The spectacular beauty of the Monterey Peninsula in Monterey, California, welcomes the teams and riders of MotoAmerica Superbike for the next round of the championship. Will we have another stormer of a race on our hands? We'll find out, now. Red lights, on. Red lights, out. Clutches are out, and we're away and racing at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Josh Herrin and Toni Elias both launch off the line well, and J.D. Beach, on the inside, he has good track position as well. 23 laps scheduled for this race. Josh Herrin has made his way all the way from eighth on the grid to second. But, wait, we have a rider down in the middle of corner number two! Check that. Two riders are down! Jayson Uribe was one of the riders to take a spill, and we see that Kyle Wyman may have been the second rider involved in this little dust up.
Right away, through turn ten, at Rainey curve, Cameron Beaubier shoots underneath Toni Elias. Rainey curve, named for another motorcycle racing legend, Wayne Rainey, a multiple world champ back in the days of 500cc World Grand Prix motorcycle racing. Josh Herrin sees his chance and slides up underneath both Elias and Beaubier! Garrett Gerloff loses the front of the motorcycle, but as it is washing out from underneath, he saves it! That was a brilliant piece of riding from Gerloff. Josh Herrin drives past Cameron Beaubier as well. It appears Beaubier may have missed a shift coming off turn 11. How close do you like your motorcycle racing? The top three protagonists all year, are at it again. It's Cameron Beaubier vs. Josh Herrin vs. Toni Elias, all in the same place on the road, at the same time.
Herrin is off on the gravel going up the hill towards The Corkscrew! He's off the road. Can he save the bike? No! Down he goes into the sand on the side of the circuit, sliding towards the air fence. You could almost see that coming because there is a large bump headed for The Corkscrew, in that hill, and Herrin hit it and was vaulted off the bike. In replay, we can see that Beaubier and Herrin made contact, racing for position, but poor old Herrin knew he was down and out at that moment. When you miss the turn, and your lean in point, there is no room, before you and your motorcycle are pitched into the gravel.
Josh Herrin is OK. But, it is without doubt game over for the Yoshimura Suzuki rider. Toni Elias dives around Cameron Beaubier, but Beaubier walks right back through the door and slams it in Elias' face. Elias comes back, returning the favor, slamming the door in Beaubier's face. The tug of war continues. Now, we see Garrett Gerloff and J.D. Beach both coming to the sharp end. Gerloff makes the pass on lap seven while poor old Cameron Beaubier is dropping like a stone. Still on lap seven, coming off turn 11, Garrett Gerloff goes for the lead on Toni Elias. It's Yamaha YZF R1 vs. Suzuki GSXR1000 in a drag race down the front straight here at Laguna Seca! Elias back to the lead, but J.D. Beach wants a piece of both of these two blokes. It's not done yet!
Two laps to go. Now, the white flag. Toni Elias is flying. He powers off the final turn. Gerloff really needs the whole rest of the track to try and catch Elias. Gerloff can't do it. Toni Elias wins race one at Laguna Seca!
#24 Toni Elias Suzuki GSXR1000
Stay tuned as we still have action from race two at Laguna Seca yet to come.
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