MotoAmerica Round 6 Laguna Press Releases

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Misc Press Releases from Monster Energy / Yamaha Factory Race team and Monster Energy / Yamalube / Yamaha Extended Services / Graves / Yamaha at the MotoAmerica 2017 Round 6 Laguna Seca!

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Gerloff And Beach Finish 1-2 In Supersport Race At Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca; Hayes Is 4th In Superbike Race 2

Monterey, CA - July 9, 2017 – After breaking the track record during Saturday’s MotoAmerica Supersport qualifying and then starting from the pole in Sunday’s race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, defending class Champion Garrett Gerloff rode his #1 Monster Energy/Yamalube/Yamaha Extended Service/Graves/Yamaha YZF-R6 to victory over his teammate JD Beach.

From the start, it was a two-rider battle for the win between Garrett and JD, as JD got the holeshot, and Garrett slotted in closely behind the 2015 MotoAmerica Supersport Champion.

Unable to keep pace with the two Yamaha riders, Valentin Debise crashed out of the race, which left JD and Garrett with a more-than-comfortable gap back to Benny Solis in third place.

JD and Garrett battled each other hard with each rider taking turns at the front until Garrett got by JD and was able to stretch out a significant lead.

At the checkers, Garrett won the race by 1.5 seconds over JD and put himself back into the Championship lead by four points over JD.

After the race, Garrett said, “I’m really happy to get this win! We had a good race today, and I think I left a little rubber on JD! It was close racing, but he’s my teammate, and we know each other well. Not only do I want to beat him, but I want us to finish 1-2 every time. To win this race today in front of such a great crowd, and also, the entire World Superbike paddock, is very special for me.”

JD said, “That race was a blast! We were battling hard at the front, for sure. But, the way Garrett and I race against each other, you can tell that we have a lot of respect for one another. Garrett was riding so well this weekend, so my team and I will have to go back, do our homework, and try to get him at the next round.”

In Sunday’s Superbike Race 2 from Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, things looked promising for two-time and defending MotoAmerica Champion Cameron Beaubier and his teammate and four-time AMA Superbike Champion Josh Hayes. Their race started off well, with both riders near the front of the pack. Cameron worked himself into second, and was closing on Roger Hayden in the lead, when he suffered a tipover in Rainey Curve, which is the first turn after Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca’s famous “Corkscrew.”

Josh rode a solid, but quiet, race where he battled for position early on with Josh Herrin and Cameron, but then, he settled into fourth position and maintained it all the way to the end.

“I got a pretty good start today, and I felt a lot better than I did yesterday,” Cameron said. “Josh (Herrin) got by me early, Toni (Elias) was in front of me, and I saw Roger (Hayden) getting away at the front. So, I was able to get past Herrin and then Toni, and I started chipping away at Roger’s lead. I felt like I had a good pace going, and I was catching Rog. I was looking for a way around him, but he was riding really well. Coming out of the Corkscrew, I went a little wide in Rainey Corner in order to set myself up to try to make a pass on Rog in Turn 10, but I lost the front. I was able to pick up my bike again and get going, but I only managed to do so much because my handlebars were bent.

"So, now, we’ve got a break. I’m looking forward to going home and working on getting stronger. Next, we’re going to Sonoma, which is even closer to my home than Laguna, so I will have a lot of family and friends there. We haven’t raced at Sonoma in couple of years, so it’ll be great to be there again.”

Josh commented, “After a less-than-ideal weekend, I’m currently struggling to come up with a good answer as to what went wrong. I was definitely missing something this weekend, and we’ve got to go back to the drawing board. Luckily, we have five weeks to figure it out. I believe in my crew, and we’ll work hard to find an answer before Sonoma.”

Yamaha’s Factory Superbike and Factory-Supported Supersport Teams will be back in action on August 11-13 for the Championship at Sonoma Raceway in northern California.

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Beaubier Podiums In MotoAmerica Superbike Race 1 At Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca; Gerloff Sets New Track Record In Supersport Qualifying

Monterey, CA - July 9, 2017 – Racing in front of his friends and family, Monster Energy/Yamalube/Yamaha Factory Racing’s Cameron Beaubier, who hails from nearby Roseville, CA, finished on the podium in third place in MotoAmerica Superbike Race 1 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

Cameron got off to a good start in the race--as did his teammate Josh Hayes--but the two-time and defending MotoAmerica Superbike Champion was pushed wide by another rider in turn one, which shuffled him back where he had to play catch-up for most of the race. Cameron eventually caught up to Josh, who was in third place, and the two riders battled back-and-forth for a couple of laps until Cameron finally made his way around his four-time Superbike Champion teammate.

Unfortunately, not long afterwards, Josh lost traction in the front of his Yamaha YZF-R1 Superbike, and he slid, unhurt, off the track and out of the race. Cameron maintained his position in third all the way to the checkered flag for a podium finish.

After the race, Cameron said, “At the beginning, my nose got cut off in the first corner. I ran wide and had to put my head down to catch up to the leaders. My teammate is hard to pass. We had a scrap going, and it set us back. Once I got by Josh, I was able to get a little closer to Roger (Hayden) and (race winner) Toni (Elias). But, those guys were on rails today. We’re going to go put our heads together and see what we can come up with for tomorrow’s race.

“I ran a little bit wide going into Turn 5, but not by much,” commented Josh. “I was on the ground almost before I knew it. It was a weird crash, and I feel more embarrassed about it than anything else. But, we’ve got another race tomorrow. I’ll be ready to try to redeem myself and give something back to my guys after causing them extra work today.”

Superbike Race 2 is on Sunday at 3:15 PM PST.

In Saturday’s MotoAmerica Supersport final qualifying, Monster Energy/Yamalube/ Yamaha Extended Service/Graves/Yamaha’s Garrett Gerloff set a new track record aboard his Yamaha YZF-R6 and will start from the pole in tomorrow’s Supersport race. Garrett’s teammate JD Beach will start next to him on the front row of the grid after qualifying second. The Supersport Race will go green on Sunday at 11:10 AM PST.