Cycle News

SUPERBIKE SHOOTOUT SERIES VOL. 51 ISSUE 21 MAY 28, 2014 P105 BMW to fourth. Two-time Utah Sportbike As- sociation (USBA) champ Oleg Pianykh finished sixth and Butler Maps owner Michael Bradshaw finished seventh. In eighth was 17-year-old pri- vateer Daytona Anderson on a Suzuki, followed by Johnny Rock Page. Privateer Matthew Orange finished in 10th on a BMW. #Winning What's the numerical representa- tion of domination? Well around a 13.5-second gap on second place across the finish line is a pretty fair estimate. And that's how Gerloff rolled to take his sec- ond Pro Sportbike win and clinch his first title at the professional level. "I wanted to put my head down and see if I could build a little bit of a gap just to give me a cushion because I wanted that champion- ship and I didn't want to have to be fighting it out the last couple of laps," Gerloff said. "I was able to pull it off and run a smooth consistent race, which is what I didn't do at Sonoma. So I was happy about that. I've just had a blast these three rounds and can't wait to carry the momentum throughout the season." In the qualifying press con- ference both Gerloff and Fong downplayed the importance of the championship. "It means a lot now that I've won it," said Gerloff. "It's cool to say that I'm a National Cham- pion, but I didn't want to put that much pressure on me before the race. I wanted to win it for the team because they've worked so hard. And the last couple of years they've stuck by my side while I didn't really do much. Hopefully, that was a good little present." While it was Gerloff's race, his teammate JD Beach had him on the start. And after Gerloff passed him and stretched out a gap, Beach accumulated a pretty healthy lead of his own on third place. "The starts have always kind of been my strong point," Beach said. "I guess kind of from my dirt track background… The race in dirt track is either won or lost on the start most of the time. "I knew Garrett [Gerloff] was going to be going fast. And Bob- by [Fong] and Benny [Solis]. I just wanted to get as far out as I could and try not to get shuffled back. Garrett came by me, so I just tried to put my head down and follow him. We kind of seemed like we got a bit of a gap and I felt really good on the Yamaha and was just doing really good laps." For Beach it was a turning point with the new team. Not just getting on the podium, but look- ing like his normal self and back to being in the hunt. "Yeah, to be on the box again just feels really good," Beach said. "I kind of felt going in that I should've done it at the first race. I've been missing the mark. The Monster Graves team has been working so hard to stay behind me and get the bike to where I felt good on it. I really just got to thank them. Even though I haven't been getting the results that I've wanted, they just kept working harder and harder and got the bike working great." In third was Fong who didn't get a great start and lost touch with the Yamaha duo after he and H35's Benny Solis made contact on lap two. Fong went wide, but Solis hit the ground and had to retire. "The second or third lap Benny Solis… literally I don't know what the hell he was thinking," Fong Benny Solis ended up on the ground after he and Bobby Fong made contact early in the Pro Sportbike race.

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