ROAD RACE
ROUND 3 / MAY 4-6, 2018
VIRGINIA INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY / ALTON, VIRGINIA
P108
MOTOAMERICA AMA/FIM ROAD RACING CHAMPIONSHIP
MotoAmerica Supersport Cham-
pionship would be nothing other
than a one-man exhibition.
The two Kentucky neighbors
simply decimated the field in Vir-
ginia, but it would be Beach who
would emerge victorious on both
occasions after Gillim drew first
blood with pole position.
Beach suffered a horrid
qualifying, first with a mechanical
problem and then a crash that
smashed his Monster Energy/
Y.E.S./Graves Yamaha YZF-R6
good and proper.
He made up for it in the first
race, stealing the holeshot and
recording a 2.2-second advan-
tage at the flag with Quicksilver/
Lexin Moto/Hudson Motorcycles
Scholtz came home for an-
other podium in third, fourth went
to Herrin, eight seconds clear of
Lewis from Kyle Wyman, Danny
Eslick, Fong, Cameron Petersen
and David Anthony rounding out
the top 10.
In the championship, Elias
leads with a comfortable 138 to
Scholtz's 103. Beaubier is tied
with Scholtz on 104 but sits third
on the account of less podiums,
Herrin is fourth on 75 with Lewis
fifth on 55 points.
Supersport
It's good JD Beach and Hayden
Gillim at least have each other
to race, because if one were
missing from the equation, the
For race two, however, Elias
was clearly the dominant force as
he led all 23 laps to take his fifth
win of the season. He resisted
pressure from Beaubier, Scholtz
and Herrin, with Beaubier launch-
ing an ambitious attack for the
lead around the outside with
two laps to go. He almost ran
off track and made an almighty
charge for the win on the final
lap, setting the fastest lap of
the race but coming up 0.546
seconds short of his first win of
the year.
"I didn't know Cameron ran
a little bit wide, and I had a real
advantage," said Elias. "This win
is amazing here in VIR. I never
expected that."
JD Beach (95)
and Hayden Gillim
were miles clear
at VIR but it would
be the former AMA
Superport Champion
(Beach) that would
get the two wins.