QUICK LINKS IN THE WIND 22 ARCHIVES 140 >>LAGUNA SECA DAVIES, DUCATI SWEEP WORLD SUPERBIKE HAYES, BEAUBIER SPLIT SUPERBIKE WINS

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1 QUICK LINKS IN THE WIND 22 ARCHIVES 140 >>LAGUNA SECA DAVIES, DUCATI SWEEP WORLD SUPERBIKE HAYES, BEAUBIER SPLIT SUPERBIKE WINS

2 VOL. 52 ISSUE 29 JULY 21, 2015 SPRING CREEK NATIONAL MOTOCROSS WELCOME HOME DUNGEY INTERVIEW RONNIE JONES: STATE OF FLAT TRACK FIRST RIDE 2016 SUZUKI RM-Z450 QUICK SPINS INDIAN SCOUT HARLEY-DAVIDSON STREET 750

3 7TH STRAI6HT MOT YAMAHA R6 AND R1 RACERS COMPLETE MOTOAMERICA SWEEP #7 AT JOE ROBERTS/YZF -R6 CAM JOSH HAYES/YZF -R1 Finish Position: 1st Rider: Josh Hayes, Cameron Beaubier Bike: YZF-R1 Team: Monster Energy/Graves/Yamaha Location: Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Monterey, CA Race Stats: Hayes claims his 8th win of the season and 56 Beaubier wins an epic battle in race #2, coming from behind to claim his 6th season win and move into a tie with Josh Heckles wins aboard his Ryders Alley Racing Yamaha R1, then RoadRace Factory/Yamaha s Jake Gagne battles back f Yamalube/Y.E.S./Graves/Yamaha rider JD Beach extends his winning streak to six straight, piloting his YZF-R6 to his eig And in Superstock 600, Wheels In Motion/MotoSport.com/Meen Yamaha R6 rider Joe Roberts wins his ninth of the seas Superstock 600 Championship, his first professional road racing title and Yamaha s first MotoAmerica crown. On a much passing of racers Bernat Martinez and Daniel Rivas Fernandez and expresses its deepest sympathy to their respective FOR CURRENT RACE RESULTS OR TO FIND THE NEAREST DEALER, VISIT YAMAHAM

4 TOAMER1CA SWEEP. T LAGUNA SECA. JAKE GAGNE/YZF -R1 MARK HECKLES/YZF -R1 JD BEACH/YZF -R6 MERON BEAUBIER/YZF -R1 a Class: MotoAmerica Superbike 6th career Superbike victory, while teammate Cameron for the 2015 Championship. In Superstock 1000, Mark from 11th in race #1 to win race #2. In the Supersport class, ghth win, cementing a 49-point lead in the Championship. son and sixth straight to clinch the 2015 MotoAmerica h more somber note, Yamaha is deeply saddened by the families. Godspeed Bernat and Daniel. Logotype Sketch Final MOTORSPORTS.COM Professional riders depicted on a closed course Yamaha Motor Corporation, U.S.A. All rights reserved. CMYK Blue: 100C/70M Black: 100k

5 IN THE WIND P32 PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANDREA WILSON THE CHAMP TALKS TWINS ON TTS AND SHORT TRACKS A lot of the talk in the pits at recent races has been centered on the possibility of eliminating or at least greatly limiting, the use of 450 motocross-based machines in AMA Pro Flat Track competition. When asked about using the big bikes to race on tracks like Daytona Short Track and Peoria TT, defending AMA Pro Grand National Champion Jared Mees had a few thoughts. A lot of things need to be out on the table before we make that rule, Mees said. There s got to be good reasoning behind it. I don t think you re going to get many more fans. We ve only got a couple of Singles races anyway. I don t think that s what is really holding up the sport. It s hard to say. At this point in time I don t really know if it s going to be the best thing for our sport in the future. Mees thinks if the change is made to Twins only, he would personally like to see some of the other manufacturers that don t make single-cylinder bikes increase their commitment to the sport. Harley-Davidson has already stepped up, Mees said. But The reigning Grand National Champion Jared Mees is skeptical about racing twins on short tracks and TTs. if some of these manufacturers are complaining because of not having a Singles machine, then if we go full Twins, companies like Ducati and Triumph better step up their efforts. If the rules are changed we want to see them come to the series in a big way. Don t make a rules change to help those guys and then have them not show up next year. While many feel the show at Peoria would be a lot more desirable to the fans with the Twins back, Mees has a different point of few. He also mentions

6 IN THE WIND additional costs it may take to prepare a big Twins machine for a jump like they have at Peoria. I think a lot of people don t understand that we re on a whole different level than they were back in 1970, Mees said when asked about Peoria specifically. I feel we might look poor out there trying to ride these Twins the way we ride the Singles around that place unless they are prepared right and a lot of funding goes into them. That s the scary thing. We get it on right now around Peoria. We re launching further and higher than we ever have. We re P34 hitting that jump wide open. You aren t going to see us do that on Twins unless all of a sudden we get really crafty and start spending lots of money. If we re going to spend lots of money, then let s see lots of money. Larry Lawrence Yamaha is recalling the WR250X and WR250R for starter coil insulation issues. YAMAHA WR250 RECALL If you own a Yamaha WR250X made between 2008 and 2015, or a Yamaha WR250R, give your local Yamaha dealer a call as your bike might come under the latest recall issued by Yamaha USA. In total there are 12,721 bikes that fall under the recall, which relates to the insulation on the starter coil. Should the insulation fail, the coil could shortcircuit due to insufficient heat resistance, which in turn means the battery will not charge, leaving you with a dead battery and possible stalling issues, an obvious safety concern. Yamaha is notifying all affected owners, but if you think this recall might apply to you, give Yamaha a call at

7 IN THE WIND P36 PHOTOGRAPHY BY FUTURE 7 MEDIA Jonny Walker successfully defended his number one plate at the Red Bull Romaniacs extreme enduro. JONNY WALKER TOPS ROMANIACS Red Bull KTM s Jonny Walker once again battled his fierce rival, Bel-Ray Husqvarna s Graham Jarvis, at the 2015 Red Bull Romaniacs extreme enduro. In what riders called the most difficult and closely contested race in the event s history, Walker and Jarvis duked it out all the way to the final day of the fiveday race. The duo battled their way through the rugged terrain of Romania s Carpathian Mountains, which were a bit drier than usual, but after over 24 hours of racing was tallied up, it was Walker who tasted victory. Getting my second win at Red Bull Romaniacs feels amazing, Walker said. I reckon that was probably the hardest race I ve ever done here. With the numberone plate there s always pressure to defend it. I was confident in myself and what I could do but the level has stepped up massively since last year. There are so many guys going fast now it s crazy. Jarvis wasn t Walker s only competition at Romaniacs; the event saw a stacked field with riders Alfredo Gomez, Paul Bolton, Wade Young and Andreas Lettenbichler rounding out the top-six. Jarvis piloted his Husqvarna TE 300 to the front of the field on day one (following the prologue). Lettenbichler started out strong, finishing second behind Jarvis leaving Walker to take third. Walker had trouble with one of the climbs, and also made some uncharacteristic navigational errors. Even though he remained in podium position, the Red Bull rider called it a bad day. On day two, it was Jarvis turn to make navigational errors. Even though Walker started with

8 VOL. 52 ISSUE 29 JULY 21, 2015 P37 a six-minute deficit, he managed to gain the advantage over Jarvis. Walker went on to gap Jarvis by a comfortable margin by the finish of day two. Letti took a dive in standings (quite literally) after losing time due to a highspeed crash. New Zealander Chris Birch was also in the running, but crashed out on day two. Unlike Birch, Letti soldiered on, and rebounded on day three in a big way, taking the stage win. Although Letti eventually went on to finish sixth, he was proud of his efforts in Romania. The mixed results throughout the first four days of competition set the stage for a thrilling showdown on day four, where Jarvis and Walker duked it out for what was one of the closest-ever finishes in the race. The last section of the race was strewn with obstacles, including a balance beam over a mud pit. Walker, who was in the lead, slipped off the beam and needed a second Bel-Ray Husqvarna s Alfredo Gomez on his way to a third-place finish. try. But as he was dragging his KTM out of the mud, Jarvis arrived, and cleared the beam. Although the move allowed Jarvis to top the stage, Walker managed to cross the beam and stop the clock with his overall lead still intact. After over 24 hours of tallied race time, the final gap was little more than a minute. It s been an unbelievable race, Jarvis said. I think that s the closest and most competitive one I ve ever done. It literally went down to the final 50 meters for the win. I m not unhappy to finish second in such a strong group of riders, but hopefully next year I ll get back on the top step of the podium again. Jarvis Bel-Ray Husqvarna teammate Alfredo Gomez rounded out the overall podium in third. Gomez spent the first two days of competition finding his footing in the Carpathian Mountains, but began to excel on day three. After KTM s Wade Young drowned his engine in a river crossing, dropping him from third overall, Gomez inherited the point and held it to the finish. CN Graham Jarvis skillfully traverses the balance beam section in the final few stretches of the race. Jarvis topped the stage, but had to settle for second overall.

9 ROUND 7/JULY 17-19, 2015 MAZDA RACEWAY LAGUNA SECA/MONTEREY CALIFORNIA SUPERBIKE/SUPERSTOCK 1000 P102 MOTOAMERICA AMA/FIM NORTH AMERIC WIN. LOSE. DRAW. CHAMPIONSHIP RIVALS JOSH HAYES AND CAMERON BEAUBIER SPLIT WINS AT LAGUNA SECA AND END THE WEEKEND TIED ON POINTS BY ANDREA WILSON PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRIAN J. NELSON The stage was set at Laguna Seca for the Superbike heavyweights to square off Josh Hayes versus Cameron Beaubier. And they didn t disappoint. It was another case of youth versus experience. Only in the reverse order. In race one, Hayes absolutely schooled the competition in tough mixed conditions, lapping up to fourth place and beating his young teammate to make a statement. In race two, Beaubier was not to be denied and clawed his way back, beat his teammate and a very determined Roger Hayden, to make a statement. So the Monster Energy Yamaha duo are at a stalemate, Hayes and Beaubier tied in the championship. But overshadowing all of that was the side of racing that no one hopes ever happens, the loss of not one, but two racers, Bernat Marti-

10 continued on next page AN ROAD RACING CHAMPIONSHIP The MotoAmerica Superbike title fight heated up at Laguna Seca as teammates Josh Hayes (1) and Cameron Beaubier (6) are now tied in points. VOL. 52 ISSUE 29 JULY 21, 2015 Briefly... P103 The mixed conditions in the first of the two Superbike/Superstock 1000 races started to look like an endurance race towards the end. So many riders coming in to change tires and riders racing with different comfort levels meant that there was a lot of different races going on and multilayers of lapped traffic. So when the blue flag came out it was a bit confusing. It was confusing because I m lapping guys and then [Cameron] Beaubier and [Josh] Hayes, they were obviously at the front and although my lap times were decent by the end, I d given away way too much time and Josh was going really good, Chris Ulrich said. When he came by it wasn t that confusing, but then when Beaubier was there it was like, I m lapping two people. I ve got two people I m racing, and oh shoot, there s Cam. And it s like, at that point you just got to make a conscious decision to ignore it because I don t know who it s for. But they did a good job. I saw Josh s pit board. I knew he had 14 seconds on Cam so it wasn t like I messed Cam s race up, or any of us did. In the end the GEICO Suzuki rider was happy with a pair of fifth-place Superbike finishes after a rough few races struggling with electronics issues on his bike. For Roger Hayden Laguna Seca is a special place with a lot of great memories. Yeah, Laguna s always been a pretty good track for my whole family, Hayden said. Nicky won his first Grand Prix race, I won my first and only championship here. Always seem to do pretty good here.

11 ROUND 7/JULY 17-19, 2015 MAZDA RACEWAY LAGUNA SECA/MONTEREY CALIFORNIA SUPERBIKE/SUPERSTOCK 1000 P104 MOTOAMERICA AMA/FIM NORTH AMERIC Josh Hayes smoked the completion in race one, lapping the field up to fourth place.

12 AN ROAD RACING CHAMPIONSHIP VOL. 52 ISSUE 29 JULY 21, 2015 Briefly... P105 I like this track. People always ask me my favorite track and I always say Laguna just because the results are always good. So if I win at Indy I guess that ll be my new favorite track. nez, 27, and Daniel Rivas, 35, both of Spain. Martinez and Rivas succumbed to injuries following a multi-rider incident that took place just moments after the start of the race, before the crest of turn one. Also involved were HSBK Racing Aprilia s Devon McDonough, Zlock Racing s Kevin Pinkstaff and Josh Chisum, the three were all treated at the on-track medical center and later released. It is not yet known exactly what caused the chain-reaction crash. CLASS IS IN SESSION It s clearly not Josh Hayes first rodeo. He has championships under his belt four AMA Super- bike titles, two Formula Extreme titles and an AMA Superstock title. So he knows a thing or two about tire strategy. Race one of the MotoAmerica Superbike/Superstock doubleheader at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca was all about tire strategy. Mother Nature decided to throw another challenge at the riders on the infamous technical mile circuit rain. Rather than staying wet, things got complicated again when the track started to dry out again. The wise choice was slicks. Not everyone made that choice. Hayes did. I ve been around for a little while, Hayes said. The last Laguna Seca marked the first race that the MotoAmerica Superbike/ Superstock 1000 class was allowed to race with open pipes. Without the noise restriction, the bikes sounded impressive, similar to the MotoGP that used to lap around the dry lake. While a lot of the Yamahas were running them, they were absent at the Yoshimura Suzuki squad. We ve been doing quite a bit of development and testing, said Yoshimura Suzuki s Don Sakakura. Honestly we haven t found, to this stage, something that performs better than what we re currently using. So, we re going to continue with that and see if we can find something maybe before the next round or before Jersey. But at this stage we re not interested to change the muffler for sound, unless we re making more power performance. So again, exhaust is a pretty integral part of the whole entire package, as you can imagine, to engine spec to camshafts, it all ties in together. So you change one component like that, it s pretty critical on the whole balance of the engine. So we haven t found a noisy exhaust yet. Honestly it was surprising for us to see that, but I think we ve been using this package for a while now, so it s fairly well developed. It works fairly well the way it is so we re going to leave it for now.

13 ROUND 7/JULY 17-19, 2015 MAZDA RACEWAY LAGUNA SECA/MONTEREY CALIFORNIA SUPERBIKE/SUPERSTOCK 1000 P106 MOTOAMERICA AMA/FIM NORTH AMERIC time I raced here and it was wet Tommy Hayden lapped me twice. So that is no joke on DOTs [in] So I might have been a little nervous about today to start with. But by turn four on the warmup lap I knew I wanted slick tires. I knew I was going to take that gamble no matter what everybody else did. It was dry enough, I thought. There were definitely sections of the track where I was going tiptoe and struggle but as the race goes on it s going to get better and better. And this just comes down to experience. I ve done this enough times and kind of seen how this plays out that I had no questions about my decision. So points for experience, but more importantly, points for nerves of steel and the talent to take it to another level. I m fortunate, I m a lucky man, Hayes said. I have a lot of AMA Superbike championships and so I didn t have probably the same nerves that these guys are feeling, and I was able to use this opportunity to take advantage of if they were careful at all. I felt confident to go out there and see what I can make happen. I was careful. I tiptoed in the right places, I went fast where I needed to. Just tried to keep my cool and put in a good race and not make too many mistakes. Hayes was very happy after, dominating the Superbike field. Beaubier was on the slicks as well, but he just couldn t hang with Hayes. It was tough, Beaubier said. I was struggling out there the first three or four laps. Josh [Hayes] just got away and I was like, man, there s no way I m catching him right now. He was riding really good. He was on rails. It was like he was on a different track. It was a bummer. I just settled. I didn t want to throw another bike away [referring to his Superpole crash]. My crew worked really hard on getting that bike put back together

14 AN ROAD RACING CHAMPIONSHIP VOL. 52 ISSUE 29 JULY 21, 2015 P107 HECKLES FIRST It was another case of youth versus experience in the Superstock 1000 class. And as with Superbike, tire choice was key. So in the first of the two combined MotoAmerica Superbike/Superstock 1000 races at Laguna Seca, Ryder s Alley Racing s Mark Heckles made the choice to go with slicks and came out on top to take his first win in the championship. The 39-year-old from Liverpool, England, raced at Laguna Seca in the World Superbike Championship 13 years ago, and he was overjoyed with his win. Thirteen-years ago I was getting lapped and I was doing the lapping today, Heckles said. That s real nice. It s been a great week. We ve been fast all weekend. As for the tire selection, he gave credit to an inside tip from a fellow Brit World Superbike points leader Johnny Rea. We didn t really roll the dice, he said. I went to see Johnny Rea before the race and I got to thank him. I said, If you were racing in 10 minutes what tires would you put on? And he said slicks. So I ve got a big thanks to Johnny coming. Maybe a couple of beers tonight, you never know. Joining Heckles on the podium was Atom Racing s Steve Rapp. The longtime AMA Superbike regular made his MotoAmerica debut at Laguna Seca and he was Mark Heckles shined in the race one mixed conditions to score his first win in the championship. happy to land on the podium so quickly with his new team, especially after missing most of the season. I got to be honest with you, I really didn t expect it, Rapp said. When you come into a championship like this everyone, else has had got the whole year to get things dialed in and it s really hard. You re behind the eight ball the whole time. I ve had a lot of experience in these conditions before and I did the parade lap on the rains and I knew right from the get-go there was no way it was going to work. So I pulled in the pit lane, threw on the slicks and I didn t know if I was going to make it through the first couple laps, but I knew if I did it would be a lot better. So it worked out. TOBC Yamaha s Taylor Knapp was third, which helped him close the gap on series-points leader Jake Gagne on the RoadRace Factory Yamaha. Gagne made the wrong choice with tires and finished back in sixth. In fourth was GN Gonzales Racing Yamaha s Tyler O Hara ahead of San Jose BMW s Cory Call. Northern Californian Tyler O Hara also chose wets and was running up front early on his Chisum/Motul Racing Yamaha. It didn t last long as he crashed after passing Beaubier for second, but he was able to remount and finish seventh in the class. Yamalube/Westby Racing s Josh Day was eighth ahead of HSBK Racing Aprilia s Sheridan Morais. Rounding out the top 10 was Oleg Pianykh on the Motostation Yamaha. yesterday. I just can t thank them enough for that. I m going to go back and see what I can change for the second race and get some confidence back going into race two and go for it. RETURNING SERVE Those doubters that looked at race one and thought, man, that Beaubier kid sure blew his shot at impressing the world stage by getting whooped by Hayes, well, Beaubier had an answer for that. At first that answer was rather subtle. Hayes led the way. Yoshimura Suzuki s Roger Hayden latched on and wouldn t let Hayes put on his disappearing act. Hayden eventually got past Hayes and when it looked like maybe it might be Hayden s time, Beaubier caught up, passed his teammate and then eventually Hayden. Hayden tried one last time in the final corner before the checkers but he left the door open and Beaubier showed no mercy, taking the win by.084 of a second, and more importantly, bringing the championship back to a stalemate. I m glad I redeemed myself after race one, Beaubier said. I pretty much got schooled by Josh out there. It wasn t too fun. I just struggled a little bit right at the beginning. Half wet, half dry conditions [race one], that was tough on me. Second race I

15 ROUND 7/JULY 17-19, 2015 MAZDA RACEWAY LAGUNA SECA/MONTEREY CALIFORNIA SUPERBIKE/SUPERSTOCK 1000 P108 MOTOAMERICA AMA/FIM NORTH AMERIC knew I had to hang it out. Beaubier wasn t the only one hanging it out. Hayden was all in to try and get that first win of the season. It was a good race in the beginning, he said. I really didn t want to let Josh get away because I ve seen him do that many times and the race is over after five laps. So I really hung with him and then it looked like he was starting to slide a little bit. I felt pretty good and I made the pass. My first lap in the lead was really slow. I was like, I don t want to be that guy who couldn t do the laps in the front. So I really put my head down and started doing basically the same lap times that we were doing before that. Unfortunately for Hayden, Beaubier was on a mission. It s a little disappointing to come up that close and still get second, but I gave it all that I had. It was a fun battle with Cam [Beaubier], going through the corkscrew that close with somebody you trust was a lot of fun. In the last corner, I just gave it

16 AN ROAD RACING CHAMPIONSHIP VOL. 52 ISSUE 29 JULY 21, 2015 P109 GAGNE S REDEMPTION Again, as it was in the Superbike class, it was all about redemption for Superstock 1000 points leader Jake Gagne, who got back to his winning ways in race two at Laguna Seca. RoadRace Factory Yamaha s Gagne had a string of bad luck that started at the previous round at Miller Motorsports Park where his lead of 44 points dwindled down to 20 over TOBC Racing s Taylor Knapp. Gagne made up for it in race two, taking the win in his class and fourth overall in the combined Superbike/Superstock 1000 results. Yeah, it felt good to get back up here, Gagne said. We had a rough last go at Miller. A couple tough races and then this morning another tough one. So it s been a few races since I ve been up here on the box so I had to remember what it felt like. HSBK Racing Aprilia s Sheridan Morais finished second ahead of Knapp, further helping Gagne get some of those points back. Yamalube/Westby Racing s Josh Day also had a much better result in the dry finishing fourth. Chisum/Motul Racing Yamaha s Tyler O Hara was fifth ahead of race one winner Mark Heckles on the Ryders Alley Racing Yamaha. Steve Rapp brought the Atom Racing BMW home in seventh in what was only his second race with the team. San Jose BMW s Cory Call was eighth ahead of BP Racing Yamaha s Sebastiao Ferreira. Rounding out the top 10 was Barrett Long on the Longevity Racing Yamaha. one last ditch effort and almost got it, but just couldn t make the corner and Cam did what he had to do and we got second. If Hayes was unhappy with third in race two, he didn t show it. I just got beat today, Hayes said. But I had a really fun race. I was glad I was there until the finish with these two guys. That s what championship racing s all about. A very determined Roger Hayden (95) was going for his first Superbike win of the season, but Beaubier (6) got past him in the end. Jake Gagne got back to winning in the much drier race two.

17 ROUND 7/JULY 17-19, 2015 MAZDA RACEWAY LAGUNA SECA/MONTEREY CALIFORNIA SUPERBIKE/SUPERSTOCK 1000 MOTOAMERICA AMA/FIM NORTH AMERICAN ROAD RACING CHAMPIONSHIP P110 Having the points tied is awesome. It sets up for a fantastic finish to the season and Roger is really the dark horse. He can really get in there and mix it up for both Cam and I. It s just a lot of fun and I m glad I m still here. So the pair are tied at 286 with four races left and 100 points up for grabs. How did Beaubier feel about his shot at the championship? Oh man, I don t know, Beaubier said. He s got 20 years on me, so we ll see. I m going to fight for it. And the veteran Hayes? I feel pretty good about it, but pressures are different between the two of us, Hayes said. We have different things weighing in our corner. He s a young buck looking to go on to do big things. He needs this championship and probably feels it. I m pretty fortunate that I have a few of these trophies at home and I can enjoy it and ride it relaxed and really go after it but I want it really bad. CN Superbike Race One 1. Josh Hayes (Yam) 2. Cameron Beaubier (Yam) 3. Roger Hayden (Suz) 4. Jake Lewis (Suz) 5. Chris Ulrich (Suz) 6. Bernat Martinez (Yam) Beaubier (center) was much happier in race two, finding redemption after being schooled by his teammate Hayes (right) in race one. 7. Kevin Pinkstaff (Kaw) 8. Elena Myers (Suz) 9. Chris Fillmore (KTM) Superbike Race Two 1. Cameron Beaubier (Yam) 2. Roger Hayden (Suz) 3. Josh Hayes (Yam) 4. Jake Lewis (Suz) 5. Chris Ulrich (Suz) 6. Elena Myers (Suz)