AMERICAN ROAD RACING CHAMPIONSHIP
VOL. 52 ISSUE 16 APRIL 21, 2015 P103
Briefly...
KTM Superbike racer Chris Fillmore
missed Road Atlanta. It was deter-
mined before the season the team
would not contest the entire series.
"It's crushing me to be sitting at home
right now, instead of at Road Atlanta
with the rest of my MotoAmerica com-
petitors," Fillmore said on Twitter. "It
was a decision made by KTM to skip
three of the nine rounds. We'll be
back in June at Road America in full
swing and ready to kick off the KTM
RC Cup and welcome the next gener-
ation of road racers. I wish everyone a
safe and action pack weekend!"
Supersport contender Bobby Fong
did not race at Road Atlanta. Fong
injured his shoulder in his crash at
COTA the week before while battling
for the lead. The Latus Motors Racing
rider attempted to ride in practice. "I
was trying to ride and do everything; I
can not to use my left shoulder," Fong
explained. "I just have no strength in
it. So I was really gripping with my
knees a lot and using a lot of my legs.
There's a lot of downhill braking and
I was just gripping the gas tank with
my legs as hard as I could, basically
to use my legs and my core instead of
my upper body. I did what I could, but
when the track started drying out the
braking got a little harder and I was
going a little deeper and it was just
too much for me. When the bike got a
little out of control I was just along for
the ride." Canadian CSBK Pro Sport
champ Kenny Reidmann was brought
in to race Fong's machine. Reidmann
finished 11th and 13th. Fong is expect-
ed to return to racing at the next Mo-
toAmerica round at VIR next month.
Bernat Martinez scored his first
AMA Superbike podium in race two
at Road Atlanta, after finishing fourth
BY LARRY LAWRENCE
PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRIAN J. NELSON
A
merican Superbike
fans have been waiting
for Cameron Beaubier
to assume the crest of AMA
Superbike victor. Unfortunately
for young Beaubier he's facing
a grizzled veteran in the form of
his own Monster Energy Graves
Yamaha teammate Josh Hayes,
who in spite of being 40 years
old, seems in no mood to let
loose the crown. Should Beau-
bier however, go on to win this
year's title (by no means a sure
thing even with a substantial
30-point lead) pundits may well
look back on his sweep of Road
Atlanta this past weekend, in
often horrid conditions, as the
exact moment he gained the
confidence he needed to begin
thinking of himself as the best
road racer in America.
Beaubier made a sweep
of both legs of Road Atlanta's
Superbike races, winning over
Hayes in race one by 4.699 sec-
onds and then over Yoshimura
Suzuki's Jake Lewis by 3.789
seconds in race two.
It was a tough outing for
Superbike veterans Hayes and
Roger Hayden. Defending
champ Hayes crashed on the
first lap of race two and then on
lap four it was Hayden down on
his Yoshimura Suzuki after he
had built a big lead. Hayden had
crashed after leading race one
as well and he later described
this weekend as "one of the low-
est moments of his career."
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