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CHAMPIONSHIP VOL. 52 ISSUE 29 JULY 21, 2015 P115 "For me, I've always been pretty good at the starts," he said. "So that's just what I've been trying to do, just get really good starts and go as fast as I can [from the get-go]. It's been working for me. "My team's been working so hard and we've got a great bike right now. I'm feeling really good this season. I've been putting in a lot of work over the years and finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It feels great. We still got a lot of racing to go but I'm still just going to go at it with the same plan and ride as fast and as hard as I can." Wheels In Motion/Motorsport. com/Meen Yamaha's Josh Her- rin was the best of the rest and while he was unhappy that he was unable to battle with Beach for the win, he was happy to col- lect some valuable points. "I'm grateful to be on the podium, but I really would have been a lot happier to be battling with JD [Beach] for the win, obvi- ously," Herrin said. "But we got some valuable points and we're heading to a track that I know really well and I'm really excited about that." Latus Motors Racing's Bobby Fong was right on Herrin's tail for most of the race. The Northern California native acknowledged that for him and Herrin to make at run at the unstoppable Beach, they need to get up to speed quicker. "We just need to learn to do the lap times sooner," Fong said. "JD Beach puts in these lap times in the beginning of the race, which it takes our group four or five laps to get going. JD from the first lap he's like 110 per- cent. We need to be more like that. He creates a gap and then ROBERTS CROWNED Like JD Beach, Joe Rob- erts was unbeatable in the MotoAmerica Superstock 600 class. The Wheels In Motion/ Motorsport.com/Meen Yamaha rider earned his sixth-straight win (ninth of the season) to seal the deal on his first national championship at Laguna Seca. After a rough last season where he struggled in the Daytona Sportbike class (AMA Pro Road Racing's equivalent to Supersport), wrapping up the title with one round to spare was extra sweet for Roberts. "It feels really good," Roberts said. "Last year when you go from not doing well and you start questioning yourself as a rider and your confidence really goes down, it's really something special to come back and start winning again. It really brings the confidence up. "In the qualifying session today I turned to my team and I just said, I'm having so much fun riding right now. That's kind of the key to going fast for me is I always have to have fun. That's what I'm always thinking and I'm hav- ing a great time." His championship rival, Yamaha rider Richie Escalan- te, led early but crashed in the last corner on lap four, which meant that Roberts was a shoe-in for the champi- onship. Escalante rejoined the race, but ultimately retired a few laps later. With Escalante out of the picture, the battle for first was between Roberts and Tuned Racing's Bryce Prince. Prince kept his fellow Californian honest and took the lead on lap 10, but Roberts took it back and went on to take the checkered flag by .219 of a second over Prince. Back in a distant third was HB Racing Yamaha's Michael Gilbert, making it a Californian sweep of the podium. Prince's teammate Jason Aguilar was fourth ahead of Wyman Racing's Travis Wyman and Mach 1 Motorsports' Wyatt Farris. KTM RC 390 Cup points-leader Gage McAl- lister finished seventh on his NCR Yamaha. McAllister was also three points away from clinching the KTM Cup title later that day. Icon/Motorsport.com's Andy DiBrino was eighth. And rounding out he top 10 was Ryan Matter on a priva- teer Yamaha and Cody Wyman on the Wyman Racing Yamaha. French Superstock 600 rider Jayson Uribe returned home to race this weekend, but unfortunately the home- coming didn't go as planned and he crashed out of the race, adding his name to a long list of many fallers. Joe Roberts crowned champ a race weekend early after Richie Escalante crashed out of first.

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