INTERVIEW
MOTOAMERICA CEO WAYNE RAINEY
P88
Two-time MotoAmerica Series
Champion Cameron Beaubier
had a go in World Superbike this
year as a fill-in for Sylvain Guin-
toli, taking DNF-10 finishes for
Pata Yamaha, and even though
he declined more races, Rainey
believes he has the ability to
make it in Europe, if he chooses.
"He's obviously a young guy,
got a lot of charisma," Rainey
says. "He's a good spokesper-
son for our sport, but saying
that, he got a chance to go over
and race in world superbike
on tires he'd never been on, a
bike he'd never raced and in a
new championship. Then in the
race he was in the top five or
six and he tipped over, but then
he got a top 10 in the second
race. He was the guy that got
the result for the team. I think
he had a chance to go do other
ones [WorldSBK races], but
he thought about his American
championship and he wanted to
come and win this year. So he's
had a chance to go over there.
I think he could be there if he
wanted.
"I think this championship is
getting the recognition it needs,
it's starting to come quickly, and
I see riders trying to make ca-
reers out of this profession here.
There's the ones that we would
love to see go over to Europe.
We never know who that is, but
we're starting to see those Euro-
pean teams pay attention.
"This is only the second year
of the championship. When we
started MotoAmerica, it was
going to be a three- to five-year
plan, so we'll see how we're
going at the end of next year. It's
going to take time." CN
"WE CERTAINLY HAVE
TO WATCH WHAT
WE'RE DOING WITH
OUR CURRENT RULES,
BECAUSE WE CAN'T
MOVE TOO QUICKLY."
Rainey believes
Cameron
Beaubier could
make the switch
to Europe full
time if he chose
to, but for now
seems content to
race in the U.S.
