VOLUME ISSUE SEPTEMBER , P85
the finish line 1.8 seconds
ahead of Herrin, who was 4.3
seconds in front of Vision
Wheel M4 Ecstar Suzuki's Richie
Escalante in third, the Mexican
making only his second appear
-
ance in the series after suffering
serious injuries at the season
opener in Road Atlanta.
Baz finished fourth, and was
also bouncing back from a rough
start, 1.3 seconds ahead of
Beaubier's teammate JD Beach,
who rounded out the top five.
Sunday dawned with furnace-
hot conditions and race two was
one Kelly won't forget in a hurry.
The young Floridian was a man
on a mission on Sunday morn
-
ing, grabbing the holeshot and
leading all 12 laps across the
It marked Beaubier's fifth win
of the season and the 64th of
his Superbike career and shifted
him into second place in the
standings ahead of Wrench
Motorcycle's Bobby Fong.
Early on, it seemed like Her
-
rin had the race under control,
leading Sean Dylan Kelly (Easy-
HealthPlans.com/TopPro Rac-
ing BMW) and Beaubier. Beaubi-
er almost collided with Kelly but
narrowly avoided contact when
Kelly's BMW suffered a me-
chanical failure at the midpoint
of the race. This opened a gap
for Herrin, but Beaubier slowly
closed in, aided by a near-crash
from Herrin, which forced him to
ease off slightly.
In the end, Beaubier crossed
But Herrin will have to wait a
couple of weeks, because, try as
he might, he couldn't get the job
done in Texas with a determined
Cameron Beaubier (Tytlers
Cycle BMW) forcing the issue
and making the Ducati mob wait
a few weeks until New Jersey to
seal the deal.
Beaubier, as he so often has
been at COTA, was formally the
man, slamming home a pole po
-
sition time a gigantic 0.817 of a
second clear of Herrin in second
place with the second factory
Ducati of Loris Baz 0.922 of a
second back in third.
Beaubier showed he was all
business in race one, hunting
down fast-starter Herrin on lap
10 of the 12-lap encounter.
Sean Dylan Kelly
(40) drags Cameron
Beaubier (6) to the
line to take his first-
ever MotoAmerica
Superbike race win.