Winning Battles, Losing the War
Winning Battles, Losing the War
MotoAmerica Epic Season Ender at Barber
The MotoAmerica motorcycle road racing season wrapped up at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama this past weekend, in two days marked by devastating crashes, fierce competition, the retiring of a legend, and the crowning of the 2018 champions. An epic weekend to end an epic season.
With most class championships sewn up by the New Jersey round earlier in September, the MotoAmerica staff nonetheless predicted stiff competition across the two days of racing, with riders battling for the remaining points and podiums, and their drive to finish strong for their teams.
The predictions were spot-on.
Though 2017 Superbike champ Toni Elias lost the points war across the season to soon-to-be crowned 2018 champ Cameron Beaubier, Elias won the battles both days on the track, winning both Superbike races to finish the season with nine wins, surpassing Beaubier’s eight on the year. In fact, Beaubier violently crashed out of race 1 on lap 14 of 21, while engaged in a three-way struggle for the lead with Elias and Josh Herrin. Race 2 saw Beaubier and Elias battle the entire race, in a veritable grudge match for victory, Elias only claiming the checkered by .333 of a second over the 2018 champion. Again, Georgia’s own Josh Herrin rounded out the podium in 3rd.
Supersport saw a similar scenario between guaranteed 2018 champ JD Beach and Hayden Gillim, as Gillim, with no chance to catch Beach in the points, doggedly bit down on the lead in both races, and never gave them up. Gillim claimed the podium in both, relegating the soon-to-be-crowned Supersport champion to the number two rung, followed by Valentin Debise, who is sure to be back chasing the championship next year.
Supersport also witnessed one of the most violent crashes of the season, when two mid-pack racers, Max Angles and Jordan Pence, tangled down the front stretch at full throttle. Both riders and bikes collided and careened at well over 100 mph, one down the track with other riders swerving and dodging, the other tumbling into the grass, bike flipping wildly by, narrowly missing the already injured rider.
In Junior Cup, the young Frenchman Alex Dumas added an exclamation point to the 2018 title he had already earned, claiming victories both days in sheer domination of the class. He was untouchable, from green light to checkered. Andrew Lee capped off his championship in Stock 1000 with another win, and Chris Parrish took the Twins Cup title by a mere 3 points over Jason Madama.
*Of particular note- Roger Hayden, of the legendary Hayden racing family and younger brother of the late, great Nicky Hayden, retired at season’s end, after more than 20 years of fierce competition. With his retirement, a page turns in American motorcycle road racing history, with Roger being the last remaining of the immediate family who still competed professionally. He will be sorely missed.
And with that, one of the most memorable race weekends concluded one of the most memorable seasons for MotoAmerica. The Barber round saw 140 registered riders across all classes, a world road racing record in the last 15 years. With all the concerts, stunt demos (Tony Hawk Experience, Wall of Death, etc.), and kids activities at each race weekend, MotoAmerica has created an almost “country fair” carnival atmosphere, with something for everyone to experience and enjoy, as well as great racing.
MA president Wayne Rainey summed up the season- “This was our 4th year, and I think we’ve come a long way. The sport was in pretty dire shape when we took it over, but support is growing, promotion is paying off, more manufacturers are coming on board, and some of the top World Superbike and MotoGP riders are inquiring about ‘finding a seat’ here to race, so we’re excited. Our fans have been great, lots of positive talk about the championship as a whole, so from where we started to where we are, it’s massive.”
The 2019 MotoAmerica season will kick off again at Road Atlanta, and Born to Ride will be there.
For more on MotoAmerica, visit their website- www.motoamerica.com
Rob Brooks