Race one of the new MotoAmerica season 2019, Toni Elias ran into trouble and crashed his bike in a serious battle with Josh Hayes and Josh Herrin, both. Elias, the 2017 champion is ready to go for this season, on a motorcycle he knows well. Elias' team mate for 2019 is Garrett Gerloff.
Race two. Red lights, on. red lights, out. J.D. Beach shoots into the lead from turn one as Matt Scholz moves one of his rivals out of the way, down through the esses for the first time. None of these chaps had time to check their setups. Now, Cameron Beaubier has moved himself up to sixth place. J.D. Beach changed everything on his motorcycle. Josh Herrin has his first flying lap on his motorcycle as we have 21 laps on the board to run in this race. Matt Scholz on the Westby Racing Yamaha, has three different traction control map settings. He had one map that didn't work yesterday in race one. The traction control can be intrusive to the rider. So, dial it back on a different map, and look at the tire wear as well.
Josh Herrin makes his move on Matt Scholz in the downhill, look. Cameron Beaubier is chasing Matt Scholz and here comes Toni Elias for the lead of this motorcycle race. He beats J.D. Beach to the apex of the corner and he puts the factory Yoshimura Suzuki in the lead along with Josh Herrin, the new bloke at Yoshimura Suzuki. None of these blokes are going to let up. Matthew Scholz has made a pass on J.D. Beach as well. Poor old J.D. Beach is being snookered. Dear me. Four laps now on the board, and Scholz went deep into the turn. Beach squares up the motorcycle. Elias, Garrett Gerfloff, Herrin, school, Beach, and Beaubier, the top six riders.
Can they run quick times in each sector, lap after lap? Gerloff is staying right on Elias' back tires. Cameron Beaubier has passed J.D. Beach, but Beach is harrying the Yamaha rider, look. Gerloff runs a 1:25.2. Don't risk wearing out your tires. All riders are on the soft tires. Herrin runs wide in turn seven. Herrin has to hang on. Matt Scholz is going to be running Harry Flatters to keep up. Elias is checking out. Gerloff has some damage, and he has a problem. The fender is hanging from the right side of the bike. Big damage for Gerloff, and now he's off the road. It's game over for Gerloff.
He does not want that fender to come off and get under the rear tire as Toni Elias and Matthew Scholz, both of them are flying as David Anthony makes the pass. Come to the lane, now, sunshine. You are not going to be able to get that fender to dislodge off the motorbike. Elias continues to lead this race. Scholz and beach run second and third as we have just eight laps remaining now. Beaubier started 11th in race one after missing Super Pole, and he won race one on Saturday. Attack Performance is running their first race at Road Atlanta.
Beach is still hanging in there. Beaubier is flying and so is Beach. Race pace is hectic now. David Anthony, Kyle Wyman, Cameron Peterson, and Geoff May are flying as well. Cameron Peterson washes out and almost wrecks the motorcycle! Kyle Wyman's Ducati has a load of downforce, and, he can book it, flat down the straight without lifting off the throttle. Meanwhile, Beach is still pressing hard, look. Scholz is faster than Beach right now. Elias has a decal flapping in the breeze off of his bike. Make a map change on the straight if you don't have the traction or wheelie control engaged.
Scholz has to be feeling something with the tire, and he wants to know the bloke who is going to be flying here, and yet, there's tons of respect they all have for each other. Round two at Circuit of the Americas is coming up. More details on that in short order. Beaubier has a look and passes J.D. Beach down through turn 12. Beaubier might just have something left in the locker. Scholz's Westby Racing motorcycle is running extremely well, but poor old Jake Gagne is caboose on the field at the moment.
Beaubier is right behind Toni Elias. He is laser targeted on Elias, but isn't making any wild moves. Elias has led the whole race so far. In race one, they were also battling each other. Beaubier has two riders battling him instead of only one like in race one. Three laps to go now. Drafting or slipstreaming works, sometimes, but it totally depends on the gearing in your motorcycle, and not hitting the rev limiter. Some lapped bikes, look. This will be a bear, maybe. Kyle Wyman has crashed. He is down and out! Game over! Two laps now remain. Poor Kyle Wyman has crashed again, and Toni Elias and Matt Scholz, both of them are going to have their hands full with J.D. Beach.
It should be said that Beaubier is going to flying to reel in Toni elias, and now, Matt Scholz is also flying. But Beaubier might just be cracking under pressure behind the back markers. Toni Elias says, "I'm out of here! I gotta go!" Yamaha vs. Yamaha. It's the final lap. Elias on the Suzuki, he is going to be flying. Now, Scholz is holding on, blocking to the inside. Elias wins! Matt Scholz is second ahead of Cameron Beaubier. That's your podium! It's Toni Elias' first win, as a new dad.
#24 Toni Elias ESP. Suzuki GSXR1000
Kyle Wyman had a massive wreck, having lost the front of his motorcycle. Elias is picking upon his competitor. Wyman tells Geoff May what happened. Wyman ran off the road on the wet grass, and.... crunch! He was down for the count, going into the air fence. The wet grass and the Georgia clay are a bad combination. Beaubier is not happy about something. Toni Elias is very happy and motivated. He was aware of the battle behind him, and was focused on winning. He saved 20 points in race one, knowing that the 2019 season will be a hard one.
Toni Elias was able to control the whole race. In second, Matthew Scholtz, and he says he knew he was able to run a consistent tire. The Briton knew that he had to follow Elias to put a gap on everybody else, and thanks his crew for their efforts. Cameron Beaubier fights his way to the podium, twice. He had to gamble, having no chance to check the bike in the warmup. But he too, gives credit to his competitors. He knows he has the points as the season starts. The Monster Energy, Yamalube Yamaha is running well.
Beaubier has a full complement of points to start off the season on the right foot, and he won race one.
Race 1: #1 Cameron Beaubier USA Yamaha YZF R1
Toni Elias leads the championship at 45 points.
Superbike is going to be very interesting this year. The first race of the year is done and dusted for the MotoAmerica EBC Brakes Superbike class. Next time out, is this weekend, at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, in support of the U.S. round for MotoGP. We will see you, for the highlights of Circuit of the Americas, very soon. For now, take care, everybody.
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