fended off Cameron Petersen
(Fresh N Lean Progressive
Yamaha) and Scholtz for third
place, an encouraging 1.9
seconds off Beaubier's win
-
ning time. Petersen and Scholtz
rounded
out the top five, first to
fifth covered by 3.8 seconds.
It was a less-than-encourag-
ing sixth place for Richie Es-
calante (Vision Wheel M4 Ecstar
Suzuki),
who finished nearly
half a minute behind Beaubier,
with teammate, the former
MotoAmerica Champion Toni
Elias in his comeback ride, 38
seconds behind Beaubier in sev
-
enth. Corey Alexander (Tytlers
Cycle Racing BMW),
David
Anthony (Wrench Motorcycles
Yamaha) and Hayden Gillim
This time, however, the mar
-
shals got the fire out quickly and
the race
was not red flagged,
instead raging into a four-rider
battle between Gagne, Beaubier,
Herrin and Scholtz.
The straight-line speed ad-
vantage between the European
bikes of
Herrin and Beaubier was
evident as Herrin moved into sec-
ond on lap seven, with Gagne and
Scholtz clinging to
their coattails.
All four riders were glued to
-
gether starting on the last lap as
(Disrupt Racing Suzuki)
rounded
out the race-one top 10.
Race two will be held long
in the memory of those who
witnessed it, both from behind
the handlebars and their TV
screens.
The race was red flagged af
-
ter Jason Waters crashed at the
end of the back straight
on lap
two and saw his uber-expensive
BMW M 1000 RR burn to the
ground. At the restart, Beaubier
held the advantage into turn
one. Gagne was back in front
at the final corner on the first
lap, and a lap and a half later,
Gagne's teammate Cameron
Petersen's Yamaha also went up
in flames at turn one after blow
-
ing a motor.
ROUND 1 / APRIL 21-23, 2023
ROAD ATLANTA / BRASELTON, GEORGIA
ROAD RACE I MOTOAMERICA / FIM NORTH AMERICAN ROAD RACING CHAMPIONSHIP
P78
(Above) New kid on the block Avery
Dreher showed the Junior Cup field
what's up with a double victory.
(Right) Xavi Fores (12) made it look
easy in race two to score his second
MotoAmerica win in a row on Sunday.
