MotoAmerica.com As if the 2016 MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American Road Race Championship needed anything to make it more exciting, the series just got something that makes it even more exciting: The Honda Superbike Showdown. And the three-race series within a series gets rolling this coming weekend, June 3-5, at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, with the Honda Superbike Showdown of Wisconsin.

The Honda Superbike Showdown consists of three events: the aforementioned Honda Superbike Showdown of Wisconsin at Road America, Barber Motorsports Park's Honda Superbike Showdown of Alabama and Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca's Honda Superbike Showdown of California. The Superbike rider who emerges from those three events with the most championship points will drive away in a brand-new 2016 Honda Civic Sedan.

So while four-time Superbike Champion Josh Hayes currently leads his teammate Cameron Beaubier by 11 points in the 2016 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship, he leads him by zero points in the Honda Superbike Showdown. Hayes, Beaubier, Yoshimura Suzuki's Roger Hayden and Toni Elias, Broaster Chicken/Roadrace Factory's Jake Gagne, HSBK Aprilia's Claudio Corti, Latus Motors Racing's Bobby Fong, and the rest of the Superbike stars come to Road America on equal footing with a clean slate as a separate points tally will be kept for the series within a series.

Meanwhile, the MotoAmerica Superbike Championship continues to be a dogfight between the top four riders with Hayes, Beaubier, Hayden, and Elias separated by just 26 points after four of nine rounds.

Despite leading the championship, Hayes went through the first six races of the series without a victory. But that changed at VIRginia International Raceway two weeks ago when Hayes won race one for his first win of the season and the 59th Superbike victory of his storied career. He combined that with a second-place finish to his teammate Beaubier in race two to leave Virginia with the points lead, 137-126.

Hayden had a solid weekend with second- and fourth-place finishes while his teammate, Elias, was a consistent third in both races. Those two are 21 and 26 points behind Hayes, respectively.

Beaubier comes to Road America fresh off his World Superbike debut this past weekend at Donington Park in England. Called in as a replacement rider to the injured Sylvain Guintoli on the factory Yamaha team, Beaubier impressed after qualifying ninth and finishing 10th in race two. Unfortunately, the defending MotoAmerica Superbike Champion crashed out of race one. Still, he comes to Wisconsin chomping at the bit to get going at one of his favorite racetracks.

"Every year when we go to Road America, I'm excited to be there," said Beaubier, who finished first and second in the two races there last year. "I've had some good finishes there in the past, some good race wins on a 600 and a 1000 at Road America. I like the fast, flowing track, and it's a track that brings out some great fans, as well. I really look forward to going there. I'm not too worried about the points situation right now. Obviously, I'd love to have the points lead, but it's still pretty early days in the championship. No matter what, I'm going to do my best to win both races. You have to do what you can to be consistent, but you're not going to win the championship if you're not winning races."

Bobby Fong made a big move in the battle for the Bazzaz Superstock 1000 championship at the last round in Virginia, the Latus Motors Racing Kawasaki ZX-10R-mounted Californian scoring two second-place finishes to move to within 11 points of championship leader Claudio Corti. Fong tallied 40 points to Corti's 34 points to gain ground and those two come to Road America fifth and sixth in the Superbike championship on their Superstock-spec Kawasaki and Aprilia. Wheels In Motion/Meen Motorsports' Josh Herrin sits third in the Superstock title chase, 27 points behind Corti.

You could almost hear the collective gasp from the Y.E.S./Graves/Yamaha crew when Garrett Gerloff crashed out of the second Supersport race at New Jersey Motorsports Park in round three as it looked as though the young Texan was injured. But it was back to business a round later for Gerloff as he stormed to a doubleheader sweep of the 600cc class at VIRginia International Raceway and left the facility with a 31-point lead in the championship over Frenchman Valentin Debise.

Debise, on the M4 SportbikeTrackGear.com Suzuki, came so very close to winning his first career MotoAmerica race on Sunday at VIR, losing out to Gerloff by a whisker, .038 of a second, in the dry race two after finishing ninth in wet conditions the day before. Debise is just three points ahead of MotoAmerica Supersport Champion JD Beach. Debise's South African teammate, Cameron Petersen, is fourth in the title chase with Wheels In Motion/Meen Motorsports' Joe Roberts fifth.

Tuned Racing's Bryce Prince is leading the Superstock 600 championship by 33 points over HB Racing/Meen Motorsports' Dakota Mamola, with Prince winning three of the six races in 2016. Mamola, Travis Wyman, and Michael Gilbert are the other riders who have stood atop the podium this season.

Last year, the KTM RC Cup made its debut in the rain at Road America, but this year the spec class got started at Road Atlanta in May so the 14-to-22-year-olds have already completed six races as they venture to Wisconsin. The championship is being led by Anthony Mazziotto III, but he's being hounded by fellow New Jersey resident Brandon Paasch. The pair are separated by just five points. Jody Barry, the only other rider to win besides Mazziotto and Paasch, is third in the series standings, 44 points behind the class leader.