MotoAmerica Road America Notebook
This weekend represents the 38th consecutive year that MotoAmerica/AMA Superbike has traveled to Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.
MotoAmerica Press Office
Road America has hosted AMA Superbike races since June 1, 1980 when Freddie Spencer rode his Honda to victory on the four-mile road course. This year’s Dunlop Championship at Road America will mark the 38th straight year of Superbike racing at the picturesque facility.
Several riders in the paddock have tasted success at Road America, but two of them are actually employed by MotoAmerica. Both MotoAmerica President Wayne Rainey and MotoAmerica Race Director Doug Chandler won Superbike races in Wisconsin. Rainey won his in 1986 with Chandler taking his lone victory at Road America in 1990.
Who has won the most AMA Superbike races at Road America? That honor goes to Australian Mat Mladin with his nine career wins at the popular venue. Josh Hayes earned eight wins at Road America in his career and Miguel Duhamel and Cameron Beaubier are tied for third with five wins apiece. In addition to his five Superbike wins, two-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion Beaubier also has a victory in the now-defunct Daytona SportBike class at Road America.
Last year’s Motul Superbike races were thrillers. Cameron Beaubier topped Toni Elias by just .0005 of a second in race one with Roger Hayden just .153 of a second behind in third. In race two, Elias topped teammate Hayden by just .131 of a second with Beaubier third – just .854 of a second behind.
In the Supersport class, Garrett Gerloff beat JD Beach by 3.3 seconds in race one with Beach bouncing back to win race two by .102 of a second. Benny Solis, who is now racing in Europe, and Valentine Debise were third in the two races.
Benjamin Smith annihilated the KTM RC Cup field in race one last year, winning by an unheard of 9.6 seconds. Normalcy returned a day later when Jackson Blackmon beat Cory Ventura by .296 of a second with Smith just .316 from first.
Jake Lewis and Mathew Scholtz won the two Bazzaz Superstock 1000 races with Conner Blevins winning both of the Superstock 600 races.
With his two victories in round three at VIR, Toni Elias now has 21 career AMA Superbike wins. When he won his 20th on Saturday in Virginia, Elias became the fastest rider to reach the 20-win mark in AMA Superbike history.
Cameron Beaubier has the most AMA Superbike wins of any active rider, the Californian having amassed 24 career wins. Beaubier is fifth on the all-time AMA Superbike win list, three clear of his rival Elias and four behind former AMA and World Superbike Champion Ben Spies.
The three riders at the top of the all-time Superbike win list are: Mat Mladin (82), Josh Hayes (61) and Miguel Duhamel (32).