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The Toni Elias freight train kept chugging ahead at full speed today at the Circuit of the Americas. The reigning Superbike champion will open this weekend’s two races at the MotoAmerica Championship of Texas from pole after coming out on top of Friday afternoon’s Superpole session.

Elias is unbeaten in four MotoAmerica races at COTA and is less than a week removed from a double win at the ‘18 season opener at Road Atlanta.

“We really did a great job in Atlanta, and we started with the same setup, but even if we are leading today, I didn’t feel so comfortable with the situation on the track,” Elias said. “It’s so slippery, and I never felt the same feelings as in Atlanta, like super front grip or super rear grip. The situation will be better during the weekend, so I count on these guys (Hayden and Beaubier) because in the race, they will be there, for sure. We will have to fight and work a lot, but we are happy. It’s my third pole in MotoAmerica, so it’s important for us. I think we are on the pace. The bike is working good, so the Atlanta race, on Sunday (in the rain), gave us a reason to continue working on (the setup of the) bike in wet conditions. So, we will try to make it better for the rain, for if it comes tomorrow.”

Elias’ Yoshimura Suzuki teammate, Roger Hayden qualified second, albeit more than 0.7 seconds removed from pole.

“It’s a little dirty, and then, it just seems a little bumpier in some spots, but I think the biggest problem is just where they ground it down, it’s still kind of dirty in a lot of places,” Hayden said. “When you go down the back straightaway - the left - and then, you have dirt on your tire, and you go to the next right-hander, it kind of gets a little squirrelly until you get it off, but it’s getting better. It just needs a little more time. I’m pretty happy to be second. I’ve been struggling a little bit in testing and then, last week in Atlanta, so it’s nice to be back at the sharp end a little bit. It’s a lot more fun. We got a little bit of work to do, but we’re looking forward to the race - rain or shine - and I’m hoping to have a good weekend.”

Rounding out the front row is class rookie two-time MotoAmerica Superbike champ and Cameron Beaubier on the works Yamaha.

“They ground down quite a bit of the track surface in some of the bumpier corners, and I think there is just a little dust, and some of the grip is down in some of those corners,” Beaubier said. “But all in all, I had a better Friday than I did at Atlanta, so…my bike is in one piece, I’m in one piece, and it looks like it might rain tomorrow and we’ll have a good, dry race on Sunday. Practice this morning went pretty good. I felt pretty comfortable as soon as I got on the bike, and slowly, the (lap) times had come down. Made a couple of changes in between practices, and I felt like I lost a little confidence early in the session, and our times started coming down, down. We definitely have a little bit of work to do for tomorrow, to run with Toni, so we’ll see what we come up with and I’m just excited to go racing."

Beaubier’s rookie teammate, Garrett Gerloff, heads Row 2 ahead of M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Jake Lewis and Yamalube/Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz, who claimed the pole for last weekend’s doubleheader in Georgia. Scholtz was on a flier at the tail-end of the session before a crash brought any hope he had for a repeat performance to a sparking conclusion.

Row 3 will feature Danny Eslick (Scheibe Racing), Kyle Wyman (Kyle Wyman Racing), and Bobby Fong (Quicksilver/Lexin Moto/Hudson Motorcycles).

Catch Race 1 of the MotoAmerica Championship of Texas live on beIN SPORTS and beIN SPORTS CONNECT 6 tomorrow starting at 5:00pm Eastern.