Now celebrating its third season, the MotoAmerica Road-Racing championship has just finished the fifth of 10 rounds at the Utah Motorsports Campus on June 23-25. Led by three-time 500cc GP world champion Wayne Rainey, MotoAmerica is the top US road-racing series, but its shared mission is preparing young riders for international competition. Dunlop is the official tire of MotoAmerica, and all the slick tires used in the series are developed and manufactured by Dunlop in Buffalo, New York.
Among five classes, the entry point is the KTM RC Cup, which uses exclusively single-cylinder KTMs riding on Dunlop Alpha 13 race tires. A big step up are Superstock 600 and Supersport, which exclusively use 17-inch Dunlop racing slicks—including a new 180-rear size introduced in Utah and designed specifically for 600s. Atop the pyramid are Superstock 1000 and Superbike classes, which also race on Dunlop slicks.
Superbike
The premier Superbike class has been hotly contested this year. Through late June, Suzuki teammates Toni Elias and Roger Hayden were battling for the coveted series crown with Yamaha rival Cameron Beaubier. The Utah weekend brought a huge boost for Elias as he swept both races over Hayden. Now owning six wins and three seconds in 10 races, the Spaniard has 210 points – a full 30-point advantage over his colleague, who has so far been limited to one win and seven more podiums. By midseason the Suzuki speedsters had widely gapped Beaubier, whose twin wins and six other podiums were offset by a fall in the second Utah race.
Superstock 1000
With three wins and an impressive six additional podiums, Yamaha-mounted Mathew Scholtz has claimed 191 points in Superstock 1000, which runs concurrently with Superbike on slightly more restricted 1000cc machines. Scrapping for second in the standings were Suzuki’s Jake Lewis with 174 points from two wins and six more podium finishes, and Kawasaki-mounted Bobby Fong with 165 points, courtesy of five wins, two podiums…and two DNFs.
Supersport
In the crowded Pro Supersport class, the fight for supremacy has been between the Yamaha duo of JD Beach and Garrett Gerloff. A total of four wins, two seconds and two thirds by the end of the Utah round had won Beach 172 points vs. 171 points for Gerloff, who earned three wins, four seconds and a third. Talk about evenly matched! Third in the standings was Suzuki-mounted Valentin Debise, with two wins, two seconds and two thirds – and a pair of DNFs to go with them.
Superstock 600
Rather than beginning at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Texas with MotoGP, Superbike and Superstock 1000, the Superstock 600 class debuted at Georgia’s Road Atlanta in late April, and just four rounds – eight races – have since been completed. Suzuki racer Nick McFadden started strongly with twin wins at Road Atlanta, but has managed only two podiums since. Instead, Yamaha-mounted Jason Aguilar took over the points lead in Utah, with back-to-back wins building on three previous podiums to give him 135 points. Taking 126 points through two wins and four other podiums, Yamaha’s Michael Gilbert follows in second, a single precious point ahead of Kawasaki-mounted Conner Blevins, who has claimed two wins and a third. Stay tuned!
KTM RC Cup
With evenly matched KTMs throttled by hungry young riders, it’s an easy bet that competition will always be tight in the RC Cup. And it is. After seven races , Benjamin Smith led the standings firmly with three wins, two seconds and two thirds totaling 147 points, a fat 29-point advantage over Jackson Blackman and his three wins and two additional podiums. Lying third at press time was Draik Beauchamp with one win and three other podiums totaling 99 points.
The MotoAmerica season next takes flight at Laguna Seca Raceway in California on July 7-9, then carries all the way through summer to the September 15-17 finale at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama. Go to motoamerica.com for more info, or to access live coverage on beIN SPORTS CONNECT.