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/774093
INTERVIEW 2016 MOTOAMERICA SUPERBIKE CHAMPION CAMERON BEAUBIER P82 felt so much better going into it. I wasn't putting as much pressure on myself. I felt like I enjoyed the race weekend so much more than I did in 2015. I definitely had more fun with it. I think that showed in my results." Although he had the same amount of wins both seasons— eight—he actually had better results on paper in 2015, only finishing worse than second twice. But that's the thing about paper, it doesn't necessarily reflect what happens on the racetrack. In this case it was some all-out dog fights between not only his Monster Energy Graves Yamaha teammate Josh Hayes, but Yoshimura Suzuki's Roger Hayden and Toni Elias. For the first time in a long time, the Yoshimura squad was back to being competitive with the Yamaha duo, which upped the level of competition and made for some great racing. "It's been a while in the United States since superbike racing has had four guys battling at the front for a win the entire race," he said. "I think it was good for the fans and good for our series. Honestly it just makes me excit- ed for next year. I know the Yosh [Yoshimura] boys are going to be coming back strong, but I think our guys—Josh and I—are going to come back even stronger. So it's going to make for an exciting 2017 season, that's for sure. Beaubier also points out the benefit of having a former World Champion thrown into the mix. "Toni [Elias] coming over has thrown a whole new dynamic to everything," he said. "He's a really late braker and he's a scrapper. He's always going to be there at the end of the race. With him coming in I feel like him and Roger have been able to kind of work together. Roger is at another level now too. So yeah, I think it's been good for all of us." Elias and the other foreigners that migrated to the U.S. cham- pionship this year have certainly added spice to the racing in MotoAmerica. Even in spite of some crazy dive-bomb passes, Beaubier feels that the guys coming in from overseas were a good addition to the series. "For sure, it does get a little crazy sometimes, but it's hard racing and for the most part it's been all clean," he said. "I think it's really good for our series having him [Elias] over here and also with a couple of the other European guys like [Valentin] Debise and [Claudio] Corti. I think it puts us more on the radar over in Europe." Choosing a favorite champi- onship can be like choosing a It was a hard fought championship in 2016 with four riders in the mix— Beaubier (1), Toni Elias (24), Roger Hayden (95) and Josh Hayes (4).