Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/997997
ROAD RACE ROUND 5 / JUNE 22-24, 2018 WEATHERTECH RACEWAY / MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA P80 MOTOAMERICA ROAD RACING CHAMPIONSHIP THROWBACK HAMMER HELMETS The Team Hammer/M4 Ecstar Suzuki squad celebrated its 35th year with Arai helmets by fitting its team riders with Team Hammer throwback hand-painted helmets at Laguna. "I'm happy to be here on the podium at Laguna Seca, and I'm happy to be wearing this helmet to celebrate 35 years of partner- ship between Team Hammer and Arai," said Valentin Debise from the Supersports podium. SINGING UP A STORM Jayson Uribe made history on Saturday by becoming the first MotoAmerica rider to sing on the WorldSBK Paddock Show stage, following in the footsteps of Jordi Torres, Roman Ramos and Le- andro Mercado who take part in the annual charity rider concert at Donington Park (UK) every year. His rendition of a Jason Mraz classic had the crowd on its feet followed by several requests on social media of a repeat performance in 2019. Briefly... False neutrals put Elias on the ground twice in race one. in a battle with Herrin, the two running nose to tail for the first 19 of 24 laps. Beaubier finally got around Herrin on the 16th lap, but Herrin didn't back off and was still pressuring Beau- bier when he suffered a crash in Rainey Curve, knocking a disap- pointed Herrin out of the race. The win was the fourth of the year for Beaubier and the 28th of his superbike career. He's now tied with former AMA Superbike and World Superbike Champion Ben Spies for fourth on the all- time list. "It was a perfect weekend," Beaubier said. "From the first lap Friday, I just felt really comfort- able with my R1. I just have fun around this place. It's such a good vibe for me, coming here just being so close to home. I know we have Sonoma back on the calendar, but I treat this as my home race. Hats off to Her- rin. He was riding so good. He was just reeling off the laps there As for Elias, he ultimately went down twice due to transmission issues, his Suzuki slipping into a false neutral at just the wrong times—entering a turn. He also struggled with tires. Still, he didn't give up and managed to finish 13th and grab three valu- able points. "[I had a] great start and then did a neutral into turn one, un- fortunately running off and losing the front on the gravel," Elias said. "Then I was working for tomorrow, trying different things on the bike to get more informa- tion for my team. Then I lose the front going into [turn] one again. Since the new tire arrived we are having a lot of problems and then here mixing with traction control problems. I'm 24 [points] behind now. Cameron Beaubier is not my problem. The problem is myself and my bike and when it is like it was before, we will be okay again." For the second straight day, Sunday, Beaubier found himself