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years ago both of them were competing in the MotoGP paddock; Elias in the top class for the San Carlo Honda Gresini team while Beaubier was competing in the 125cc division on the Red Bull KTM team. Elias finished seventh in the cham- pionship that year, scoring one of the few MotoGP podiums of his career while Beaubier struggled to finish in the points. Nonetheless, the two of them went their separate ways as Elias continued to race on the world stage and Beaubier re- turned to America. In the years that followed, they both won championships but it
wasn’t until 2015 that they would actually compete against one another for the first time. Elias showed up at Circuit of the Americas for the season opener, amidst the MotoGP paddock, and it was
clear that he felt right at home. He received an invitation to fill in for the Factory Yoshimura Suzuki team after Jake Lewis experienced an off-season injury and he accepted with open arms. The Catalan native was familiar with
the circuit after racing it previously in Moto2 and he went undefeated throughout the weekend, following it up the very next round at Road Atlanta. Elias’ earned a well-deserved contract with the team and has been a staple in the MotoAmerica paddock ever since, but he spent the first two seasons losing out to Factory Yamaha’s Cameron Beaubier. In 2017, Elias finally pushed through and won the championship with both speed and consistency, tak- ing a total of ten race victories on his way to the Motul Superbike Championship.
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32 THE PULSE • ISSUE FOUR
MOTO AMERICA
2018