By David SwartsG
arrett Gerloff took his fi rst MotoAmeri-
ca EBC Brakes Superbike win, but fi rst
and second-place fi nishes allowed Toni
Elias to extend his Championship points lead.EBC Brakes Superbike
Practice & QualifyingMotoAmerica Superbike Champion Cam-
eron Beaubier was fastest in Qualifying Prac-
tices One (QP1) and Two (QP2) as well as in
Free Practice Three (FP3), turning a best lap
time of 1:24.188 on his Monster Energy/Yama-
lube Yamaha YZF-R1 in QP2. However, Beaub-
ier’s teammate Gerloff earned the pole position
during the short, 15-minute Superpole session.
As the session wound down and the su-
per-sticky Dunlop qualifying tires were mount-
ed, Gerloff moved into the lead with a time of
1:23.292. Gerloff then continued pushing for
a second lap on his short-lived rear qualifying
tire, which paid off with an even quicker lap
time of 1:23.286 that earned pole position.
Beaubier also attempted two laps on his
rear qualifying tire, but his fi rst lap was his fast-
est, 1:23.395, only good enough for second-best.
In spite of struggling prior to Super-pole, Yoshimura Suzuki’s Josh Herrin turned
the third-quickest lap on qualifying tires, a
1:23.663, but offi cials ruled that Herrin ex-
ceeded the track boundary at the exit of Turn
11 on his fastest lap and that time was disal-
lowed. That demoted Herrin to eighth in Su-
perpole and promoted Herrin’s teammate Toni
Elias (who did a 1:23.736) to third.
Doing double duty, JD Beach hopped off
his Pirelli-shod Attack Performance/Estenson
Racing Yamaha YZF-R1 World Superbike and
onto his Dunlop-fi tted MotoAmerica Superbike
Yamaha and claimed the fourth spot on the grid
with a 1:23.994 (which was quicker than he
went in World Superbike Superpole, 1:24.152).
Mathew Scholtz was fi fth-fastest in Superpole
with a 1:24.393 on his Westby Racing Yama-
ha YZF-R1. Jake Gagne, who said he’s getting
back to full fi tness, earned the fi nal spot on the
second row via a best lap at 1:24.717 on his
Scheibe Racing BMW S1000RR.
The 1:24.798 lap Jake Lewis turned
on his M4 ECSTAR Suzuki GSX-R1000 was
seventh-quickest during Superpole, Herrin
(1:24.846) was relegated to the middle spot of
row three, and Cycle Gear/SC Project/KWR
Ducati’s Kyle Wyman (1:25.133) earned the fi -
nal spot on row three in spite of chatter issues
with his Ducati.EBC Brakes Superbike Race One
Elias converted his front-row starting
spot into a holeshot lead into Turn Two, but
there would be no breakaway in this race. A
pack of seven riders—including Elias, Herrin,
Beaubier, Gerloff, Scholtz, Beach, and Lewis—
battled with passes all around the course. One
of those pass attempts went wrong on lap fi ve
when Herrin ran off and crashed at Turn Six;
he was uninjured in spite of taking a spectacu-
lar series of tumbles.
The lead group was then whittled down
to Elias, Beaubier, Gerloff, and Beach, after
Scholtz crashed out in the Corkscrew on lap 11
and Lewis lost ground avoiding Scholtz’s bike
as it slid down the Corkscrew.
Elias took the lead on lap 14 of 23 and
on lap 20, Elias nearly matched his fastest
lap of the race (1:24.950) with a 1:24.997,
which opened a modest but signifi cant lead of
0.6-second over Gerloff.
Elias maintained his blistering pace allMOTOAMERICA AMA/FIM NORTH AMERICAN ROAD RACING SERIES/ (^) MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA
MotoAmerica Championship Of Monterey
Gerloff
WINS!
(Above) On his way to his fi rst career Superbike win, Monster Energy Yamalube Yamaha's Garrett
Gerloff (31) leads Toni Elias (24), Cameron Beaubier (1), Josh Herrin (2), JD Beach, Mathew Scholtz
(11), Jake Lewis (85), and Jake Gagne (32) through the Corkscrew early in MotoAmerica Superbike
Race Two at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. (Right) Gerloff celebrates with friends, Stock 1000
winner Andrew Lee (left) and Twins Cup winner Kaleb De Keyrel (right). Photos by Brian J. Nelson.
32—Roadracing World, August 2019