VOL. 54 ISSUE 27 JULY 11, 2017 P79
RACING CHAMPIONSHIP
factory team of Garrett Gerloff
and JD Beach simply steamrolled
the opposition.
Gerloff finished a demoralizing
35 seconds clear of third place
rider Benny Solis (Team HB35
Honda CBR600RR) after battling
race long with teammate Beach,
eventually wearing down the
2015 champion at a relentless
pace.
"The last lap I didn't need to
push as hard but I still wanted a
good lap," Gerloff said. "I thought
he was right there on the last cor-
ner, so that's why I went right to
the inside, but I'm glad it worked
out."
It was not just the race pace
that was stunning for Gerloff, who
pulled out a 1:25.406 lap time
to spend a full season here."
In the Superbike champion-
ship, Elias has them by the throat
at 260 points with Hayden sec-
ond at 220. Beaubier's crash and
14th place race-two finish puts
him third with 180 points.
In the Superstock champion-
ship, Scholtz is sitting pretty at
241 ahead of Fong (198) and
Lewis third with 190.
SUPERSPORT/
SUPERSTOCK 600
There was only one race in the
Supersport 600/Superstock 600
category at Laguna Seca, and if
your bike was painted any color
other than blue, you were clearly
up against it as the Monster En-
ergy/Yamalube/Y.E.S./Graves
the former Moto2 race winner
went through a plethora of setup
changes to take a popular sec-
ond place in race one (in class),
and third in race two.
"We completely, completely
changed the bike—frame, en-
gine, fork, shock—I don't think
there's a part left that we haven't
changed," West said. "It's been
a big weekend, and now this is a
package we could have had an
even better result if we knew then
what we know now.
"It's been tough but I'm really
happy to finally have the chance
to race MotoAmerica. The last
two years I've really tried to come
here, then I gave up and I got an
offer to race! It's weird what can
happen. I still hope for the future
Garrett Gerloff (1)
had every answer
for a determined
Beach in the only
Supersport race of
the weekend.
