Only One Rider Remains Undefeated In MotoAmerica After A Wild Weekend Of Racing At Road America

The phrase “perfection is a fickle mistress” could be appropriately applied to the MotoAmerica race weekend at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin this past weekend. Only one rider remains undefeated: Richie Escalante in Supersport.

After another dominating performance on Saturday by Monster Energy Attack Yamaha Superbike rider Cameron Beaubier, the defending champ sat high on the class throne after his unbeaten streak so far this year. The same was true for Escalante in Supersport, Dominic Doyle in Liqui Moly Junior Cup, and Kaleb De Keyrel in Twins Cup. All dominated their class not only in Saturday’s race, but the season so far.

But Sunday was coming.

In Sunday’s HONOS Superbike race, Beaubier had predictably jumped out to an early lead with M4 ECSTAR Suzuki Bobby Fong chasing from second, as he had the day before, the Suzuki rider racing like his life depended on it. Suddenly the front-running champ hit a bump in turn 1, lost the front and lowsided out into the gravel on lap 4. After pitting in for some adjustments, Beaubier was able to rejoin the race, but not regain his place. Fong and Beaubier’s teammate Jake Gagne would battle for supremacy the rest of the race, Fong nipping Gagne at the finish by a mere .509 of a second. This was Fong’s first Superbike win, after taking the Supersport championship last year. A fantastic battle between these two. KATO Fastening/KWR Ducati Kyle Wyman took third, having taken the spot Saturday as well.

HONOS Kawasaki rider Richie Escalante continued to dominate the Supersport 600 class, after Sunday the only rider to remaining undefeated. Escalante battled early in the race around this gigantic track (one of the largest in the U.S.) with M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Sean Dylan Kelly before eventually pulling away later in the race, finally taking the win by a commanding 6 seconds.

2019 Liqui Moly Junior Cup king Rocco Landers has been experiencing what he put the class through last year, losing to BARTCON Racing Kawasaki rider Dominic Doyle in every race so far this season. Then Sunday, in another of their several photo finishes, it was Landers who snatched the flag by .069 of a second. This is an extremely exciting class to watch in action.

In Twins Cup, Rocco Landers took another win on Sunday, this time in the 2-banger class that had been controlled by Kaleb De Keyrel of the World Young Guns/ Sportbiketrackgear.com Suzuki team. Having earned the pole position, Landers jumped to an early lead in race two, and though Keyrel challenged multiple times, it was Landers across the line first by a mere .799 of a second.

Stock 1000 ran Sunday morning, and witnessed the rise of South African Cameron Petersen to the top podium. Class points leader P.J. Jacobsen had crashed out with technical issues during an out-lap, unable to start by the race’s green flag. At race launch, Altus Motorsports Suzuki’s Petersen grabbed the holeshot, challenged only by MESA37 Racing’s Stefano Mesa early on. By race end, Petersen had extended his lead to a definitive 6 seconds over Mesa.

Such were the fortunes in a dramatic weekend of racing up in the Great Lakes region. Indeed, “perfection is a fickle mistress.” Only Supersport’s Escalante remains with her. She’s ditched the rest. We’ll see if they stay together as the season deepens.

Next race weekend will be at Road Atlanta in the Deep South, July 31- August 2.

For more information on races, tickets, broadcast schedules, and highlights, check out all the resources at MotoAmerica.com

*Photos by Ryan Nolan, Dean Phelps, and Brian J. Nelson