Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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AMA SUPERBIKE AMA PRO SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL ROUND/SEPTEMBER 13-14, 2014 NEW JERSEY MOTORSPORTS PARK/MILLVILLE, NEW JERSEY P40 BEAUBIER'S STOCK Yamaha factory rider Cameron Beaubier looked shell-shocked after his miserable weekend at the 2014 season finale at New Jersey Motors- ports Park. He is a rookie Superbike rider and he looked every bit the part of one this weekend. Crashes in both races left him with a score of a fifth and a DNF, dropping him from championship contender to third in the final standings. It didn't end the way Beaubier had pictured it. At the end of last year, after a season of simply dominating Daytona SportBike like no other, Beaubier was touted as American road racing's great hope – the only rider on the radar perhaps of MotoGP team bosses. And for a brief period early this season he only added to his stock, winning poles and races and causing his veteran teammate Josh Hayes to scratch his head in trying to figure out a way to deal with the kid's speed. But then Beaubier started having issues with front-end feel. After a few crashes he seemed to lose confi- dence and results became sporadic and beating Hayes, something he'd made look so easy early in the sea- son, suddenly became a monumen- tal task. After his rookie Superbike season his stock has unquestionably taken a hit. Most experts feel it will be how he responds to that hit next season that will tell the tale. Looking back on his season Beau- bier points to one particular weekend as the start of trouble. "Barber was really greasy and hot, I struggled big time there," Beaubier explained. "I crashed three times over the weekend. It was a mess of a weekend for me. I realized there that I had to change up my riding style a little bit. So I started doing that and learning how to ride the R1. It's not as forgiving as the R6. The chassis is a lot stiffer, which is good, you can go faster like that, it's just not as forgiv- ing. I've been working on that and I'm racing against a guy who has four Superbike Championships and has been on the bike the past five years, so I've definitely got my work cut out for me. At the same time it's really good for me to have a guy like that on my team who I can kind of judge myself against. "I think I had some good races this year and I'm proud of that. I really like the guys I'm working with and I think next year will be good, I just need to learn and take the positives from this year." Perhaps no one is higher on Beaubier's future than the rider who humbled him this year, his teammate Josh Hayes. Hayes (4) and Roger Lee Hayden (95) had a great battle in the rain on Saturday with Hayden taking his first win of the season when Hayes was penalized for passing under a waving yellow flag.