the way to the checkered flag and
took the win by 0.7-second ahead
of Gerloff, with Beaubier right be-
hind in third.
“Yesterday we tried many
ways to understand what we need
here,” said Elias. “We know from
earlier years, but every year is dif-
ferent. So today we put everything
together. From the first lap, it was
so good. I was super confident for
the race.”
Beach said his front grip went
away at the end of the race; he fin-
ished fourth. Lewis was fifth—his
fifth top-five finish in 2019. FLY
Racing ADR Motorsports Kawa-
saki’s David Anthony and Hagerty
Omega Moto Yamaha’s Cameron
Petersen raced for what would be-
come sixth place. Anthony claimed
the position with about five laps to
go. Seventh-place Petersen said
his YZF-R1 lost power.
On the start, Jayson Uribe
said he was pushed to the inside
in Turn One, was out of position
coming down into Turn Two, and
could not avoid running into Wy-
man at the exit, causing both rid-
ers to crash. Gagne retired shortly
after the start with what he said he
thought was a tire- related issue.
EBC Brakes Superbike Race Two
Elias got the holeshot again
at the start of Race Two, but made
a mistake in the Corkscrew and
Gerloff swooped past and into the
lead. Gerloff maintained first place
just ahead of Elias, Beaubier, Her-
rin, and Beach until lap three.
That’s when Beaubier passed
Elias for second going into Turn
10, and then Elias immediately
responded with a stuff pass on
Beaubier in the final corner, Turn- As a result of the infighting,
Gerloff finished lap three with a
1.0-second lead.
Gerloff turned a string of
mid-to-high-1:24s (faster than
Elias went to win Race One) and
increased his lead to 2.1 seconds
by lap seven. One lap later, Elias
started having problems down-
shifting and catching false neu-
trals which caused him to run wide
into Turn Two and the Corkscrew.
Elias was able to fight back past
Beaubier to regain second place,
but in the span of two laps, Ger-
loff’s lead doubled to 4.3 seconds.
Aside from a heart-stopping
wheelie over the crest of Turn One
on lap 14, Gerloff, a 22-year-old
sophomore in the Superbike class,
rode flawless the rest of the way to
earn the first MotoAmerica Super-
bike victory of his career.
“Everything just worked out
so perfectly,” said Gerloff, a past,
two-time MotoAmerica Supersport
Champion. “I went with a soft-
er-compound rear tire than ev-
erybody else. Everybody thought I
was crazy for doing it, but it gave
me the advantage in the beginning
that those guys didn’t have to
put in really solid laps. Then they
started fighting with each other
and messing each other up, which
gave me that advantage. And the
tire lasted the whole race. The last
three or four laps it was a little
loose, but it was perfect for what
I hoped would happen.”
Elias and Beaubier exchanged
second several times throughout
the rest of the race, but in spite
of a set-up change on Sunday
morning reducing rear grip, Elias
was able to secure the runner-up
spot—which was almost as good as
a win—ahead of Beaubier.
Herrin (uninjured in his crash
during Race One) said he “lost
something” in the second half of
the race that caused him to drop
out of the fight for the podium, but
he was able to finish in fourth.
After being knocked down
during the World Superbike Su-
perpole Race earlier on Sunday
and then running the 25-lap
World Superbike Race Two imme-
diately before the MotoAmerica
Superbike race, Beach pushed
hard to finish fifth, about two sec-
onds behind Herrin.
Scholtz said he had some
moments in the early laps that
robbed him of confidence and
speed, contributing to finishing
sixth, just ahead of Gagne, who
raced with Scholtz to the end.
Lewis was with Scholtz and Gagne
for much of the race, but said an
electrical problem began cuttingthe power output of his Suzuki,
relegating him to eighth. Peters-
en’s mysterious problems persist-
ed, but he had enough to secure
ninth place ahead of Uribe and his
repaired CBR1000RR.Supersport
M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Bobby
Fong jumped out to a 1.0-second
lead on the first lap of the Super-
sport race, but over the next four
laps RiCKdiculous Racing Yama-
ha’s Hayden Gillim, the pole-sit-
ter, closed on Fong. Before the two
title rivals could engage in anoth-
er one of their now-famous duels,
Gillim lost the front in Turn Five
on lap six and crashed.
Fong’s advantage went to
2.9 seconds and grew to a max-
imum of 3.9 seconds before he
came home to collect his fourth
win of the season. In the process,
Fong leapfrogged Gillim to take
an 18-point lead in the Champi-
onship after nine of 17 races. In
addition, Fong’s win was the 75th
MotoAmerica/AMA Pro race win
for Team Hammer, which current-
ly races as M4 ECSTAR Suzuki.
PJ Jacobsen said he felt like
he had a problem with the tires on
his Celtic HSBK Racing Yamaha at
the beginning of the race, but the
problem (likely marbles of Pire-
lli rubber lying on the track from
World Superbike Race Two) went
away after two laps. By that time,
Fong was several seconds out in
front and the best Jacobsen could
do was match Fong’s pace and
hold off 2Wheel Legal/Hudson
Motorcycles Yamaha’s Richie Es-
calante to finish second.
Escalante said he was hoping
to pass Jacobsen in the closing
laps, but the young Mexican rid-
er’s plan were thwarted by back-
markers and he ended up in third
place, his fourth podium finish of
the 2019 season.
Fong’s 17-year-old teammate
Sean Dylan Kelly finished alone in
fourth in his first race at Laguna
Seca. Four-time AMA Pro Super-
bike Champion Josh Hayes said
he had to work to recover from a
bad start and first lap and then
work even harder to hold off Bryce
Prince to score fifth on his MP13
Racing Yamaha YZF-R6. Sixth-
place Prince, who rode a Tuned
Racing Yamaha YZF-R6, said he
went slower in the race than he
did earlier in the weekend and
had nothing for Hayes. RiderzLaw
Racing Yamaha’s Jason Aguilar
passed Gillim’s teammate Nick
McFadden late in the race, for
seventh. McFadden crossed the
finish line eighth, ahead of Altus
Motorsports Suzuki’s Lucas Silva
(ninth), and Team Norris Racing
(Above) Toni Elias (24) leads Cameron Beaubier (1) down the Corkscrew in MotoAmerica Superbike Race Two. (In- Yamaha’s Caroline Olsen (10th).
set) Some riders hold up trophies. Elias holds up his son Antoni after winning Race One. Photos by Brian J. Nelson.
Roadracing World, August 2019—33