Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/275014
2014 AMA SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP VOL. 51 ISSUE 10 MARCH 11, 2014 P61 Suzuki riders will, if nothing else, be supremely motivated. "You know Martin has a sea- son with the team under him now, so he's going in with more knowledge," Hayes said. "And then Rog is on a new team and he really wants to prove he can win. I've run into him a few times in the off-season and he's looks like he's been training really hard too. So I expect them to step up their game as well." If you look at the Superbike riders entered in 2014 it looks like it may be a four-rider show- down between Hates, Beaubier, Cardenas and Hayden. Hayes generally agrees with that as- sessment, but also mentioned factory KTM rider Chris Fillmore. "At some of the tracks I think Fillmore might be up there with us," Hayes said. "He's shown he can ride that bike really well at times. I think Larry [Pegram] could sneak in there now and again, but he may have a tougher time on that EBR than he did on the Yamaha. So, yeah, for the most part it probably will be a four-rider show." Chris Clark is another factory rider who doesn't get much men- tion, simply because his results haven't warranted it. Last year started off promising for Clark with a pair of strong finishes at Daytona, but from then on out he had a tough time cracking the top 10. It will be interesting to see if Clark is able to improve this sea- son on the third Yoshimura Su- zuki machine. There will be riders on the sec- ond-tier, non-factory teams who will largely be battling amongst themselves to be the first non- factory finisher. Those will be riders like David Anthony on the ADR Motorsports Suzuki. Antho- his potential and wouldn't be the rider to bring them a Superbike Champion- ship. So after only a few one-off Mo- toGP wild rides last year with Attack Performance and a wild-card ride with Suzuki in World Superbike at Laguna Seca, Young is back in AMA full time riding for upstart GN Gonzales Racing Yamaha. Like Eslick, he's hoping to revive his reputation. At 38 years old we may be look- ing at the last hurrah in the impressive career of Jake Zemke. Zemke, the last rider to win an AMA Superbike on a Honda, back in 2006, is on one of the strongest teams in the DSB paddock with the GEICO Motorcycle Road Rac- ing Honda. If we're to see any more Zemke wins this will likely be the year. Steve Rapp and Jason DiSalvo are back this year, both on Castrol Triumphs. Even though both have already started taking steps to set themselves up with careers for life after racing, both are fast enough to still be contenders for race wins. That covers the veteran riders. There are also a slew of riders who are solidly in their prime and ready, here and now, to battle for the championship. In addition to the aforementioned Gagne, you have riders like Dane Westby (Yamalube Westby Racing), JD Beach (Yamaha Extended Service factory team), last year's Supersport champ Tomas Puerta (RoadRace Factory/Red Bull Yamaha), former Daytona 200 winner Joey Pascarella (BP RacingYamaha), Kyle Wyman (Kyle Wyman Racing Yamaha) and Bobby Fong (Latus Mo- tors/Castrol/Triumph Racing). Expect all of those riders to be regulars on the podium and possibly be title contenders. And finally you have a few of the young guns to add to the mix, such as Roberts, Benny Solis, Garrett Gerloff (who was third in the championship last year), Jake Lewis and Tucker Lan- caster. Any one of them could emerge as the next Beaubier in 2014. The Daytona SportBike class will feature a good mix of old and new. Garrett Gerloff (8) is hoping to take advantage of his former teammate Beaubier's (6) move to the Superbike class. Ditto for JD Beach (95).