VOL. 51 ISSUE 29 JULY 22, 2014 P75
Briefly...
Expert TV analyst and former AMA
and World Superbike Champion
Scott Russell was a trooper, making
the 10-hour drive up from Georgia,
just a little over a week after suffer-
ing a motocross crash in Southern
California. In the crash he suffered
broken ribs, a lacerated spleen, a
collapsed lung and an injured knee.
"I figured I could be hurt sitting at
home, or be hurt here and calling
the race," Russell said. "I'm just glad
I was able to get up here to be where
the action is." Russell said he hopes
to be back training on a bicycle in a
week or two.
Taylor Knapp filled in for an injured
Michael Barnes at Mid-Ohio and
raced the Veloce Racing MV Agusta
in Daytona Sportbike. Knapp got the
nod when Ryan Kerr crashed and
broke his foot practicing on the bike
during a track day. "They [the Veloce
Racing team] didn't want to go home
so I decided to jump on it at the last
minute," Knapp said. "It's an awe-
some bike. It's in very early stages
of development. It's got a stock ECU
so we're battling a lot of little issues. I
give it full throttle and it only opens to
50 or 60 percent. So we're focusing
on setting up the chassis. They really
don't have any expectations, just us-
ing it to get some data. I'm happy to
help them with some of the develop-
ment."
Tyler O'Hara is hoping to move to
another class next season. After
winning the Vance & Hines Harley-
Davidson Series race at Mid-Ohio,
keeping himself right in the battle
with Danny Eslick for the title, O'Hara
talked to the future. "Hopefully I can
progress and get off the Harley next
year and move on to something a lit-
continued on next page
insurmountable title advantage
this season due to wins at Road
America and Barber Motorsports
Park where everyone else was
merely trying to stay upright.
And Hayes is not just skilled and
experienced, he's also a certified
Mid-Ohio master, having come
into the weekend boasting 10 ca-
reer victories at the circuit, which
tied him with Mat Mladin for most
all time during the track's long ten-
ure on the AMA Pro calendar.
Then again, the Mid-Ohio's
layout seemed to favor 21-year-
old Superbike rookie Cameron
Beaubier. While armed with iden-
tical works Yamaha YZF-R1 ma-
No one got closer
than this to Cameron
Beaubier and Josh
Hayes at Mid-Ohio,
the two Yamaha men
splitting wins in the
two Superbike races
that were both held
on an action-packed
Sunday.
