AMERICAN ROAD RACING CHAMPIONSHIP
VOL. 52 ISSUE 20 MAY 19, 2015 P109
down his bike earlier in the week
at near triple-digit speed.
KNAPP SCORES
FIRST VICTORY
Veteran Michigan road racer
Taylor Knapp had a weekend at
VIR he won't soon forget. After
over a decade on the profes-
sional circuit, Knapp finally
broke through to score his first
national win, taking Superstock
Briefly...
the two-minute board and thought I
would have another lap," Beaubier
said. "But when I came around the
checkered was already out."
Josh Hayes VIR Superbike pole
time of 1:24.868 was impressive,
but still did not come close to match-
ing the VIR motorcycle track record
of 1:23.403 set by Yoshimura Suzu-
ki's Ben Spies in 2008.
Garrett Gerloff is slated to have sur-
gery on his badly broken left pinky
on Tuesday. He said he's hopeful
that will give him enough time to
come back in decent shape for Road
America in two weeks.
After a successful outing at Road At-
lanta Josh Day and the Yamalube/
Westby team came into VIR riding a
wave of optimism and good fortune.
Unfortunately, on lap 11 of the Super-
bike/Superstock 1000 race, he and
Jake Gagne both had separate tip
overs, and the race was red-flagged
as a result. After waiting for the num-
ber 00 Yamaha YZF-R1 to be re-
turned to the pits on the crash truck,
the Yamalube/Westby Racing crew
went to work getting the bike ready
for the restart. Unfortunately, they
ran out of time and Josh was unable
to make the grid. Things went better
for Day in race two. He finished sec-
ond in the race to end the weekend
at VIR on an upswing. "I'm really hap-
py with where we ended up in race
two," Day said. "But we need to keep
working on closing the gap. And, I
have no doubt we'll get there. The
new R1 is, by far, the best 1000cc
bike I've ever ridden, and we're still
learning more and more every time
I ride it. My mission in race two was
continued on next page
Fans were treated
to a masterclass of
Superbike racing
from Hayes (1).