MotoAmerica Press Office

Yoshimura Suzuki’s Roger Hayden earned pole position for last year’s Motul Superbike race at Circuit of The Americas with his Superpole lap of 2:08.184. Monster Energy/Yamalube/Factory Yamaha Racing’s Cameron Beaubier was second with a 2:08.342 and Hayden’s teammate Toni Elias was third with his 2:08.429 as just 0.245 of a second separated the top three qualifiers.

Toni Elias won both Motul Superbike races at COTA last year. In the first race, Elias beat teammate Roger Hayden with Bobby Fong finishing third on his Superstock-spec Kawasaki. In race two, Elias beat Cameron Beaubier by 0.716 of a second with Hayden finishing third.

Who is the winningest active Superbike rider in MotoAmerica? Cameron Beaubier. The two-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion (2015/2016) has won 21 MotoAmerica Motul Superbike races – eight in both 2015 and 2016 and five in 2017. Next best is Toni Elias with 18 wins – six in 2016, 10 last year and two already this year. Roger Hayden has five MotoAmerica Superbike wins to his credit (nine counting his other four AMA Superbike wins). The only other riders to have won MotoAmerica Superbike races are the retired Josh Hayes (13 MotoAmerica wins/61 total Superbike wins) and Mathew Scholtz, who took his maiden MotoAmerica Superbike win in the season finale at Barber Motorsports Park while riding his Superstock 1000-spec Yamalube/Westby Racing Yamaha.

If they have the kind of season expected from them, Suzuki could reach the milestone of 200 Superbike victories in 2018. Toni Elias gave the brand its 195th and 196th wins last weekend at Road Atlanta, putting them four wins shy of the mark. Honda is second on the all-time Superbike win list with 116 victories, while Yamaha’s 107 wins puts them third.