CHAMPIONSHIP
VOL. 53 ISSUE 36 SEPTEMBER 13, 2016 P59
have to accept this."
He righted the wrong in race
two, however, after a stel-
lar wheel-to-wheel battle with
his Suzuki teammate Hayden.
Hayden pulled a gutsy pass on
the ultra-fast final corner on the
last lap but didn't have the speed
to hold it to the line, and as
we've seen many times this year,
the tiny Spaniard's body weight
and superior exit speed meant
Elias finished off the season the
way he started it, with a vic-
tory—his sixth in an incredibly
impressive rookie MotoAmerica
season.
"Roger, he put two balls on
the table in this race," said Elias
to the waiting crowd, the warmer
tage of a mistake. I thought I
could get him onto the straight
but just didn't have the speed to
get him by the line. But it didn't
matter. Rog put the wheels in
the right places each time."
Elias's run to third was a sign
of things to come, as the diminu-
tive former Moto2 World Cham-
pion sealed another podium
spot, albeit just out of the grasp
of victory.
"It was a tough start, and
the top guys had an incredible
pace," said Elias. "I was waiting
for my opportunity every lap, but
they (Hayden and Hayes) kept
opening more of a gap. I arrived
behind on the last lap but the
top two were just too fast, so we
I had the speed, and I saw 0.8
on the board, but then I saw 0.0
and I thought 'Not again!' I had
to block but not over-block and
not kill my speed, but to beat a
guy like Josh, who has beaten
me so many times before, felt
really great."
Hayes threw everything at
Hayden but came up short by
0.07 seconds, with Elias 0.7
seconds back in third and Beau-
bier fading in fourth.
"I was pretty mad at myself for
letting Rog get away early," said
Hayes. "I managed to claw him
back but I didn't have a lot of
resources left by the time I did. It
was a matter of putting myself in
the right position to take advan-
Josh Hayes and Toni Elias
almost rode passenger for
each other, they were that
close on occasion in race one.
