LEEDS, Ala. — Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Cameron Beaubier had a difficult season last year, missing races due to injury, yet still clawing his way back to finish second in the 2024 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship.
This year, the five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion is hoping for more, and it’s a case of “so far, so good” as Beaubier won the opening race of the series at Barber Motorsports Park on Saturday.
But it was far from easy. The race was a Beaubier vs. Bobby Fong battle with Fong’s Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha Racing teammate Jake Gagne watching the proceedings from third place.
Beaubier led early, stalked by Fong, then Fong took over, stalked by Beaubier. It turns out that Beaubier was saving his best for last as he dropped the hammer with two laps remaining, turning the fastest lap of the race on the final lap.
At the finish line, it was Beaubier over Fong by .833 of a second. Gagne held on for a lonely third, 6.5 seconds behind the battle in front of him and a similar distance to the rider behind him.
That rider was Vision Wheel M4 Suzuki’s Sean Dylan Kelly. Kelly didn’t get off the start line very well, but he kept pushing until getting into fourth place, a position he would hold to the finish. It was a good result for the Floridian in what was his first Superbike race on a GSX-R1000R.
Defending MotoAmerica Superbike Champion Josh Herrin was a lonely fifth, well behind Kelly and some seven seconds ahead of Real Steel Honda’s Hayden Gillim. FLO4LAW/SBU Racing’s Benjamin Smith was seventh with Superbike Cup winner JD Beach eighth on his Stock 1000-spec Real Steel Honda.
BPR Racing Yamaha’s Bryce Kornbau and Aftercare Scheibe Racing’s Danilo Lewis rounded out the top 10.
Notables who failed to finish the race were Jones Honda’s Ashon Yates and Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante. Yates was taken out by a mechanical issue while Escalante crashed out of fourth on the third lap.
