Cameron Beaubier and Garrett Gerloff Split Wins at Sonoma

Cameron Beaubier and Garrett Gerloff scored a win each for the Monster Energy Yamalube Yamaha Factory Racing Team at round seven of the MotoAmerica Superbike Championship at Sonoma Raceway, on August 10-11.

In Saturday’s race one, Beaubier went for the holeshot from pole position, but found himself in second with Gerloff right behind in third. Track conditions on the 2.2-mile track in Northern California’s wine country were a bit tricky and caught many riders off-guard, including the reigning Superbike Champion, who lost the front in turn four on the third lap of the race.

Soon after, his Texan teammate took the lead and knocked down some fast, consistent laps to build a healthy gap. Gerloff went unchallenged to cross the line by more than 10 seconds, earning his second-career Superbike win in back-to-back races aboard the Monster Energy Yamalube Yamaha Factory YZF-R1.

Looking for some redemption at his home track, Beaubier got off on a much better foot in Sunday’s race two. The Californian got the holeshot he was looking for and led from start to finish to take his third victory of the season. A combination of his win and his title rival’s error in race two allowed Beaubier to gain back five points in his battle for the championship.

Now that he has the taste for it, Gerloff was looking to keep his winning streak alive. He was in third when the series points leader made an error and ended up on the ground. Gerloff then attempted to catch his teammate, but unfortunately his tire choice made it difficult to make a late race charge to the front. At the end of the day, the runner-up finish was a good points haul for the newly turned 24 year old, who sits third in the standings, 40-points adrift of the championship leader with three rounds remaining.

Up next on the schedule for the Monster Energy Yamalube Yamaha Factory Racing team is round eight of the MotoAmerica Superbike Championship at Pittsburgh International Race Complex, August 23-25.

Tom Halverson

Monster Energy Yamalube Yamaha Factory Racing Team Manager

“It was a fantastic weekend. It was great seeing Garrett get his second win in a row, and in a really commanding way. It was an unfortunate day for Cameron, but today it all turned around for him as he took the win we expected him to get. In the end, we ended up gaining five points out of this weekend, so we’re still in the championship hunt. Being 1-2 on the podium today was fantastic, both guys rode great. I think our strategy was great, the team worked flawlessly, so overall it was a really strong weekend for us.”

Cameron Beaubier

Monster Energy Yamalube Yamaha Factory Racing Team

“I was really bummed throwing it down only three laps into Saturday’s race. I feel like I was getting a little impatient. I was trying to get to the front because I felt like I had really good pace. After that race, I was just kind of thinking the championship was kind of out of reach. I just put that out of my mind and was just focused on trying to win some races and to take it race-by-race and do the best I can. Then everything kind of flip-flopped today. It was pretty crazy. We still have a lot of work to do in out of the championship, but we’re still in sniffing distance.

“All in all, I’m just really happy to leave Sonoma with a win. It feels really good. Like I said going into the weekend, I feel like we’ve been in kind of a little rut lately. We’ve been really fast in practice and qualifying but not when it counts in the race. We just haven’t been able to put good races together. It just feels good to stand on top of the box again and carry some good momentum going into Pittsburgh.”

Garrett Gerloff

Monster Energy Yamalube Yamaha Factory Racing Team

“Race one, I felt really good going into it after qualifying and everything. I felt like we had a good bike and good pace. After a good start, riding right there with Toni and Cameron. I was looking forward to a good battle with everybody. Then, when Cameron crashed, I was like, ‘I knew that we had a little bit of pace on Toni.’ So I tried to make the pass as soon as I could. When I made the pass, I knew I could put my head down and maybe get a little bit of a gap. That’s luckily what happened. It was awesome to get that second win.

“I had a little bit of a problem in the first race with my front tire shredding, because I went with the softest compound. This morning I tried a little bit stiffer compound to try to have a little bit more life during the race, but the softer compound gave me the best feel. So we went back to the softest compound again for the race today knowing that there was a pretty high potential that it would shred again, even though the temperature was hotter. That’s what ended up happening. I’m disappointed about that, but at the end of the day, I can’t be too disappointed because the championship has kind of come back to us a little bit. I have felt really good the past two weekends. I’m ready to keep this kind of rhythm going the last few rounds.”

2019 MotoAmerica Superbike Sonoma Race One Results

1. Garrett Gerloff

2. Toni Elias

3. Mathew Scholtz

4. JD Beach

5. Jake Gagne

6. Max Flinders

7. Sam Verderico

DNF. Cameron Beaubier

2019 MotoAmerica Superbike Utah Race Two Results

1. Cameron Beaubier

2. Garrett Gerloff

3. Josh Herrin

4. Mathew Scholtz

5. JD Beach

6. Jake Gagne

7. Cameron Petersen

9. David Anthony

10. Sam Verderico

2019 MotoAmerica Superbike Standings

1. Toni Elias 266

2. Cameron Beaubier 232

3. Garrett Gerloff 226

4. JD Beach 159

5. Josh Herrin 148

6. Mathew Scholtz 139

7. Jake Lewis 121

8. Cameron Petersen 90

9. David Anthony 84

10. Jake Gagne 83

About Michael Le Pard 10160 Articles
"Mr. Totalmotorcycle". Owner and Founder of Total Motorcycle, the World’s Largest Motorcycle Site with over 425 million readers since 1999. Total Motorcycle is my pride and joy and being able to reach 425 million people has been incredible and I could not have done it without the support of my visitors, readers and members...thank you so much! We are all making a difference to millions of riders worldwide.