Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/665065
ROAD RACE ROUND 1 / CIRCUIT OF THE AMERICAS AUSTIN, TEXAS / APRIL 10, 2016 P72 M O T O A M E R I C A A M A / F I M N O R T H A M E R I C A N R O A D R A C I N G C H A M P I O N S H I P 24 TONI ELIAS 1-1 SUPERBIKE "I am happy, very satisfied. I never had a great feeling on the bike, but I tried to go away at the front, but Roger, all the time, was there. My rhythm was good, and the tires were sliding a lot, all the time. I did one mistake and Roger was past me, but finally I could do what I wanted and take some gap but only in the last three laps. I am very happy. Happy about this bike, the situation. Three weeks ago I was at home and now this is amazing. For me, this win is very important because it's the first time in three years I have really enjoyed racing a motorcycle." 95 ROGER HAYDEN 2-2 SUPERBIKE "Today was a really good race," Hayden said after race two. "As soon as I got the holeshot my lap time was a low 10 and that's what I've been working hard on, to try and get away. Toni came by me and the whole race was 9s, low 10s. His pace was incredible and the last couple of laps I was just sliding around a lot and he kinda got a little gap on me. I'm really happy for the team and they're working really hard to sweep the weekend with qualifying first and second, first and second in both races... they deserve that. We've been getting our butts kicked pretty bad the last couple of years by Josh and Cam and it kind of feels good as a team to finally give them a little piece of the bad taste that we've been get- ting. We want to win just like those guys want to win, so it feels good, but I don't like getting second either and I want to win one of these. I'm doing all the right things and eventually it's going to happen." 1 CAMERON BEAUBIER DNF-4 SUPERBIKE "It was pretty crappy. I haven't had a weekend like that in a long time. It's frustrating, really. [It was] one thing after another. Yester- day I felt I had a great pace and I could just go, and today I didn't have that feeling at all. I felt tight on the bike, then I had a front brake issue. I think I got a little air bubble in the line or something. I just went straight. The brake came back to the bar, and I went straight. But then I pumped them back up and they were perfect the rest of the race, completely fine. I haven't had a problem like that before. Super strange. I know how hard my guys work on the bikes and how much time they put in, and to have little things go wrong like that, it's unlucky, really unlucky." 32 JAKE GAGNE 4-9 SUPERBIKE "It was the worst weekend I'd had in a while. We struggled big time with the bike. We are just roasting the soft tire. I was getting chatter everywhere, and once we roasted the tire, after like, four laps, it was re- ally crap. I like Road Atlanta a lot and I think that will suit us a bit better, plus we'll have a lot more practice time during the week, so hopefully this coming weekend is better for us than this one." 4 JOSH HAYES 3-3 SUPERBIKE "I hate losing, but I simply didn't have the speed. I'm on the podium twice, so that's a positive. I took a pretty good beating by an outdated machine today! The boys were just plain faster than me. I rode the best I could but I was given a better bike than last year and I was not able to do with it what I should have. [I need to] just go back to the drawing board. I'm plenty motivated and I'm looking forward to getting another shot at these boys." 50 BOBBY FONG 1-1 SUPERSTOCK 1000 "[I was] pushing 110 percent and I know by the end of the race I couldn't do those times," Fong said. "We tried and I knew that I had a gap on the Superstock guys and I kept on seeing plus one, plus two on my board and then I heard an R1 behind me. I thought it was Josh Day or (Josh) Herrin trying to get by me and it was Cameron (Beaubier). I wasn't too worried after that. I was pretty thankful it was Cameron and not one of the Superstock guys." 31 GARRETT GERLOFF 1ST SUPERSPORT Garrett Gerloff followed up his pole- earning performance on Friday to win the opening round of the 2016 MotoAmerica Supersport Series, the Texan taking victory at his home race by 1.004 seconds over his teammate JD Beach, the defending series champion. The Y.E.S. Graves pairing were locked together for the entire race, but Beach could never find a way around his teammate. "I've been putting a lot of work in during the off-season and I don't want to be working my butt off for nothing, so I definitely wanted to win," Gerloff said. "It definitely made it special that it was at my home track and I have the Texas flag on the back of my helmet cause this is where I'm from and grew up. It's definitely really special."