MOTOAMERICA
FIM NORTH AMERICAN ROAD RACING CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 1 / APRIL 5-7, 2019
ROAD ATLANTA / BRASELTON, GA
P74
"I think getting the holeshot for
race two helped me because I
knew what to expect. I also think
I could kind of do the times a lit-
tle bit better by myself today than
I could yesterday. I was definitely
a little bit more calm today."
The hard-luck story of the
weekend must go to Monster
Energy Yamaha's Garrett Gerl-
off. The Texan stuck the factory
Yamaha on the Superpole with a
1:23.884, some 0.673 seconds
clear of Elias, but crashed out
of race one at turn one while in
podium contention. Race two
wasn't much better, as his front
wheel guard came loose and
forced him to stop for trackside
factory team return, and with the
Suzuki too damaged to con-
tinue, he was out. Herrin kept it
upright for fifth in race two, but
he was 17 seconds off race win-
ner Elias.
Beach carded impressive 3-4
finishes in his Superbike return.
The two-time MotoAmerica Su-
persport Champion looked every
inch the accomplished big-bike
rider, leading in race two before
fading to be only 2.3 seconds
off the win. He was only 2.7
seconds off the win in race one,
with stellar third place.
"It would have been nice to
get on the podium again, but we
were right there," said Beach.
kind of let me pass Cameron,
but then the lapped rider sort of
moved from the right-hand side
to the left and we both had to
shut off.
"The final lap I just passed
Cameron and Toni was maybe
about one to two seconds up. I
knew I was never going to catch
him, so I was riding pretty defen-
sively after that. I was very, very
happy to be up here in second
place after yesterday's fourth."
Josh Herrin was in the running
in race one, leading until the half
race distance when he slid off
at the chicane at the end of the
back straight. The Californian
resident tucked the front on his
Cameron Beaubier
won race one but
didn't have luck go his
way in race two.
