Friday Recap: MotoAmerica Superbikes At Road Atlanta

2020-08-01 09:03
The second of two HONOS Superbike sessions on Friday afternoon at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta was a stop-and-start affair with rain, lightning and finally more rain bringing a premature end to the day. That meant the quickest lap of the day was set in the dry morning session with defending four-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion Cameron Beaubier leading the way on the opening day in Georgia.

Beaubier, who had mechanical issues early in the morning session, didn’t waste much time in getting to the top of the timesheets when he returned to the track. It was on his 10th lap that he did his best time, a 1:25.380. That put him .346 of a second ahead of Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz, the South African a similar difference ahead of Beaubier’s Monster Energy Attack Performance Yamaha teammate Jake Gagne. M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Toni Elias and Bobby Fong ended the morning session fourth and fifth.

Scholtz was fastest in the wet session, though Beaubier and Gagne didn’t bother going out in the wet conditions.

HONOS Kawasaki’s Richie Escalante, the only rider who remains undefeated in the MotoAmerica Series thus far in 2020, picked up where he left off from Road America – at the top. Escalante led the qualifying session on Friday, besting M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Sean Dylan Kelly by .122 of a second. Altus Motorsports’ Kevin Olmedo ended the day third, .883 of a second behind Escalante.

Rocco Landers dropped under his own lap record in the Liqui Moly Junior Cup class, the talented youngster riding his Norton Motorsports/Ninja400R/Dr. Farr/Wonder C-backed Kawasaki Ninja 400 to a best lap of 1:41.901. That earned Landers a new lap record but very little breathing room as BARTCON Racing’s Dominic Doyle was nipping at his heels and just .035 of a second behind his rival. Celtic HSBK Racing’s Samuel Lochoff was third fastest, besting Quarterley Racing/On Track Development’s Benjamin Gloddy and Blake Davis Racing’s Blake Davis, the just-turned-14-year-old Davis making his MotoAmerica debut.

Altus Motorsports’ Cameron Petersen rode his Suzuki GSX-R1000 to the fastest lap of the day in the Stock 1000 class, the South African ripping off a 1:27.777 to lead Disrupt Racing/CCFOfficesolutions.com’s Geoff May, who was making his 2020 debut in the MotoAmerica Series. Ride HVMC Racing’s Corey Alexander ended the day third.

With the second session wet, 1-833-CJKNOWS Accident & Injury Law’s Kaleb De Keyrel led the dry Twins Cup Practice 1 session, the Minnesotan leading Roadracing World Young Guns/Sportbiketrackgear.com’s Rocco Landers by .430 of a second. Brittenum Construction/Hayden Schultz Racing’s Hayden Schultz ended the session with the third fastest time.

Superbike Practice 1

Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha) 1:25.380
Mathew Scholtz (Yamaha) 1:25.726
Jake Gagne (Yamaha) 1:25.771
Toni Elias (Suzuki) 1:26.351
Bobby Fong (Suzuki) 1:26.544
David Anthony (Suzuki) 1:27.612
Kyle Wyman (Ducati) 1:27.873
Josh Herrin (BMW) 1:28.827
Bradley Ward (Kawasaki) 1:28.916
Max Flinders (Yamaha) 1:31.580

Supersport Qualifying 1

Richie Escalante (Kawasaki) 1:29.475
Sean Dylan Kelly (Suzuki) 1:29.597
Kevin Olmedo (Suzuki) 1:30.358
Jason Aguilar (Yamaha) 1:30.523
Brandon Paasch (Yamaha) 1:30.718
Benjamin Smith (Yamaha) 1:31.114
Lucas Silva (Suzuki) 1:31.130
Max Angeles Fernandez (Yamaha) 1:31.427
Xavier Zayat (Yamaha) 1:31.846
Nolan Lamkin (Yamaha) 1:31.847

Stock 1000 Qualifying Practice 2

Cameron Petersen (Suzuki) 1:27.777
Geoff May (Kawasaki) 1:28.019
Corey Alexander (Kawasaki) 1:28.168
Alex Dumas (Suzuki) 1:28.429
Stefano Mesa (Kawasaki) 1:28.747
Michael Gilbert (Kawasaki) 1:28.766
Travis Wyman (BMW) 1:29.390
Christian Crosslin (Kawasaki) 1:30.030
Ashton Yates (Honda) 1:30.082
Danilo Lewis (BMW) 1:30.301

Twins Cup Practice 1

Kaleb De Keyrel (Yamaha) 1:35.570
Rocco Landers (Suzuki) 1:36.000
Hayden Schultz (Yamaha) 1:36.588
Jackson Blackmon (Suzuki) 1:37.008
Toby Khamsouk (Suzuki) 1:37.361
Teagg Hobbs (Suzuki) 1:37.406
Chris Parrish (Yamaha) 1:37.829
Cooper McDonald (Yamaha) 1:38.565
Jason Madama (Yamaha) 1:39.041
Joseph Blasius (Suzuki) 1:39.238

Liqui Moly Junior Cup Qualifying 1

Rocco Landers (Kawasaki) 1:41.901
Dominic Doyle (Kawasaki) 1:41.936
Samuel Lochoff (Kawasaki) 1:42.685
Benjamin Gloddy (Kawasaki) 1:43.170
Blake Davis (Kawasaki) 1:43.576
Isaiah Burleson (Kawasaki) 1:44.006
Gus Rodio (Kawasaki) 1:44.241
Cody Wyman (Yamaha) 1:44.268
Liam Grant (Kawasaki) 1:44.414
Joseph LiMandri Jr. (Kawasaki) 1:45.049

For the complete 2020 MotoAmerica Series schedule, click HERE

To purchase tickets for any of the 2020 series round, click HERE

For information on how to watch the 2020 MotoAmerica Series, click HERE

Monster Energy Attack Performance Yamaha's Cameron Beaubier was the fastest of the HONOS Superbike field on Friday at Road Atlanta. Photo by Brian J. Nelson
Richie Escalante showed that he's still the man to beat on the opening day of practice for the Supersport class at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. Photo by Brian J. Nelson
Friday photos and video are available HERE

Friday results by class:

Honos Superbike

Supersport

Liqui Moly Junior Cup

Stock 1000

Twins Cup

Complete practice, qualifying and race results are available HERE.

For complete 2020 MotoAmerica Media Resources please visit - 2020 MotoAmerica Media

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Rocco Landers set a new lap record in the Liqui Moly Junior Cup session today at Road Atlanta. Photo by Brian J. Nelson
About MotoAmerica
MotoAmerica is the new North American road racing series created in 2014. MotoAmerica is an affiliate of KRAVE Group LLC, a partnership that includes three-time 500cc World Champion, two-time AMA Superbike Champion, and AMA Hall of Famer Wayne Rainey, ex-racer and former manager of Team Roberts Chuck Aksland, motorsports marketing executive Terry Karges, and businessman Richard Varner. For more information on MotoAmerica, visit www.MotoAmerica.com. Also make sure to follow MotoAmerica on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Source: MotoAmerica

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