Cameron Beaubier had yet another perfect weekend of MotoAmerica racing, this one at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham Alabama
Such is life for the four-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion in 2020.
Monster Energy Attack Performance Yamaha’s Beaubier won his 13th race of the year on Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park, a day after winning his 12th of the season and the 50th of his stellar AMA Superbike career. Today’s was similar to the other 12 wins with Beaubier jumping out front off the line, storming away at an unmatchable pace, and then maintaining that lead to the finish. At the line he was 5.125 seconds clear of second-placed Mathew Scholtz.
“Obviously, my game right now is just to try to get out front early and try to take advantage of the good rubber and try to manage my gap if I have one,” Beaubier said. “There towards midway I had a pretty good, I don’t know if they showed it or not, but I had a pretty good (front end) tuck. I almost crashed out of Charlotte’s Webb. The wind was kind of gusting. Some laps you’d go in there and you’d have a pretty big push, other laps you’d brake early. The wind was pretty tricky for me. I don’t know about these guys, but I was definitely getting blown around out there more than I was yesterday. After that happened, I just tried to kind of settle down. My gap started going down and Matty (Scholtz) started catching me a little bit. I just kept trucking along and brought it home. It’s been amazing. It’s just crazy. It’s crazy the year I’ve been having and just how fun and how hard the team is working. It’s so good to come in at the end of the session and you debrief with your guys and you take it seriously and all that, but then when they’re loading up the truck and leaving everyone’s just joking around. As a rider it’s so good to see those guys having a good time and enjoying their job like I am. It’s been an incredible year so far.”
Westby Racing’s Scholtz earned his 10th podium of the season and moved to just one point behind Beaubier’s teammate Jake Gagne in the battle for second in the HONOS Superbike title chase. Gagne was in the battle early but ran into clutch trouble that slowed him to an eventual fifth-place finish.
“It was pretty good,” Scholtz said of his race. “I don’t really know what happened with the start. I got shuffled back to fourth or fifth place and I had to make a sketchy move to get up to second. I knew that Cam (Beaubier) had a really good pace. Jake (Gagne) passed me and with his warm-up time I knew he would be quick too. So, I didn’t really try to fight him too much. I was hoping I would go with him and try to maybe get up to Cam. But then I saw something happen to Jake’s bike, which was unfortunate. Then I kind of put in a few decent laps. I saw that the gap back to third was actually getting bigger so I kind of started chilling out. Then I noticed that Bobby (Fong) was sort of catching me at a pretty drastic pace, so I had to stir things back up. I will definitely take the second place. I think we have our work cut out for us, but we made pretty decent steps forward today.”
Bobby Fong rode his M4 ECSTAR Suzuki to third place, the Californian getting back on the podium after a three-race hiatus from the top three. Fong closed on Scholtz at the end of the race, eventually finishing less than a second behind the South African.
“It was good,” Fong said. “We were struggling a little bit this weekend. Yesterday we had a little mishap with the motorcycle, but we bounced back today. I wish I was there at the beginning of the race. I don’t know what I was doing. I felt like I lost a few seconds in the first beginning laps, but once we got the momentum, we started clicking off some pretty good times at the end. I could see Matty (Scholtz). I was gaining on him a little bit at the end. Toni (Elias) kept me honest, for sure. It was plus zero for most of the race. I gained two seconds and then he got it back down to one. So, he was definitely keeping me honest out there and making sure I hit my marks. We’re happy to get back on the podium and looking forward to increasing our pace in the beginning of the race.”
Fong’s teammate Toni Elias ended up fourth, some 10 seconds ahead of the struggling Gagne, who in turn was some 22 seconds ahead of Scheibe Racing BMW’s Josh Herrin. Ride HVMC Racing’s Corey Alexander was seventh with FLY Racing ADR Motorsports’ David Anthony ending up eighth.
Travis Wyman Racing’s Travis Wyman was ninth, one spot better than his brother Kyle, on the KATO Fastening/KWR Ducati. Kyle Wyman was running fifth when he had an off-track excursion.
2020 Barber Motorsports Park MotoAmerica Results—Superbike Race Two
1Cameron Beaubier(Yamaha)2Mathew Scholtz(Yamaha)3Bobby Fong(Suzuki)4Toni Elias(Suzuki)5Jake Gagne(Yamaha)
Stock 1000
Sunday’s Stock 1000 race two was another command performance by Altus Motorsports Suzuki’s Cameron Petersen, who started from the pole and built a big lead until the race was red-flagged by a crash and restarted with a six-lap sprint to the checkers. In an effort to build another gap, Petersen was at the front again, but a mistake almost put him out of the race. The South African used his knee and elbow to lever the bike off the ground, and he continued on to take the checkers and record his seventh victory of the season with a comfortable gap of nearly five-and-a-half seconds at the finish line.
Cameron Petersen has been dominating the Stock 1000 class on his Suzuki and did so again on Sunday at Barber.
Second place went to Ride HVMC Racing Kawasaki’s Corey Alexander, who hoped to take the lead when Petersen looked to be down, but the New Yorker settled for the runner-up spot on the podium. Michael Gilbert Racing’s Michael Gilbert rounded out the podium in third place aboard his Kawasaki.
“My dad is here this weekend, and he came up to me yesterday and said that was probably the best he’s ever seen me ride,” Petersen said. “So, that means something to me. Just another great weekend. The race I had here last year was kind of the same. I came here and for whatever reason I just ride well on this track. When the team puts a machine like that underneath you each weekend, it’s fun. When you’re having fun, you go fast. I can’t thank them enough. I got to give this one to the team. They’re busting their butts. I honestly believe we have one of the best bikes out there in the paddock at the moment. I was saying a little bit different a few rounds ago. They put their heads down. They’ve gone to work. They’ve done their homework. The bike’s unreal. These guys, it’s super fun racing with them. I’m looking forward to the rest of the season. Obviously, I have a little bit of a points gap now with two more races to go. Time to start thinking about the championship a little bit. Stoked to open up some eyes and see if I can catch a nice seat next year on a Superbike. Once again, thanks to everybody and looking forward to Indy.”
2020 Barber Motorsports Park MotoAmerica Results—Stock 1000 Race Two
1Cameron Petersen(Suzuki)2Corey Alexander(Kawasaki)3Michael Gilbert(Kawasaki)4Stefano Mesa(Kawasaki)5Maximiliano Gerado(Kawasaki)
Supersport
HONOS Kawasaki’s Richie Escalante’s steamroller-like effort continued on Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park. In Supersport race two, Escalante mimicked the pattern that he has followed in almost every race this year. Starting from the pole, M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Sean Dylan Kelly got a great jump off the line and took the holeshot by wheelying all the way down the front straight. Also, in the mix was Celtic HSBK Racing’s Brandon Paasch.
Richie Escalante dominated Supersport action on Sunday, winning by over nine seconds.
Escalante put his head down, raced clear of his rivals, built a lead, and took the checkered flag by nearly nine seconds over Kelly, who finished second. Paasch, who was nearly 10 seconds behind Kelly, finished third.
For Escalante, it was his 11th victory of the season.
“Very fun race again,” Escalante said. “My start, again, was so bad and then I needed to take recovery very fast. I looked this morning and Sean (Dylan Kelly) improved in the morning warmup and I said, ‘Maybe the race is more difficult to stay with him in the first laps.’ I know Sean is very strong in the first laps. I tried to pass very quickly and then tried to go. Sean is braking really good today. Then I passed and I pushed hard, and I see in my bike 26 (a 1:26 lap time). It’s really good. Thanks to my team. My crew chief and my mechanic gave me a very good bike this weekend. They’re all working hard to give this very good package, so we’ll continue. Two rounds more, four races more. The championship is not finished. Keep working and be ready for Indy.”
2020 Barber Motorsports Park MotoAmerica Results—Supersport Race Two
1Richie Escalante(Kawasaki)2Sean Dylan Kelly(Suzuki)3Brandon Paasch(Yamaha)4Jason Aguilar(Yamaha)5Kevin Olmedo(Suzuki)
Junior Cup
With his 11th win in Liqui Moly Junior Cup so far this season, Rocco Landers clinched the 2020 class championship, successfully defending the title that he won in 2019. And, he did it in dominating fashion aboard his Norton Motorsports/Ninja400R/Dr.Farr/WonderCBD Kawasaki. He started from the pole and, after scrapping for the lead, he got out front and eventually built a gap of more than three seconds by the time he took the checkers.
Rocco Landers won his 11th Junior Cup race of the season and clinched his second consecutive championship at Barber Motorsports Park.
BARTCON Racing Kawasaki’s Dominic Doyle came back from a crash in Saturday’s race to fight for the lead early and finish second, while Quarterley Racing On Track Development Kawasaki rider Ben Gloddy finished third for his second podium finish of the weekend.
When asked about winning the 2020 Liqui Moly Junior Cup Championship, Landers said, “Honestly, after Road America 1, I didn’t expect this to happen. We didn’t think we would do the full season. We thought we would miss Atlanta and Pittsburgh. Then, all of a sudden, we couldn’t get a COVID test, so we were like, ‘All right, why not go to Atlanta and see what happens?’ After that race, we’ve had a really good year. Lots of wins, lots of lap records. It’s been so fun racing with Dominic and Ben, Sam (Lochoff), and everyone else all year. This is my last year racing small bikes. I’m happy to be able to come out with the championship.”
2020 Barber Motorsports Park MotoAmerica Results—Junior Cup Race Two
1Rocco Landers(Kawasaki)2Dominic Doyle(Kawasaki)3Benjamin Gloddy(Kawasaki)4Liam Grant(Kawasaki)5Samuel Lochoff(Kawasaki)
Twins Cup
The race weekend at Barber Motorsports Park concluded with Sunday’s Twins Cup race two, and Rocco Landers went a perfect four-for-four on the weekend as he followed up his two victories in Liqui Moly Junior Cup with two victories in the two-cylinder class. And, as he did with the season championship in Liqui Moly Cup, Landers very nearly wrapped up the Twins Cup title, as well. He is now only one point away from getting his second #1 plate.
Rocco Landers won again on Sunday at Barber and is closing in on wrapping up the 2020 Twins Cup championship to go along with his Junior Cup title.
With Landers winning Sunday’s race two by nearly six-and-and-a-half seconds aboard his SportbikeTrackGear.com Roadracingworld.com Suzuki, the rest of the podium was filled by 1-833-CJKNOWS Accident & Injury Law Yamaha’s Kaleb De Keyrel in second and Hayden Schultz Racing Yamaha’s Hayden Schultz in third. De Keyrel rebounded from a crash on Saturday to finish as runner-up on Sunday, and Schultz recorded his second podium result of the weekend.
“It’s funny because I’ve never really liked this place at all,” Landers said. “I’ve done well here, but I’ve never enjoyed the track. But, this year, I’m finally feeling good here. Perfect weekend. Lap record. Championship in Junior Cup, almost a championship in Twins Cup. Talking about the race, I knew Kaleb would bounce back stronger after his crash so I knew I had to just work as hard as I could for a few laps and try to settle in the low 31, high 30 pace. Just tried to do as well as I could. We’re happy with this weekend.”
