CHAMPIONSHIP
VOL. 55 ISSUE 15 APRIL 17, 2018 P81
27 bikes making the race-one start.
JD Beach just managed to edge
his buddy Hayden Gillim for the
two-part race-one victory by 0.223
seconds with Cory West (M4 Ecstar
Suzuki) making for an impressive sub-
stitute for the injured Valentin Debise
in third.
"Once I saw that Hayden [Gillim]
was starting to catch me, I had to go,
and I dropped about half a second or
so [in lap times], then I consistently
ran those laps," Beach said. "I think
the last lap would have been that fast,
too, but we had someone in [Turn]
10A who was right on the race line,
and it wasn't safe for me to pass him.
iii My Own Race:
11 MATHEW SCHOLTZ SUPERBIKE (2-3)
"I think that Jake (Lewis) high-sided coming out of the first corner in race two, and I had to
just pull out wide, trying to avoid him," Scholtz said. "He sort of slid into my bike, and I had
to run off the circuit. Fortunately, I kept it upright, and I came back on. It took me a couple
of corners to get all the mud off the tires, and then I just carried on. I put my head down
and caught a couple of guys. A couple of guys crashed, which definitely helped me. So,
all in all, I am happy to be sitting on the podium."
95 ROGER HAYDEN SUPERBIKE (DNF-5)
"Even though this was a tough weekend for me it felt good to lead the race in the rain,"
Roger Hayden said. "I got a little lucky that I was able to get back into the race after the
crash. I was surprised I was able to get back to fifth. It was important to score those
points. We'll go to COTA next week and start the work of getting back into this champion-
ship."
95 JD BEACH SUPERSPORT (1-2)
"Coming off the test at Barber, it didn't go as smoothly as we would have hoped but the
team and crew worked so hard and they're really dedicated, so coming into this weekend
it was all fixed," JD Beach said after race one. "It was a close race today and in the past,
Road Atlanta definitely hasn't been one of my strong tracks, so to come away with a win in
the first race is awesome. We don't know what it's going to be like tomorrow, but it's a long
year and we're ready to continue putting in the hard work."
1 TONY ELIAS SUPERBIKE (1-1)
"This was a perfect way to start the season," Toni Elias said at the end of the weekend. "Of
course the competition will be difficult this year, but after this weekend I am very happy for
the work the team has done. We continue to make our race bike even better than it was
last season and I am gaining so much confidence. This is the first rain race that I've won
since 2001, so that also makes me very pleased to know that we can perform at the high-
est level no matter the conditions."
Hayden Gillim (69) leads his neighbor JD Beach in the sodden race two.
