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“Monster Energy/ Yamaha Extended Service/Graves/ Yamaha’s JD Beach emerged from the opening round with a positive all-around performance to kick off the 2018 MotoAmerica Supersport Championship.”
Yoshimura Suzuki’s Toni Elias’ losing streak at Circuit of The Americas certainly didn’t last long as the defending MotoAmerica Motul Superbike Champion turned in a flawless performance to win the second of two Superbike races in the Championship of Texas. Elias, who was fourth in yesterday’s wet conditions, led from the start, was never headed and never put a wheel wrong en route to his fifth win at COTA and his third win of the young 2018 MotoAmerica season. By the end of the 15-lap race, Elias was 10.068 seconds clear of Monster Energy/Yamalube/Yamaha
Factory Racing’s Cameron Beaubier, the two- time series champion putting his YZF-R1 on the podium for the second straight day.
“Yesterday, I expected a little bit more, especially because the bike was the same as last week where we could fight with Cameron, but yesterday, something was, I didn’t feel comfortable... not good grip,” Elias said. “So, our main goal was to gain points. Today, the main goal was win. This is a good track for me, and for our bike, so we try to make some difference today. But, we know it will be tough. Like Cameron (Beaubier) said, VIR is coming, Road America... it will be good for the MotoAmerica fans. Big fight and we will try to give maximum effort possible.”
Although he was beaten by Elias, Beaubier was upbeat in knowing that he’d had two up- and-down weekends to start his championship but still leaves Texas with a third and second-place finish. After all, the 2015-2016 MotoAmerica Superbike Champion crashed out of second place in the rain on Saturday but was able to remount to salvage third on Sunday. In addition, Garrett Gerloff’s luck and fortune split between both days of racing. The Texan struggled to a seventh place finish on the first day of racing and was able to track down the second podium finish of his Superbike career on Sunday, earning an impressive third place result.
The championship fight is as close as it’s ever been between Cameron Beaubier and Toni Elias heading into the third round of action at VIR, introducing the riders to a section of the schedule that heavily favors the Yamaha’s positive characteristics. VIR and Road America play into the strengths of the R1, allowing it’s corner speed and flowing nature to be properly taken advantage of. The title fight is heating up and only two rounds of racing have taken place so far, making the remainder of the season one to keep an eye on as the two-time champion aims to win his crown back from the Spanish invasion.
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