IN
THE
WIND
P52
YOSHIMURA, MOTOAMERICA RELEASE CHAMPIONS VIDEOS
N
ew MotoAmerica Superbike
Champion Toni Elias and Yo-
shimura Suzuki released a video doc-
umenting their title-winning season.
With interviews from Elias, team-
mate Roger Hayden, Yoshimura
Suzuki Racing President Don
Sakakura and team coordinator
Rich Doan, this video gives you a
fascinating insight into what makes
a championship-winning team.
In the MotoAmerica Superstock
1000 Championship, Westby Rac-
ing laid to rest some of the ghosts
that they've carried since the death
of Dane Westby in 2015.
This year, the family-owned team
took the title with South African
Mathew Scholtz and topped the
season by winning the final race
of the year at Barber Motorsports
Park, the first time a Superstock
machine beat the full spec Super-
bikes. CN
VALE MAXIME BERGER
F
ormer French WorldSBK rider
Maxime Berger has died at the
age of 28, the victim of an apparent
suicide.
Berger had been in a coma
since early September at the CHU
Hospital in Dijon, France, until he
passed away last Friday, Septem-
ber 29.
"Following the malice that drove
Maxime Berger into a vegetative
state for a month, it was with great
sadness that I decided, with the
agreement of the doctors of the
CHU, to let Maxime go," his father
Alain Berger said in a statement
that was originally published by
Paddock-GP.com.
"He will soon be at peace.
Thank you all for the support you
have given. A press release will
be issued shortly regarding his
funeral."
Berger's career saw him take
the 2007 European Superstock
600 Championship aboard a Team
Trasimeno Yamaha at the age of
18, then moving to the Superstock
1000 Championship where he
placed second in 2008 and 2010
for Ten Kate Honda with seven
victories.
He moved up to WorldSBK in
2011 with Supersonic Racing Team
Ducati, finishing 16th that year with
seventh as his best result.
He moved to the Effenbert
Liberty Ducati squad for 2012 but
lost his ride halfway through the
season. He would find a home for
the remainder of the year at the
Red Devils Roma, where he took
his best ever WorldSBK result of
fourth at his home track of Magny-
Cours in France.
Following his departure from the
WorldSBK paddock, Berger con-
tested selected round of the Endur-
ance World Championship, before
stepping away from racing. CN
Maxime Berger's
WorldSBK career
was plagued
with bad luck
and he never
managed the
results his
talent
promised.
