2018 MOTOAMERICA SEASON PREVIEW
P102
Feature
just line up and get the elbows
out. I'm excited."
Beaubier's Yamaha teammate,
superbike rookie Garrett Gerloff,
showed flashes of brilliance in pre-
season tests. With his raw speed
Gerloff will certainly challenge for
race wins in spite of being in his
first year in the premier class. The
question is can a rider so green
keep out of trouble for the entire
series? If he can stay solid through-
out, Gerloff may not only challenge
for race wins, but perhaps even
the number-one plate.
"All in all, I feel really good
about my Yamaha R1," Gerloff
said at Barber. "We're really
meshing well. I learned so much
about how to ride this bike in the
last two days than I had learned
in the past five tests we did. What
I learned today, I think, is really
going to help me this season and
it gives me a lot of confidence
going forward."
If having Beaubier and Gerloff
wasn't enough, Yamaha has the
luxury of still having four-time se-
ries champ Josh Hayes waiting in
the wings ready to step in should
a fill-in rider be needed. Hayes
continued his rigorous off-season
training regimen and even at 42
is as fit as ever. He'll be working
with young riders in the Junior
Cup for Yamaha this season.
While it's certainly most likely
that the 2018 champion will again
come from the factory Suzuki or
Yamaha camps, the new rules
for 2018, which discontinued the
Superstock 1000 class that ran
alongside Superbike and has
consolidated many of those teams
and riders into the Superbike
class, has significantly upped
the competition level. And that's
exactly what MotoAmerica was
hoping for. More riders, teams
and focus on the premier series.
Showing particular promise
at joining the factory four atop
the superbike battles coming
"WE WERE CONFIDENT COMING INTO
BARBER THAT WE WERE GOING TO BE
COMPETITIVE." – MATHEW SCHOLTZ
Last year's
Superstock 1000
Champion
Mathew Scholtz
will now be on
equal footing in
the Superbike
class. He showed
a lot of promise
in pre-season
testing.
