MotoAmerica Press Office

Two points. After four rounds and eight races in the 2018 MotoAmerica Motul Superbike Championship, just two points separate two-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion Cameron Beaubier from defending series champion Toni Elias. That’s right. Two measly points.

And now the battle heads to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca for this weekend’s Championship of Monterey in Northern California with all the ingredients in place for a thriller. Add in the fact that the MotoAmerica races (Motul Superbike, Supersport, Liqui Moly Junior Cup and Twins Cup) will take place on the same weekend as the World Superbike round at Laguna and you have the makings of a weekend that won’t soon be forgotten.

First things first. That Motul Superbike Championship. Prior to the Road America round three weeks ago, things were going all Toni Elias’ way. The Spaniard and his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 had won five of the six races and he was leading the title chase by over 30 points. Then Road America happened.

In race one in Wisconsin, a three-way fight for the lead between Beaubier, Elias and Josh Herrin resulted in controversial contact between Beaubier and Elias, with Elias crashing out. Beaubier beat Herrin for his first victory of the season and, with Elias failing to score a point, the championship is suddenly a fight again. The following day saw Beaubier and his Monster Energy/Yamalube/Yamaha Factory Racing YZF-R1 beat Herrin to the finish line again, with an out-of-sorts Elias ending up fourth.

So now, as the series heads to the Monterey Peninsula, Elias is no longer atop the championship point standings. For the first time all season. But, again, we’re only talking two points here.

With his two impressive second-place finishes at Road America, Attack Performance/Herrin Compound’s Josh Herrin vaulted himself to third in the championship point standings. Herrin is 38 points behind Beaubier, 36 behind Elias and 10 ahead of Yamalube/Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz, the South African the only rider other than Beaubier and Elias to taste victory this season.

Herrin has three podium results heading into this weekend’s races and all three have been runner-up finishes. Herrin is punching the clock and really going to work this weekend as he will take part not only in both MotoAmerica Motul Superbike races, but also in the two World Superbike races.

While Herrin had two stand-out rides in Wisconsin, Scholtz suffered through his worst weekend of the season. The South African crashed in race one, remounted and scored two points. In Sunday’s race two, he crashed again and wasn’t able to remount, losing 38 points and his third-place spot in the points to Herrin.

M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Jake Lewis continues to pound away at a consistent season with five fifth-place finishes. Lewis did one better than that in race one at Road America with his fourth-place finish but dropped a spot on his average with a sixth on Sunday. Lewis is – you guessed it – fifth in the title chase heading to Monterey.

Then comes Motul Superbike rookie Garrett Gerloff, the two-time MotoAmerica Supersport Champion who turned heads last year at WeatherTech Raceway with his fast lap times in the Supersport class. Gerloff has already visited the Superbike podium three times and he’s just three points behind Lewis in the championship.

Racer/team owner Kyle Wyman is seventh, eight points behind Gerloff and nine ahead of Scheibe Racing BMW’s Danny Eslick with Eslick having his best weekend of the season so far at Road America.

Fly Street Racing’s David Anthony and Quicksilver/LEXIN/Hudson Motorcycles’ Bobby Fong round out the top 10 in the series as we hit the halfway point in the season this weekend.

With the top two in the Motul Superbike class separated by just two points, that’s the polar opposite of the Supersport class where Monster Energy/Yamaha Extended Service/Graves Yamaha’s JD Beach has built himself a 43-point cushion in the championship. Beach has won four of the six races and finished second in the other two to lead Rickdiculous Racing’s Hayden Gillim, 140-97. TSE Racing’s Cory West is third in the series, 18 points behind Gillim and 19 ahead of Tuned Racing’s Braeden Ortt. M4 medAge Suzuki’s Nick McFadden is just one point behind Ortt after his best weekend of the year at Road America.

Beach had to face M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Valentin Debise for the first time at Road America, the Frenchman finally back on track after his crash at Daytona in March. Debise came back with a bang, winning race one at Road America and finishing second in race two.

Much like in the Motul Superbike class, things got tight at the top in the Liqui Moly Junior Cup Series at Road America. In fact, the difference is the same: two points. Although he won on Saturday, championship points leader Alec Dumas crashed his Orange Brigade/JP43 KTM on Sunday and that allowed Yates Racing’s Aaron Yates to move to within two points in the championship. Sean Ungvarsky, who is also a member of the Orange Brigade, is third in the championship, 21 points behind his teammate.

The new Twins Cup class will also compete at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca with Ghetto Customs-backed Chris Parrish leading Altus Motorsports’ Jason Madama by seven points after three races. RBoM’s Curtis Murray is third in the standings, 33 points behind Parrish.