QUICK LINKS IN THE WIND 16 RACING ON THE TUBE 94

ROAD AMERICA 2

BEAUBIER, FONG, SPECTATORSALL WINNERS!

VOLUME 57 ISSUE 26 JUNE 30, 2020

JOHN PENTON GNCCRUSSELL ROLLS ON

COMPARISONDUCATI STREETFIGHTER V4 S

VS. KAWASAKI Z H2Taking It To The Streets

INTERVIEW

LAIA SANZThe First Lady Of Rally

ARCHIVESFLAT TRACKER

JIM RICEALSO...

2021 KTM AND HUSQVARNA MOTOCROSSERS

BITD SILVER STATE 300

SUZUKIPERFORMANCEM4 ECSTAR Suzuki rider Bobby Fong won his first-ever MotoAmerica Superbike race on Sunday at Road America, following up a solid 2nd place on Saturday. Fong and his GSX-R1000 battled hard all weekend,demonstrating the sheer power ofperseverance and performance.

Professional rider in closed-course competition. Suzuki, the “S” logo, and Suzuki modeland product names are Suzuki Trademarks or ®. © 2020 Suzuki Motor of America, Inc.

EXPERIENCE GSX-R

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CONTENTS

QUICK LINKS IN THE WIND 16 RACING ON THE TUBE 94 VOLUME 57 ISSUE 26 JUNE 30, 2020

JOHN PENTON GNCCRUSSELL ROLLS ON

COMPARISONDUCATI STREETFIGHTER V4 S

VS. KAWASAKI Z H2Taking It To The Streets

INTERVIEW

LAIA SANZThe First Lady Of Rally

ARCHIVESFLAT TRACKER

JIM RICEALSO...

2021 KTM AND HUSQVARNA MOTOCROSSERS

BITD SILVER STATE 300

ROAD AMERICA 2

BEAUBIER, FONG, SPECTATORSALL WINNERS!

On The Cover: Race-one winner Cameron Beaubier (1) leads race-two winner Bobby Fong (50) at Road America 2. PHOTOGRAPHY BRIAN J. NELSON

P4

42Bobby Fong captured his

first career Superbike win in race two at Road America 2. The win was also the first for his M4

Ecstar Suzuki Team.PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRIAN J. NELSON

RACED42 ROAD AMERICA 2 Beaubier, Fong bring it on

54 JOHN PENTON GNCC Russell all go in Ohio

COMPARED60 DUCATI STREETFIGHTER V4 S VS. KAWASAKI Z H2 The battle over muscle and finesse

INTERVIEWED72 LAIA SANZ The first lady of rally

DEPARTMENTALIZED

8 CAPTURED

16 IN THE WIND

82 STUFF

88 PRODUCT REVIEW

90 CALENDAR

92 LEADERBOARD

94 RACING ON THE TUBE

96 JOB LISTING

98 ARCHIVES

100 BIKES OF THE STARS

102 LOOKING BACK

104 BOOK REVIEW

VOLUME 57 ISSUE 26 JUNE 30, 2020 P5

ROAD RACING FIM NORTH AMERICAN ROAD RACE CHAMPIONSHIP

ROUND 2 / JUNE 26-28, 2020ROAD AMERICA / ELKHART LAKE, WISCONSIN P42

It looked as though Cameron Beaubier would make round two a repeat of round one, then turn one happened.

SURPRISE, SURPRISE

VOLUME 57 ISSUE 26 JUNE 30, 2020 P43

BY RENNIE SCAYSBROOKPHOTOGRAPHY BY BRIAN J. NELSON

The old adage “to finish first, you must first finish” was never truer than at Road America for round two

for the 2020 MotoAmerica Championship. Cameron Beaubier (Monster Energy At-

tack Racing Yamaha) had done his custom-ary banzai pole position lap and took an easy win in race one ahead of Bobby Fong

(M4 Ecstar Suzuki) and the impressive Kyle Wyman (KWR Ducati) and looked to be out for more of the same in race two.

That was until the number one hit the notorious bump at turn one, tucked the front and slid into the grass, marking his first DNF of the year and a golden opportunity for either Fong or Beaubier’s teammate Jake Gagne to grab their first career Superbike win.

Cameron Beaubier (1) took control of the meeting from Friday practice, setting a record Superpole time of 2:10.623 and rocketing away to the race-one win. For race two, however, Fong (50) would benefit from the champion’s error, taking his career-first Superbike win.

IIIMY OWN RACE:

50 BOBBY FONG 2-1 SUPERBIKE“I saw Cameron (Beaubier) go down and I knew immediately that there was going to be pressure on me,” Bobby Fong said after winning race two. “I knew that [Jake] Gagne had extra mo-tivation, near a race win. I didn’t know who was behind me. I just saw plus one on my board, and then I was look-ing at the big screen down the straight-away to see who it was. Just depending on who it was, I knew how aggressive they were and how defensive I needed to ride. I knew it was Gagne and he rides pretty well. I knew he was going to be there at the end of the race. I just put the hammer down.”

97 ROCCO LANDERS 1 TWINS CUP / 2-1 JUNIOR CUP“The team worked so hard trying to get some more horsepower out of the bike for this round,” Rocco Landers said after taking the Twins Cup win. “I was just trying to get as good of a start as possible and then try to lead into turn five on the first lap. So, the strategy worked out pretty all right.

ROAD RACING FIM NORTH AMERICAN ROAD RACE CHAMPIONSHIP

ROUND 2 / JUNE 26-28, 2020ROAD AMERICA / ELKHART LAKE, WISCONSIN P44

Superbike Race One

IIIMY OWN RACE:Then just kept pushing consistent, good laps and continued to pull away.” After his Junior Cup race-two win, he said, “I changed my strategy midway through the race and decided I was going to follow [Doyle] like I normally do and see what they were doing. Then I just decided to leave a little bit more room going into the last corner on the last lap and tried to pull into his draft and stay as long as pos-sible and pull out as late as possible. I got by him up the hill and just tried to pinch him off a little bit.”

45 CAMERON PETERSEN 1 STOCK 1000“We’ve been having some pretty bad brake problems all weekend,” Cameron Petersen said. “Right before the race, the front wheel was off, and they were trying to make a plan. New brake pads, new everything. The brakes had a com-pletely different feel just riding out on the sighting lap. Then on the warmup lap, going into turn seven, I had noth-ing. I went to go grab the front brakes and there was nothing there. So, I was all over the rear brake. I did everything I could, and that scared me. The brakes came back to me kind of the rest of the lap. I wanted this so bad. I was just like, ‘You know what? It’s life or death. I’m going to do everything I can.’ Thank-fully the brakes held up. I didn’t have much brakes towards the end there. It was a little bit scary, but I’m doing this for myself and especially the team. They work so hard and they deserve these results. Perfect weekend.”

In the end, it was Fong who took the impetus, scoring a first win in the class and for his M4 Ecstar Suzuki team, with Wyman, once again, taking third for a career-first double SBK podium.

“Thankfully we got the win, but we have some work to do to actually beat Cam-eron,” Fong said.

“I feel like I’m happy to bring it home in second,” Gagne said after race two. “Obviously, we know we were fighting for a win, so that’s extra motivation to get it up there. It was a fun race. There were some

VOLUME 57 ISSUE 26 JUNE 30, 2020 P45

Richie Escalante (54) proved round one was no flash in the pan, as the Mexican rode two blisteringly fast races to take two wins. Sean Dylan Kelly (40) had to settle for a pair of seconds. Brandon Paasch (21) scored a pair of thirds, but gave Escalante some grief in an excellent first half of race two. These three are the class of the Supersport field in 2020, with the rest of the pack miles behind.

ROAD RACING FIM NORTH AMERICAN ROAD RACE CHAMPIONSHIP

ROUND 2 / JUNE 26-28, 2020ROAD AMERICA / ELKHART LAKE, WISCONSIN P46

have? I’m happy, me just being up here. It’s a long road, but we’re back to the podium after three years.”

Beaubier now leads the cham-pionship by just nine points over Gagne, 75-66, with Fong jumping up to third with 58 points, just two points ahead of Wyman’s 56.

In the Supersport class, it was more of the same with Richie Escalante going four for four so far in 2020. Cameron Petersen took advantage of PJ Jacobsen’s absence for a career-first Stock 1000 win, Dominic Doyle and Rocco Landers shared the Junior Cup wins, and Landers also took his first Twins Cup victory.

Unlike Road America 1, this race was extra special as it opened its doors for spectators.

sections, the first section and last section, where I could close in and then there was some sec-tions in the middle where Bobby really pulled away. So, we were kind of teeter-tottering and that makes it real tough to even try to find a place to stick it in.”

Wyman waited 1022 days between podiums, ending his drought in Saturday’s race. Then he only waited a day to do it all gain, the New Yorker getting his second podium in a row after holding off the ever-persistent Mathew Scholtz on the Westby Racing Yamaha.

“When you’ve been off the pace for a while you go into the race wondering if you have the pace,” Wyman said after race one. “What are you going to

IIIMY OWN RACE:

54 RICHIE ESCALANTE 1-1 SUPERSPORT“After finishing the two tests in the preseason and then it stopped for two months, I don’t have the feeling this year to win,” Richie Escalante said. “Last race I am feeling very good in the bike. So, this track for this, bike is good. Right now is the moment to change the track for the next race, so we’ll see. I’m really happy. The race is very fun. I take a long-time battle like this. So, it’s fun to pass on every corner. I’m really happy. The HONOS Racing Kawasaki is working really good and my team all weekend. I’m happy and ready for the next races.”

BURNING RING OF FIREPJ Jacobsen was absent from Sunday’s races after suffering burns in a crash at Canada Corner in the Stock 1000 warm-up. The New York-native was taken to a hospital for precautionary checkups but was later released. He took consolation by winning race one in the Superbike Cup (MotoAmerica Stock 1000 race run at the same time as Superbike) but lost the Stock 1000 points lead to Cameron Petersen.

ELIAS AND THE YELLOWToni Elias was denied a first podium of the season in race one when the Spaniard passed Kyle Wyman under

a yellow flag on the final lap. Elias was unfazed, focused on the battle with Wyman and accepted the pen-alty of relegation to fourth. That pro-moted Wyman to a first-ever podium on the Ducati, a feat he repeated in race two following Beaubier’s crash.

THE FOREIGNER FIGHTSSouth African Mathew Scholtz and Spaniard Toni Elias crossed each other off their Christmas card list after Scholtz made an ambitious move on former champion Elias at The Kink in race two. Scholtz went for an outside pass to set himself up for the inside cut-back but clouted Elias and sent him crashing into the gravel trap. The Spaniard was none too pleased but

remounted with a damaged right han-dlebar to take an impressive seventh. THE BRITTEN IS BACKThe MotoAmerica Exhibition Heritage Cup saw a very special entrant Bob Robbins who was piloting his CR&S yellow and black 1994 Britten V1000. Robbins’ machine is the same one piloted by Stephen Briggs to second in the 1995 BEARS World Champi-onship and one of only two Brittens in the world that still gets ridden at speed on the track. Cycle News test rode the other one, owned by Kevin Grant, which you can read here. In all, 10 of the hand-built racers were created by John Britten and his New Zealand team, with each bike valued in excess of $1 million.

Briefly...

ROAD RACING FIM NORTH AMERICAN ROAD RACE CHAMPIONSHIP

ROUND 2 / JUNE 26-28, 2020ROAD AMERICA / ELKHART LAKE, WISCONSIN P48

Dominic Doyle (25) took race one in the Junior Cup for his third straight win, but an overnight frame change on Rocco Landers’ number-one Kawasaki saw the current champion in fine form, as he took an overdue first win of the year. It meant a lot to the Red Bull Rookie rider, as he celebrated—Kevin Schwantz-style—on the cool-down lap.

ROAD RACING FIM NORTH AMERICAN ROAD RACE CHAMPIONSHIP

ROUND 2 / JUNE 26-28, 2020ROAD AMERICA / ELKHART LAKE, WISCONSIN P50

Superbike Race Two

Stock 1000 class leader PJ Jacobsen was out before the start, so it was left to South African Cameron Petersen to take his first AMA Pro Road Racing win on the Altus Motorsports Suzuki GSX-R1000R. In a processional race, Stefano Mesa (37) came home second, while Michael Gilbert (55) recovered from a horrible start to take third ahead of class rookie Alex Dumas (16).

ROAD RACING FIM NORTH AMERICAN ROAD RACE CHAMPIONSHIP

ROUND 2 / JUNE 26-28, 2020ROAD AMERICA / ELKHART LAKE, WISCONSIN P52

Superbike Saturday1. Cameron Beaubier (Yam)2. Bobby Fong (Suz)3. Kyle Wyman (Duc)4. Toni Elias (Suz)5. Mathew Scholtz (Yam)

Sunday1. Bobby Fong (Suz)2. Jake Gagne (Yam)3. Kyle Wyman (Duc)4. Mathew Scholtz (Yam)5. Josh Herrin (BMW)

Rocco Landers lived up to the hype in the second Twins Cup race of the year as the Oregon teenager rode a controlled race to win ahead of round-one winner Kaleb De Keyrel and Hayden Schultz. Schultz got the better of a five-rider fight for the final spot on the podium that included Teagg Hobbs, Cooper McDonald, Toby Khamsouk and Jason Madama. CN

TBDCircuit of the AmericasAustin, TX

october 9-11indianapolis motor speedwayindianapolis, in

september 18-20barber motorsports parkbirmingham, al

september 11-13new jersey motorsports parkmillville, nj

aug 28-30ridge motorsports parkshelton, wa

august 7-9pittsburgh intl. race complexwampum, pa

july 31-august 2 michelin raceway road atlantabraselton, ga

october 23-25weathertech raceway laguna secamonterey, ca

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