Yamaha’s Beaubier Clocks Fastest Lap in MotoAmerica Superbike Qualifying

In Friday's opening qualifying, the 25-year-old nabbed the provisional leading time.
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Yamaha Factory Racing’s Cameron Beaubier laid down the fastest lap on the first day of qualifying for the MotoAmerica Motul Superbike Championship round at Virginia International Raceway. Beaubier, piloting a Yamaha YZF-R1, was the sole rider setting a time in the one-minute 23-second range throughout the sunny opening round. The races, though, will be taking place on Saturday and Sunday in unknown and changing conditions. 

Beaubier was optimistic about his chances come race day as he’s quoted explaining after Friday’s action.

“Between this morning and this afternoon we made a couple of changes to the bike. But even this morning, when I first got on the bike, I felt comfortable. The weather got a little bit hotter this afternoon and the track got a little greasier, but I feel like, even with that, we picked up a little bit of grip. Our time is better than last year’s Superpole already. I’ve got a couple of things to try for tomorrow. Rain or shine, we’ll race and see what happens.”    

Second fastest was points leader Toni Elias on his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R 1000. Elias fell in the final minutes of qualifying after almost setting a 1:23 lap, coming up short with a 1:24.096. Quicksilver/LEXIN/Hudson Motorcycles’ Bobby Fong set the third fastest time at 1:24.430, also on a Yamaha YZF-R1.

   

In the Supersport class, Hayden Gillim and JD Beach qualified first and second with Bryce Prince setting the third-fastest time. 

The event’s other classes include Junior Cup, Twins Cup, Stock 1000, and the WERA 1000 Superbike Triple Crown.