Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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IN THE WIND P34 BEAUBIER FIRES FIRST IN MOTOAMERICA TEST T hree-time and defending MotoAmerica Super- bike Champion Cameron Beaubier fired the first shot of the 2019 season when he emerged fastest in the two-day test held at Thunderhill Raceway in Northern California, January 30-31. Beaubier emerged with a quickest lap of 1:45.2, besting Yoshimura Suzuki's Toni Elias and Beaubier's Monster Energy Yamaha teammate Garrett Gerloff. "It was just good to ride, really," Beaubier said. "The Buttonwillow test (a few weeks earlier) was a good shakedown on trying to get comfortable riding again and then Thunderhill was kind of the same thing, especially the first day. I didn't really feel very good on Wednesday, honestly. I was a bit frustrated with how I was riding, but I woke up on Thursday and got comfortable pretty quickly and felt good the rest of the day. It was good to ride." Beaubier and Gerloff didn't have much to test, which Beaubier found refreshing. "In reality, it was nice to not really have to test too many things. We messed with (swingarm) pivot adjustment and stuff like that a little bit, but it was nice to just go ride. When there's a lot to test, you're always coming in and out, in and out. At this test, I was actually able to do a couple of long race stints— one on Wednesday and another on Thursday. We got some riding fitness going and it felt good." Without any official MotoAmerica timing and scoring at the test, lap times were recorded by the teams. With Beaubier leading the way at a 1:45.2, second quickest went to Elias with the Spaniard lapping at 1:45.5. Then came Gerloff with his 1:45.7 followed by Elias' new teammate Herrin, the Geor- gian lapping at 1:45.9 and superbike newcomer JD Beach, whose best lap was a 1:46.5. Elias was somewhat downbeat in explaining his test and he offers the sense that he just wants to go racing already. "The motivation we have at the winter tests is not the same as what we have when we go racing," he said. "It's a personal thing. It's not about the team; it's not about the bike. Three days before the start of the first practice of the first race, a big motivation comes to me and I want to race so bad. Right now, I don't feel that energy and that energy helps. But I'm very happy working and we don't know exactly what the others use, what tires they use, what exactly are the reasons. We know the lap time, but it's just winter and we work towards making things more clear." CN Cameron Beaubier headed the times at Thunderhill MotoAmerica testing, admitting it was a good feeling to just get out there and ride a bike again.