VOLUME 57 ISSUE 50 DECEMBER 15, 2020 P69
You can stay in MotoAmerica and be
with a great team and probably win
another title or be the man to beat,
or you can go overseas. You've got
to show up there thinking somebody
owes you something. You don't want
to act like that, but you want to feel
that because you've got to go over
there thinking, 'These f-ing Europeans
aren't good enough.' They're not."
They certainly weren't in Mo-
toAmerica this year. For much of
the 2020 season, the MotoAmerica
Superbike Championship looked like
a Cameron Beaubier benefit function,
as the Californian romped to win after
win after win. A perfect season was
off the cards early after crashing out
of a commanding early lead in race
two, round two at Road America, but
from then Beaubier put a sledgeham-
mer to the chasing pack.
By mid-season he was already
champion-elect, and he wrapped
up the crown with a subdued (by his
standards) scorecard of DNF-3-2,
ironically, his worst round of the sea-
son. He righted the wrong at the final
round in front of his adoring Monster
Energy/Attack Performance Yamaha
team at Laguna Seca, taking another
dominant three wins from three starts.
Introducing your 2020 Cycle News
Rider of the Year, Cameron Beaubier.
Certainly, a young man with places to
go and people to see and motorcycles
(Right) Stamboli's fastidious approach to
team management and machine building
meant it was easier for Beaubier to just
focus on the job of crushing the field,
week in, week out. (Below right) By round
five at The Ridge in the Pacific Northwest,
Beaubier may as well have been in a
different race, such was his dominance.
