Paul Carruthers

Ask any MotoAmerica racer what’s the most important race of the year and their answer should come quickly: The round at Circuit of The Americas. If they don’t cop to that, they’re fibbing. Or they simply don’t know any better.

Ask Toni Elias and he’ll tell you.

Elias has gone to COTA for the past two years with a Texas-sized chip on his shoulder for a few reasons. But number one on the list is because he wants to win in front of a MotoGP paddock that he feels wrongfully kicked him to the curb. Whatever the motivation, it’s worked: Elias has raced in four MotoAmerica Superbike races in Austin and he’s won all four.

The background on his four wins is a bit different. In 2016, Elias was not only showing the MotoGP paddock that he could still do the job, he was trying to show his new employers, Yoshimura Suzuki, that they’d picked the right guy to replace the injured Jake Lewis. He did that and more.

In 2017, Elias showed up to COTA with a full season of MotoAmerica behind him. He’d finished third in the 2016 championship with six victories, he’d learned the circuits, adapted to a new bike and tires, and he’d fallen in love with his team, his adopted country and the championship. He came to COTA this year not hoping to match his efforts from the previous season, but expecting to.

And when push came to shove, his effort most definitely matched his expectations.

  What a big plesure...First Win of the year!! First win of New Suzuki GSXR....Thanks All my staff @yoshimurasuzukiracing for all the effort and work done... Thanks to All Suzuki and Yoshimura Family from JAPAN to USA for build this Amazing Beauty Missile!!! Yes We did IT!!👏👏👏👍😘🇺🇸🇯🇵Tomorow with the feeds on the ground will back to the work again and try to repeat!!🙏😇/Que gran placer!! Primera victoria del año...Primera victoria de la nueva Suzuki GSXR...Muchas gracias a todo mi equipo @yoshimurasuzukiracing por todo el esfuerzo y trabajo realizado..GRACIAS a toda la Familia Suzuki y Yoshimura desd Japon a Usa por construir este increible missil!!! Siiii lo conseguimooooos!!!👏👏👍😘🇺🇸🇯🇵..mañana a volver al trabajo con los pies en el suelo...trabajar duro para intentar repetir!!🙏😇@yoshimurasuzukiracing @team_suzuki_racing @suzukicycles @yoshimura_rd @beinsportsusa @motoamerica @ridedunlop @alpinestars @hjc_helmets @oakleymotorsports @gopro @clubracc @jstarautogroup @saludencasateam @hengruicimposites @live100_percent @atnracing Picture: @brianjnelsonphoto #cota A post shared by ToniElias24 (@tonielias24) on Apr 22, 2017 at 9:51pm PDT

Elias won both races. On Saturday, he was 1.770 seconds ahead of his Yoshimura Suzuki teammate Roger Hayden; on Sunday, the margin was .716 of a second over defending series champion Cameron Beaubier on the Monster Energy/Yamalube/Yamaha Factory Racing YZF R1.

And then came the 2017 Suzuki GSX-R1000 with zero complaints from Elias or Hayden about their new ride. The new GSX-R was everything they’d hoped for and their pumped-up pre-season test schedule had paid dividends. Two wins (Elias) and two podiums (Hayden) in the two opening races. They were off and running.

The only other MotoAmerica class to run at the MotoGP event at COTA was Supersport and JD Beach showed that while his broken leg was still mending, his speed was on point. The 2015 MotoAmerica Supersport Champion won the race, besting M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Valentin Debise by almost five seconds with Beach’s Yamaha teammate Garrett Gerloff just .478 of a second behind the Frenchman. Gerloff had been soundly beaten in the opener and we’d find out soon enough that he didn’t like it much.

  Great first round of the @motoamerica season. It was awesome getting my first win on the new @yamahamotorusa R6. It's going to be a long season but it's always great to start out with a win. We will keep working hard and hope to keep the good results coming. PC: @brianjnelsonphoto A post shared by JD Beach (@jdbeach95) on Apr 24, 2017 at 2:54pm PDT