2018 MOTOAMERICA SEASON PREVIEW
P98
Feature
season entry list. I believe we are going to see
six, seven guys racing at the front and I think
we'll have multiple winners—even more than the
five different winners we had last year. The class
will also be bolstered by single event and wild
card entries, and you never know what surprises
might come out of the woodwork for that."
You might think that defending series champ
Toni Elias might be uncomfortable having to
battle with three or four additional riders for
this year's MotoAmerica Superbike crown,
but, at least publicly, Elias seems thrilled with
the prospect of more riders joining in on the
up-front battles this summer.
"This is what the series needs," Elias said
at the recent test in Alabama. "We need six,
seven or eight riders battling for the victory in
these races. And then in the finals laps we will
see what happens. This will bring more fans to
the series and I see more riders coming into
the fight this year. I do not think it will be just
the four factory riders this season with all the
strong teams coming into superbikes."
With the outstanding season Elias had last
year on the newly redesigned Suzuki GSX-
R1000, the former Moto2 World Champion
from Spain has to be considered the pre-
season favorite to earn the 2018 MotoAmer-
ica Superbike Championship. The hope for
Elias' competitors is that he relaxes a bit after
his dominating year with Yoshimura Suzuki.
"I DO NOT THINK IT WILL BE JUST THE FOUR FACTORY
RIDERS THIS SEASON WITH ALL THE STRONG TEAMS
COMING INTO SUPERBIKES." – TONI ELIAS
(Right) Elias says
he's ready for the
challenge by what
should be a deep
superbike field.
(Below) )Toni
Elias is the one
everyone is gunning
for in 2018. The
defending champ
is going into the
new season on the
now-proven Suzuki
GSX-R1000.
