2019 MOTOAMERICA SUPERBIKE CHAMPION CAMERON BEAUBIER
P136
Interview
(Above) Sitting
on the grid at
home at Sonoma
for race one.
It's about to
get a whole lot
worse. (Top right)
Beaubier got
going early, taking
the first race win
of the year at
Road Atlanta.
"EVERY YEAR, HE'S BEEN REALLY
COMPETITIVE AT BARBER, SO IT WAS
NOT LIKE THE NORMAL TONI I'VE
BEEN USED TO SEEING."
guna Seca, he was 39 points adrift. What
followed was unthinkable—crashing out in
race one at his home round of Sonoma,
which gave Elias a massive 59-point ad-
vantage heading into Sunday's race two.
"That was the big part of the season,
for me, where I was just like, 'man, it's
not looking too promising,'" Beaubier
admits. "To be able to come back after
that was going to be tough, especially for
how strong Toni was at the beginning and
middle of the season. Then Toni went and
crashed in race two and gave us those
points back after I won. That put us a little
bit back in it, at least in sniffing distance."
Even so, Beaubier didn't just go out
and demolish the opposition for the remain-
der of the year. A pair of second places at
Pittsburgh, the latter of which was behind
Elias, still had him on the back foot. But
a resurgent performance at New Jersey
Motorsports Park with a second and first,
while Elias could only card a pair of fourths
put him within 16 points of the title heading
into the final round of the championship at
Barber Motorsports Park in October.
With the tension ratcheted to 11, Beau-
bier went out and laid the smackdown on
the opposition. Pole position, fastest lap
and two race wins, both of which after a
come-from-behind charge, put him in the
best possible place with regards to the
