VOLUME ISSUE JULY , P67
brink by two-time Grand Na-
tional Champion Briar Bauman,
particularly in Peoria, where Bau-
man had finished second to him
three years running and beaten
him straight up in 2019.
How much rust Beach would
need to shake off after spending
the entire 2024 season focused
on his MotoAmerica Superbike
endeavors and still be able to
hope to get the better of his rival
was an open question.
That question was answered
decisively about three minutes
into Sunday's main event: far
more than he could hope to
shed in a single day.
"Briar just rode a great race,"
Beach said. "I'm going to use the
excuse until the day I die that he
only beat me because I haven't
been racing on these things all
year, but he rode a great race.
He broke that gap, and really,
there was nothing I could do
with it. From that point on, I just
wanted to get back here up on
the box and give the team a
podium for letting me ride this
bike. It was a hard race; this
track was difficult today. But I
just got to thank the team for
letting me do this race. I really
enjoyed it, and we'll see where
we go from here."
Nine-time Grand National
Champion Jared Mees, whose
chances to secure an unprec
-
U L L S A W AY
VICTORY
