CHAMPIONSHIP
BY LARRY LAWRENCE
PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRIAN J. NELSON
T
he confidence of flat tracker
turned road racer JD Beach
seems to be growing expo-
nentially of late. Beach warded off
relentless pressure by both Josh
Herrin and Bobby Fong to win both
MotoAmerica Supersport races at
Barber Motorsports Park on his
Yamalube/Y.E.S./Graves Motors-
ports Yamaha R6.
The double win marks his third
consecutive win and fourth in the
last five Supersport races. Beach's
streak of strong performances has
pushed him into the lead now by 10
points over main rival Herrin (190-180)
on the Wheels in Motion/Motosport.
com/Meen Yamaha. His margins of
victory over Herrin in Saturday and
Sunday's races were .268 and .504
of a second, respectively.
Pre-season favorite Garrett Gerloff
raced bravely in spite of doing so
with a broken finger. He could run
with the leaders in the early going,
but dropped off the pace later in both
races and earned a pair of fourth-
place finishes. Gerloff was only 1.2
seconds back in Saturday's race, but
was over seven seconds adrift on
Sunday. Gerloff now sits in third, 40
points back in the standings.
Barber looked to be a real break-
through for Beach. Not only did he
win both races, but he twice held
off one of the boldest passers in the
business—Herrin—and did it at per-
haps Herrin's favorite circuit. He also
did so on a racing surface that was
blazingly hot and greasy, where he
only managed to qualify fourth. After
VOL. 52 ISSUE 24 JUNE 16, 2015 P161
B E A C H
OWNED
BARBER
JD BEACH SWEPT
BOTH SUPERSPORT
RACES IN
ALABAMA
