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In the MotoAmerica era of U.S. Superbike racing, Yamaha has dominated the top classes, winning three of four Motul Superbike titles and four of four Supersport championships, with the only blemish on the record being Yoshimura Suzuki's Superbike title last year. Cameron Beaubier and J.D. Beach restored Yamaha to dominance this weekend at New Jersey Motorsports Park, clinching the two titles one round early.
In Superbike, Monster Energy/Yamalube/Yamaha Factory Racing's Beaubier brought the top title back to Yamaha after a year's absence, while in Supersport, Monster Energy/Y.E.S./Graves Yamaha's Beach preserved the YZF-R6's perfect record in the class in the MotoAmerica era. Both riders got some lucky breaks at NJMP, though really, neither needed any.
Motul Superbike: Comebacks are even sweeter
Beaubier wrapped up his championship Sunday. The slim hopes that Yoshimura's Toni Elias had of catching Beaubier effectively ended Saturday when he crashed on a wet track. Beaubier rode to a cautious third-place finish while Attack Performance/Herrin Compound rider Josh Herrin rode to the win by a margin of 37.13 seconds that surprised him as much as anyone.
Sunday conditions were far worse. Rain pelted down and puddles formed on the track, leading MotoAmerica to move up race times and shorten distances. Herrin didn't make the start, due to mechanical problems with his Superbike, and Beaubier found some more confidence, riding to a 13.675-second victory over Roger Hayden.
Asked to rank this championship, Beaubier said it was the best one yet, "just because we got it taken away from us last year. Toni was an animal last year. At times he was just unbeatable."
That strength carried over into 2018, with Elias winning five of the first six races.
"We got beat up pretty good last year," Beaubier said. "And the first part of this season. I never got pushed so hard in my life."
The fact that he and his team kept the faith through that beating and came back strong, winning seven of eight races beginning with the round at Road America this year, made the title more gratifying, he said. Plus, he wrapped up the championship Sunday the way every racer wants to, with a race win.
"I've never wrapped up a championship with a win before, so it's an amazing feeling."
Supersport: Not just a Beach day, but a Beach year
About the only way J.D. Beach could avoid winning the 2018 Supersport championship this weekend at NJMP would be to crash on Saturday and break his leg. Of course the wet conditions made just such a thing more possible.
Beach came into the weekend with a 91-point advantage over Rickdiculous Racing's Hayden Gillim, meaning he only had to score nine points all weekend — one seventh-place finish would do — to clinch the title. All year, only Gillim and M4 ECSTAR Suzuki's Valentin Debise have been able to challenge Beach, and Debise was ruled unfit to race due to lingering effects of a concussion he suffered at the previous round at Pittsburgh.
On Saturday's wet track, Beach and Gillim were again in another class from the rest of the field early on, but once Gillim took the lead on the fourth lap, he steadily pulled away to win by 13.723 seconds. The second place for Beach was far more than he needed to clinch his second Supersport championship.
"It was the longest race of my life," Beach said of Saturday's second-place finish. "Being in the wet already takes forever. I was just counting out laps."
"It feels amazing," Beach said of his championship season, which after a win on Sunday at New Jersey (after Gillim crashed out of the lead in the downpour) consists of 11 wins in 15 races. "We've been lucky at times and good at times."
Liqui Moly Junior Cup and Stock 1000 and championships also clinched
Despite crashing on Saturday, KTM Orange Brigade/JP43 Training rider Alex Dumas clinched the Liqui Moly Junior Cup title this weekend, largely because many of his competitors also crashed in the tricky wet conditions. Dumas, riding a KTM RC390, finished the weekend with a 60-point advantage going into the final round.
A fifth-place finish was enough for Andrew Lee of RiderzLaw Racing to clinch the championship in the new Stock 1000 class on his Kawasaki ZX-10R. Consistency won the title for Lee, who has two wins, four seconds and this weekend's fifth in seven races, giving him an insurmountable 33-point lead over Travis Wyman (the Stock 1000 class only races once per weekend).
That leaves only the Twins Cup title to be settled at the final round at Barber Motorsports Park in two weeks. Chris Parrish and Jason Madama are separated by just two points in that class. As for the rest, they'll be racing for race wins and pride as the season ends in Alabama.
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