CHAMPIONSHIP
VOL. 52 ISSUE 20 MAY 19, 2015 P117
too much room on the inside," Beach said.
It was a gritty performance by Gerloff, with
the Texan racing with a badly broken pinkie
finger on his left hand. The injury was a result
of a crash on Friday, but Gerloff wrapped it
up and stuffed it in his glove and went racing,
besting M4 Suzuki/SportTrackGear.com's Da-
vid Anthony by just .200 of a second to finish
third. Latus Motors Racing Triumph's Bobby
ROBERTS, ESCALANTE
SPLIT SUPERSTOCK
600 WINS
The question of whether
or not Joe Roberts could
pull off a perfect season
in Bazzaz Superstock 600
was answered at Virginia
International Raceway. Rob-
erts won the first race after
staving off a challenge by
Mexican road racing champ
Richie Escalante. Roberts
then made an error while
leading race two, the back
end of his Wheels in Mo-
tion/Motosport.com/Meen
Yamaha R6 stepped out
under acceleration and he
got into a quick and violent
tank-slapper before spitting
him off. A few turns later Es-
calante was also very nearly
pitched from his Escalante
Racing Yamaha in a similar
action, but he managed to
hold on to take his first-ever
victory.
It is believed that Es-
calante's win is the first ever
by a Mexican rider in AMA
professional road racing
competition.
With his maiden victory,
Escalante moves to the top
of the Bazzaz Superstock
600 Championship over
Saturday's race winner Joe
Roberts, 78-75. Roberts,
who had been perfect this
season going into Sunday's
second race with three
victories, crashed out of
his early race battle with
Escalante.
Travis Wyman scored
a pair of podiums (3-2) on
his Kyle Wyman Racing
Yamaha. That performance
kept him in the champion-
ship hunt as well in third with
72 points.
"Joe [Roberts] was slid-
ing the tires and crashed,"
Escalante said in his ever-
improving English. "I just
wanted to slow down and
finish the race. I am so hap-
py and I continue this way
to the next races. I thank my
team and my family for sup-
porting me and congratula-
tions to these guys."
Richie Escalante (left)
broke Joe Roberts
Superstock 600 win
streak to earn his first
AMA national win.
