. At the finish, Elias was some two seconds adrift of the Italian, but was over 18 seconds ahead of fifth-placed Josh Herrin on the Scheibe Racing BMW.
Travis Wyman Racing’s Travis Wyman finished sixth with FLY Racing ADR Motorsports’ Michael Gilbert, in his MotoAmerica Superbike debut, finishing seventh. M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Alex Dumas ended up eighth with Procomps Racing Team’s Danilo Lewis and Ride HVMC Racing’s Corey Alexander rounding out the top 10.
Heading into tomorrow’s two HONOS Superbike races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Beaubier leads Gagne by 83 points, 325-242. For Beaubier to be crowned champion at The Brickyard, he has to be 75 points ahead of Gagne at the end of the day on Sunday as three races will also be held in the upcoming series finale at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
2020 Indianapolis MotoAmerica Results—Superbike Race One
| 1 |
Bobby Fong |
(Suzuki) |
| 2 |
Jake Gagne |
(Yamaha) |
| 3 |
Lorenzo Zanetti |
(Ducati) |
| 4 |
Toni Elias |
(Suzuki) |
| 5 |
Josh Herrin |
(BMW) |
Supersport Race One
HONOS Kawasaki rider Richie Escalante moved even closer to clinching the 2020 Supersport Championship with his victory in Saturday’s race one at The Brickyard. For Escalante, it was his 12th win this season.
Early in the race, M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Sean Dylan Kelly crashed out of the lead, unhurt, which handed the lead to Celtic HSBK Racing’s Brandon Paasch. Escalante eventually overtook Paasch, and then MESA37 Racing’s Stefano Mesa, who is competing in Supersport for the first time this season in addition to Stock 1000, closed in on Paasch and nipped him at the finish line for second place, with Paasch completing the podium in third.
Escalante (54) took another win and closed in on the championship.
“I always start the weekend, for sure, very focused, but I know it’s a very difficult day, especially for thinking about the championship,” Escalante said. “I’m a little bit nervous at the start of the race. I start very bad, so I need to pass riders in the first laps very aggressive. Then I have one moment in the last corner a little bit one high-side, so almost crashed. Then I said, ‘Relax, it’s 16 laps, a pretty long race.’ I see Sean (Dylan Kelly) crashed so more relaxed. I passed Brandon (Paasch). I know my rhythm is always very good so very happy with my pace today. Maybe a bit working a little bit more for tomorrow. I’m very relaxed right now on the championship. Thanks to my team. They did an amazing job this weekend, so I’m very happy.”
2020 Indianapolis MotoAmerica Results—Supersport Race One
| 1 |
Richie Escalante |
(Kawasaki) |
| 2 |
Stefano Mesa |
(Kawasaki) |
| 3 |
Brandon Paasch |
(Yamaha) |
| 4 |
Lucas Silva |
(Suzuki) |
| 5 |
Xavier Zayat |
(Yamaha) |
Stock 1000
Altus Motorsports Suzuki rider Cameron Petersen clinched the 2020 Stock 1000 Championship in a race that he appeared to win, but he was docked .4 of a second due to a sporting infraction, which dropped him from first to second in the final result. Meanwhile, Travis Wyman Racing BMW rider Travis Wyman, who had caught up to Petersen in the race, overtook him, and led the race briefly until Petersen passed him, inherited the win for his first Stock 1000 victory of the season. Third place went to Tango Racing Kawasaki rider Maximiliano Gerardo, the Uruguayan rider notching the first MotoAmerica podium of his career.
Petersen (45) crossed the line first but Wyman (10) was awarded the win. Petersen took the crown, anyway.
“I can’t even explain it,” Petersen said when asked to describe his feelings about winning his first MotoAmerica Championship. “Even hearing you say that kind of brought a lump to my throat. It means so much to me. This is my life. Obviously, my goal is to be a Superbike champ and hopefully one day get in the World Championship. Just being able to hold this number one board is pretty special. It’s something I’ve dreamt of my whole life. It wasn’t easy. It hasn’t been an easy fight. Every year I’ve been here, I’ve had to get on a different team, different bike. It seems like every year kind of halfway through the season I start finding my feet. This year, I just decided to ride the Stock bike and see if I could find my feet again a little bit. I think I lost my way a little bit there a few years ago just kind of getting caught up in the whole Superbike thing. This year has probably been the best thing for my career. I’ve had so much fun riding my bike every single weekend. I look forward to coming to the track. The vibe in the team, everything is incredible. I honestly can’t explain the feeling of being a champion, but hopefully this isn’t the last number-one board I’ll hold up. Just all off-season going to put my head down, go to work and hopefully something good comes up for me next year. I want to show people that I can do this in the Superbike class, as well.”
2020 Indianapolis MotoAmerica Results—Stock 1000 Race
| 1 |
Travis Wyman |
(BMW) |
| 2 |
Cameron Petersen |
(Suzuki) |
| 3 |
Maximiliano Gerardo |
(Kawasaki) |
| 4 |
Alex Dumas |
(Suzuki) |
| 5 |
Stefano Mesa |
(Kawasaki) |
Twins Cup
In Saturday’s Twins Cup race, Rocco Landers, who already clinched his second-consecutive Liqui Moly Junior Cup Championship at MotoAmerica’s previous round in Alabama, added the 2020 Twins Cup Championship to his collection of number-one plates.
No surprises for Landers (97) with another win, and the championship.
The SportbikeTrackGear.com Roadracingworld.com Suzuki rider started from the pole and rode another one of his signature flawless races to cross the finish line with a gap of nearly six seconds over second-place finisher Hayden Shultz who was aboard his Hayden Schultz Racing Yamaha. Third place went to 1833CJKNOWS Yamaha rider Kaleb De Keyrel, who was in a fierce battle with Schultz for second place until he mistook the white flag (signifying one lap to go in the race) for the checkered flag and let up on the throttle after the crossing the start-finish line. The mistake enabled Schultz to take the position and pull away on the final lap with De Keyrel unable to catch him before the checkered flag flew.
Reviewing his Championship season, Landers said, “Road America 1 was a little bit rough for us, and at Road America 2, we got in gear a little bit and started putting better results together. We had a bit of hiccups until Atlanta, and I honestly didn’t think it was going to happen because of the Red Bull (MotoGP Rookies Cup) schedule and COVID-19. COVID affected the Red Bull schedule to where I was going to end up going to every round except Laguna, I believe. But I think 35, 37 wins, 43 podiums, three championships in two years is pretty awesome. My team has worked all year putting a great program at every single round, getting better and better. Thanks to everyone who has supported me this year. It’s been awesome.”
2020 Indianapolis MotoAmerica Results—Twins Cup Race
| 1 |
Rocco Landers |
(Suzuki) |
| 2 |
Hayden Schultz |
(Yamaha) |
| 3 |
Kaleb De Keyrel |
(Yamaha) |
| 4 |
Dominic Doyle |
(Suzuki) |
| 5 |
Teagg Hobbs |
(Yamaha) |
Junior Cup Race One
Recently re-crowned, two-time Liqui Moly Junior Cup Champion Landers continued his winning ways and notched his 12th-consecutive class victory of the season. The 15-year-old phenom started from the pole, and as has been his method almost all season long, he built a gap at the front and won the race by just a little more than two seconds at the checkered flag. Second place went to BARTCON Racing’s Dominic Doyle, which was the South African’s ninth podium finish of the season. The battle for third place was hotly contested, and Quarterley Racing/On Track Development rider Ben Gloddy took the final spot on the podium in a photo finish at the stripe.
Landers (1) made light work of the Junior Cup field.
“I made a small mistake in the first few laps where I clipped one of the curbs pretty late further up than I normally would going into the first esses over there,” Landers said. “I lost a little bit of time and just tried to put my head back down, tried to make clean laps as much as possible, and they were pretty consistent, within a few tenths. I for sure thought Dominic (Doyle) was going to be up there the entire race, but I just tried to put my hammer down and tried to drop as many fast laps as I possibly could. My dad and Barry Wressell at KFG Racing suspension, we’ve been working so hard this weekend. Made a big change yesterday to today. The thing felt so much better. It’s been working out great this year. I’m stoked.”
2020 Indianapolis MotoAmerica Results—Junior Cup Race One
| 1 |
Rocco Landers |
(Kawasaki) |
| 2 |
Dominic Doyle |
(Kawasaki) |
| 3 |
Benjamin Gloddy |
(Kawasaki) |
| 4 |
Samuel Lochoff |
(Kawasaki) |
| 5 |
Cody Wyman |
(Yamaha) |
Superbike
Cautiously optimistic is the best way to describe Toni Elias’ mindset after the Spaniard earned pole position for this weekend’s three HONOS Superbike races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It was the first pole position of the 2020 MotoAmerica season for the M4 ECSTAR Suzuki rider.
Elias knew that luck was on his side with runaway championship points leader Cameron Beaubier crashing out of the final qualifying session in the closing stages. Beaubier had led until that point, but the four-time series champion didn’t get the chance to go back out and better his best. That left Elias and the rest to a ferocious battle for the pole and the 2017 MotoAmerica Superbike Champion took full advantage of having a carrot dangling in front of him in the form of Monster Energy Attack Performance Yamaha’s Jake. However he did it, he did it and you could tell a rather large monkey had been removed from Elias’ shoulders.
Former champion Elias was back on top at Indy during Friday’s running.
“Yes, of course I am happy because a pole is always welcomed, especially after all this difficult season,” Elias said. “I have my feet on the ground, and I have to be honest – I had two helps, one from Cameron’s (Beaubier) crash, and if not, he was on the pole, and then (Jake) Gagne helped me. I was right behind him (Gagne) and he didn’t want to go, and I said, ‘Man, I am going to wait until you go.’ I waited and I had him as a reference and on the first lap I got lucky because I make a mistake a lot and I lost him, but he made a mistake too so at the end we start another lap and I learn from the mistakes and it was a perfect lap. I didn’t make even one mistake and all braking areas were late and perfect. The last bit was a slipstream like the Moto3 World Championship and the bike took a lot of speed and it was perfect. I knew with a lap like this it would be difficult to not be on the pole, but there are always super strong riders and you never know. We did it.”
As for tomorrow’s first race… can Elias turn his first pole into his first win?
“Tomorrow I feel we have to improve front (tire) contact more and we have to find a little bit more of traction,” Elias said. “If we have more of that and we improve two or three tenths of rhythm, we have a chance to fight for the first time this year. Honestly, I’m really excited and pumped and if I have the opportunity, I will give everything.”
With Superpole removed from the MotoAmerica schedule for the Indy round due to the fact that three HONOS Superbike races will be held this weekend, qualifying came down to the 45-minute session on Friday afternoon.
Elias not only put his GSX-R1000 on pole, but he broke the Superbike lap record (set by Beaubier the last time MotoAmerica competed at The Brickyard in 2015) in the process with his 1:36.929 putting him .126 of a second ahead of Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati New York’s Lorenzo Zanetti, the Italian in his second MotoAmerica weekend and on a new Ducati Panigale V4 R that was more to his liking than the one he rode at the Ridge last month.
Zanetti was a sensation on the Celtic HSBK Racing Ducati Panigale V4 R SBK.
Elias’ teammate Bobby Fong will fill the front row for the three races, the Californian just .386 of a second behind Elias and just a tick faster than Beaubier, whose session ended early after his tip-over. Beaubier will be joined on row two by Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz and Gagne with the top six separated by just .688 of a second.
FLY Racing ADR Motorsports’ David Anthony, Scheibe Racing BMW’s Josh Herrin and Superbike Unlimited Franklin Armory Racing’s Andrew Lee rounded out the top 10 qualifiers.
A single HONOS Superbike race will be held on Saturday with two HONOS Superbike races scheduled for Sunday.
Twins Cup
In Support class action from Indy on Friday, it was SportbikeTrackGear.com Roadracingworld.com Suzuki’s Rocco Landers leading the way in Twins Cup, the champion-elect .816 of a second clear of Hobbs Racing/Trackworx Motorsports’ Teagg Hobbs and 1.5 seconds ahead of Hayden Schultz Racing’s Hayden Schultz. Landers also led the Liqui Moly Junior Cup Q1 session by .856 of a second over BARTCON Racing’s Dominic Doyle. Quarterley Racing/On Track Development’s Benjamin Gloddy was third fastest.
Stock 1000
The Stock 1000 Q2 session was led by Cameron Petersen on the Altus Motorsports Suzuki, the South African 1.3 seconds ahead of Travis Wyman Racing’s Travis Wyman and 1.5 faster than Ride HVMC Racing’s Corey Alexander.
Supersport
HONOS Kawasaki’s Richie Escalante led the Supersport field, the championship points leader just .269 of a second faster than his series rival Sean Dylan Kelly on the M4 ECSTAR Suzuki. MESA37 Racing’s Stefano Mesa ended the day third quickest in his 2020 Supersport class debut.
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