2019 MOTOAMERICA SUPERBIKE CHAMPION CAMERON BEAUBIER
P138
Interview
As it turns out, the gods were
smiling on Cameron Beaubier
and the Monster Energy Yamaha
team, in the final race meeting for
Beaubier's long-time Crew Chief
Rick Hobbs before his retire-
ment. Elias could only manage
a third in race one and a fourth
in race two, as his and Suzuki's
title hopes slipped agonizingly
Bostrom, Kurtis Roberts, Alex
and Aaron Gobert, Josh Hayes
and the late Nicky Hayden.
"It was really cool being able
to wrap the championship up for
Hobbs in his last year because
he's a legend. That was a pretty
cool deal for him, me, and the
team. He's been in the pits 25-30
years, so it's a good way to end
his career."
The 2019 season marked the
first time now WorldSBK-bound
Garrett Gerloff would show his
true potential on a 1000cc ma-
chine, but it came too late for the
Texan to become a force within
the championship standings. It
did, however, push Beaubier's
own performance to a new level.
"Garrett started coming on
pretty strong in the midseason,"
says Beaubier. "I think that was
"I AM PRETTY
PROUD THAT I
WAS ABLE TO
SETTLE FOR
A SECOND
OR THIRD, OR
A FOURTH
AT TIMES,
BECAUSE IN
THE PAST, I
WOULD END UP
CRASHING IN
THE GRAVEL
TRAP."
By New Jersey,
Beaubier could
smell blood and
took a commanding
race-two win.
away with a race-two tire that
refused to hook up and keep him
within podium striking distance.
He would lose the championship
lead he held since round one at
the final race of the year by just
five points.
"Everything kind of fell into our
hands at Barber," said Beaubier.
"I'm not really sure what hap-
pened to Toni because if you
look at his resume, he's been
really fast at Barber over the last
few years. He won both races
there last year. Every year he's
been really competitive at Barber,
so it was not like the normal Toni
I've been used to seeing."
Winning the title had extra
meaning for Beaubier as a going-
away present for Hobbs, who
has crewed for everyone from
Jamie James, Steve Crevier, Eric
