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Yamalube/Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz
MOTO AMERICA
2018
Yamalube/Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz proved his prowess in the rain yet again as he poured on the speed at the MotoAmerica Superbike opener at COTA. The South African won his second career MotoAmerica Motul Superbike race and, like the first one at the end of last season in Alabama, this one came on a soaking wet track in the Championship of Texas at Circuit of The Americas. Scholtz, who won his first-career MotoAmerica Superbike race in the final race of the 2017 season at Barber Motorsports Park, didn’t get
the best jump off the line but immediately began to carve through the field, ending the first lap in fifth place. From there he continued to lap at a quicker pace than early race leader Josh Herrin and his pursuer Cameron Beaubier, but initially it was the Herrin vs. Beaubier battle that had everyone’s attention. Herrin moved around Yoshimura Suzuki’s Toni Elias on the opening lap, despite starting from the fourth On the second lap, Beaubier moved his Monster Energy/Yamalube/ Yamaha Factory Racing R1 past Elias and set off after Herrin, taking over the lead on the ninth lap. It was short-lived, however, as the two-
time MotoAmerica Superbike champion crashed a lap later, giving way to both Attack Performance/Herrin Compound Yamaha’s Herrin and Scholtz as he remounted to eventually finish third. Two laps later, Scholtz passed Herrin and then cruised to his first win of the season and his third straight podium to start the year. Scholtz ended up beating Herrin by 12.6 seconds and Beaubier finished third, a further 51 seconds back.
“The start was terrible for me,” Scholtz said. “I found that I got shuffled back pretty far, but I just kept on passing guys. I made it past, maybe, four or five guys on the first lap, and I could see that I was catching everyone that was just up the road in front of me. And then, once I got up to third, Josh (Herrin) and Cameron (Beaubier) had a pretty decent gap and I kept on pushing hard, and I could see that my sector times were getting better. Unfortunately, Cameron crashed, and I focused on catching Josh. There were some sections on the track where he was slightly quicker than me, but in the sections where I was quicker, I was making up massive time. Fortunately, I got up to Josh, and he was protecting his lines, and he was fighting for it. I managed to pass him with about three laps left, and I just put my head down and took the victory. I’m really happy, and I’ve got to give a big shout-out to the Yamalube/Westby guys. They gave me a faultless bike today.”
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