MILLVILLE, N.J. – Cameron Beaubier will need a little help in the final round of the MotoAmerica Superbike Championship at Barber Motorsports Park, but he at least has a chance at the title.
Beaubier won the second EBC Brakes Superbike race in the Championship of New Jersey on Sunday at New Jersey Motorsports Park, elevating himself back into the conversation.
After finishing second on Saturday and winning on Sunday to claw back into championship contention with just the two races at Barber left on the schedule, Beaubier trails Toni Elias by 16 points.
Yoshimura Suzuki’s Elias had an off-weekend and finished fourth in both races, giving up 19 points to Beaubier and his Monster Energy/Yamalube/Yamaha Factory Racing YZF-R1.
On Saturday, Beaubier lost out to his teammate Garrett Gerloff and on Sunday he had his hands full with Attack Performance Estenson Racing’s JD Beach.
Gerloff, meanwhile, was declared unfit to race after a big crash in the morning warm-up session that left him concussed.
Beaubier and Beach were joined up front by Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz, but the South African ended up finishing third, some seven seconds behind Beaubier.
Beaubier was also able to gap Beach in the closing laps, besting Beach by 1.44 seconds after 23 laps for his fourth win of the season and the 36th of his Superbike career.
“At the beginning I was pretty confident going in just because I felt like I had pretty good pace there at the beginning of the race yesterday, and then after latching onto (Garrett) Gerloff he kind of pulled us three away from the field,” Beaubier said. “Then at the end it was us two. I was pretty confident that my bike was going to be better than it was yesterday, but I was struggling pretty bad at the beginning when the tires were new. I felt like I couldn’t really take advantage of the grip I had with the previous setup we had yesterday. But it felt okay at the end of the race. I was able to manage the tire decent.
“JD (Beach) was riding awesome. Then I saw my pit board when I was in second. I didn’t know who it was, but I saw that gap close right back up onto us,” he added. “I was like, ‘Oh man. I’m in for a long last 10 laps.’ I’m really happy we got this win and kind of the monkey off of our back, type of thing. I’m more relieved than anything. Today feels good.”
M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Jake Lewis finished fifth, one spot better than on Saturday, and ahead of sixth-placed Kyle Wyman on the Lion Fuel/Cyclance/KWR Ducati.
Yoshimura Suzuki’s Josh Herrin was seventh, with Scheibe Racing BMW’s Jake Gagne ending his weekend with an eighth-place finish.
FLY Racing/ADR Motorsports’ David Anthony and Omega Moto’s Cameron Petersen rounded out the top 10.
With Beaubier now trailing Elias by 16 points, Gerloff holds on to third, though he’s dropped to 41 points behind after missing Sunday’s race.
Sunday’s Supersport race two was another good one for New Yorker PJ Jacobsen as the Celtic HSBK Racing Yamaha rider held off hard-charging and determined championship leader Bobby Fong aboard his M4 ECSTAR Suzuki.
Jacobsen and Fong diced with each other as the laps wound down, and Jacobsen bested Fong at the checkers by .028 of a second.
With a double win at NJMP, Jacobsen now trails Fong in the championship by just 10 points.
Rocco Landers, who clinched the Liqui Moly Junior Cup class championship on Saturday, celebrated his title in the best way possible.
Aboard his Ninja400R.com/Norton Motorsports/Dr. Farr Kawasaki, Landers won Sunday’s race with a gap of nearly seven seconds over Quarterly Racing/On Track Development Kawasaki’s Damian Jigalov.
Former Liqui Moly Junior Cup Champion Alex Dumas has been on a roll in the latter half of the Twins Cup season, and on Sunday, the Roadracing World Young Guns Suzuki rider won his fourth race in a row and fifth out of the past six races.
Dumas withstood a staunch challenge from RBoM Racing/Blud Lubricants/HJC Suzuki rider Jackson Blackmon, who raced in both Liqui Moly Junior Cup and Twins Cup this weekend and made the podium in both classes.
Last year’s Stock 1000 Champion Andrew Lee successfully defended his title when he clinched the 2019 Stock 1000 Championship by winning Sunday’s race.
Lee, aboard his Franklin Armory/Graves Kawasaki, started from the pole, but the race was red-flagged and had to be restarted. Despite the drama, Lee stayed in front and kept title rival Stefano Mesa behind him.