PittRace Crazy for MotoAmerica

The racing was chaotic and crazy at Pittsburgh International Speedway this weekend, with crashes, red flags, and photo-finishes characterizing the championship series in all classes.
Saturday saw questionable conditions on the track due to adverse weather, and when the racing got underway, all bets were off as to who could master the track. In Superbike, Georgia’s own Josh Herrin battled to the front, and held the lead to the checkered against the Texan Garrett Gerloff and South African Mathew Scholtz. This was Herrin’s first win in five years, and the 2013 AMA Superbike champ commented, “I was on the podium when I suddenly realized this was my first Superbike win in five years! That’s a huge deal for me. I just put my head down and went for it.” Points leader Cameron Beaubier and 2017 champ Toni Elias struggled in the wet-to-dry track conditions, coming up 5th and 4th, respectively.

 In Supersport, Frenchman Valentin Debise snatched the Saturday win from Hayden Gillim and Bryce Prince, while class leader JD Beach struggled in the changing conditions, and finished an uncharacteristic 4th, one of the few times he is ever off the podium.
French Canadian and current points leader Alex Dumas took his seventh win of the season in Junior Cup, in a chaotic race that was red-flagged twice due to crashes.
The Twins Cup race was mastered by Jason Madama, taking his third podium of the season, in a near photo-finish run to the flag. Twins had also seen a series of crashes, with a red flag restart as well.
What a day.

 Sunday saw the return of an epic last-lap battle between protagonists Toni Elias and Cameron Beaubier, as the two swapped the lead and some paint until the checkered flag. Elias squeaked out the win by a mere .046 of a second over Beaubier, another definite photo-finish. Elias dedicated his win to the late Brian Drebber, beloved MotoAmerica race announcer, who died tragically on Thursday in a motorcycle accident, on his way to catch a flight to PittRace for the weekend.
JD Beach jumped back to the top of the podium Sunday in Supersport, in yet another red-flag shortened race for the weekend. With a 98-point lead over Hayden Gillim, Valentin Debise, and the rest of the field, and two race rounds to go, Beach looks to sew up the championship at New Jersey September 7-9. After the win, Beach quipped, “I’m not too sure that would have happened if we would have gone the full race distance, but sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good.”
Alex Dumas did the double in Junior Cup, after battling Renzo Ferreira until Ferreira crashed out of the race, as did Ashton Yates. Young Dumas holds a 64-point lead in the 300-400cc championship standings.

 Stock 1000 ran on Sunday, and Andrew Lee took his second win of the season, after claiming victory at Sonoma. Again, the class saw red-flags flying, and Lee took the win in yet another shortened sprint to the finish.
Whew, what a wild weekend. Stay tuned for more info on the two remaining rounds, New Jersey and Barber, and make plans now to join Born to Ride at Barber Motorsports Park for the climactic final round of the 2018 season, September 21-23.
Tickets- MotoAmerica.com
Race highlights- BeIN Sports USA on Youtube
Race reports- BorntoRide.com

Rob Brooks

 

Race Like A Girl- Jamie Astudillo in MotoAmerica

Not many women currently run professionally in motorcycle road racing, but those that do, have definitely earned their place. Here in the States, in MotoAmerica, there are only three- Caroline Olsen in Supersport 600, Melissa Paris in Stock 1000, and Jamie Astudillo in Liqui Moly Junior Cup. And of these, only one has rewritten the record books- Jamie Astudillo. We pointed out in our May issue that Jamie etched her name in the American road racing archives as the first woman to ever podium in a MotoAmerica professional motorcycle road racing event, when she took third place in race 2 of the season opener at Road Atlanta. Riding for Quarterley/On-Track Racing, Jamie has consistently stayed in the points chase, racing in the top 10 across the first portion of the season. Jamie is “running with the big boys”, and challenging for the front in every race.
I had opportunity to catch up with Jamie at the Road America round in Wisconsin, close to mid season, and spent a few minutes discussing her life and racing, for an article in Born to Ride. I found Jamie to be a winsome, enthusiastic, warm personality off the track, a joy to converse with. Yet underneath the “typical teenager” visage, there lies the heart of a young lion, on the hunt for racing glory.

Jamie's parents originally hail from Ecuador and Costa Rica, but have raised Jamie and her two older brothers in Pennsylvania. Like the famous Hayden racing family, the Astudillo kids have all followed in their father's tracks, racing motorized two and four wheelers since early childhood.
When asked her first riding age, Jamie revealed, "I first started riding at 2 years old, a Yamaha PeeWee 50, and was racing by 3." I was stunned, as most two-three year olds can barely walk, much less ride. Jamie raced quads for several years, then returned to cycles by age 7. Riding motocross was a family activity the Astudillos enjoyed together nearly every weekend, and by age 12, Jamie recognized, as did her parents, that she not only had a great love for racing, she was quite good at it.
Jamie competed in Motocross, GNCC woods racing, even a few hare scrambles. Recovering from a cracked collar bone at age 11, she found her way back to racing within a few months, and discovered she was faster than before, going from a top 10 rider to a front runner. "I was just so hungry to race again, hungry to be up front," she reflected. Watching the last round of the national WMX series race, seeing all those women riding pro on factory bikes, and witnessing Ashley Folick win one of her four Women's MX Pro titles, Jamie told herself, "I'm going to be on that podium one day. This is what I want to do with my life."

After enjoying great success and increased notoriety in Motocross, Jamie received a Facebook message in 2015 from Melissa Paris, MotoAmerica Stock 1000 racer, inviting Jamie to try road racing by joining her team. Jamie stated, "I figured I had nothing to lose. I mean, it's a motorcycle, just another discipline, so why not give it a try?" After a struggle acclimating to pavement, Jamie soon found her pace, and by 2017 competed in the MotoAmerica KTM Junior Cup series. She took an offer to race for Quarterley/On-Track in 2018, the team that produced last year's Junior Cup champion, Benjamin Smith. She hasn't disappointed, filling those shoes quite adequately across the first half of the season.

Jamie has big dreams. She would like to eventually dominate the MotoAmerica Junior Cup class, and aspires to one day move onto the international stage, competing in WSBK Supersport 300, or even MotoGP's Moto3 class.
Being a dad of daughters myself, I know the pride of watching your girls succeed. Jamie makes her parents proud, I know- I could see it in their eyes, as I interviewed Jamie at their team truck. The sky's the limit for Jamie Astudillo, in racing and in life. As a race fan and a "daughter dad", on behalf of all of us at Born to Ride, I wish Jamie all the best success. 

Rob Brooks

*photos by Rob Brooks & Ryan Nolan

MotoAmerica at Road Atlanta

The 2018 MotoAmerica racing season roared off its “launch pad” at Road Atlanta, April 14 and 15th, to great fanfare. With nail–biting racing, accompanied by the gravity-defying stunt shows of the Tony Hawk Experience and American Motor Drome’s Wall of Death, MotoAmerica put on a weekend spectacle like no other.
The “young guns” of Junior Cup (300-400cc) led off both days, racing for glory in the MotoAmerica entry-level class. Of particular note to Born to Ride was the first-ever female podium in American road racing history, as Jamie Astudillo took 3rd place on Sunday, after a 4th place finish on Saturday. Dads of daughters everywhere were proud.
The brand new Super Twins class featured a grid full of Suzuki SV 650s and Yamaha MT-07s. The deep throaty roar of V and in-line Twins across the grandstands was palpable. We hope this class will continue to grow in number of racers and popularity.

The Supersport 600 class saw a new rivalry develop, between veteran Yamaha Factory rider JD Beach and Hayden Gillim, who rode Superstock 1000 last year. They split the podium both days, swapping 1st and 2nd on two races.
Superbike 1000 also saw the return of dominant performances by defending class champion Toni Elias, demonstrating why he’s a renowned, world-class competitor. Toni took the checkered flag in perfect conditions on Saturday, then in adverse, rainy and windy conditions on Sunday. A true champion in every respect. Toni will be hard to catch this year, much less defeat.

We had opportunity to talk with Tony Hawk, after he took a VIP 2-up “hot lap” ride around Road Atlanta with retired racer Chris Ulrich. Asked what he thought of the experience, Tony exclaimed, “That was like the best, customized rollercoaster ride ever! When Chris pinned it across the front stretch, hitting 160 mph, it was a level of adrenaline rush and fear that I’ve never experienced before. Incredible.” Coming from the skateboarding legend himself, that spoke volumes.
The howl of uncorked motorcycle engines, the rush of triple digit speeds screaming by, and the drama of racers battling for position across the track course- a weekend of MotoAmerica racing is indeed an adrenaline rush in every respect, even for spectators.

World class American road racing is back, thanks to the vision and leadership of Wayne Rainey and company. For the season schedule, results, standings, and highlights, visit MotoAmerica.com. If a race is held anywhere near you, make arrangements to attend- you’ll be so glad you did. Catch the races broadcast live on BeIN Sports and BeIN Connect. And of course, Born to Ride will report on all the action, as the race season progresses.
We hope you are as excited as we are!
*More & better photos coming up in the May issue of Born to Ride.

MotoAmerica Preseason Observations

Spring is here, and racing is in the air.
MotoAmerica, the nation’s premier motorcycle road racing organization, returns for its 4^th season. Helmed by racing legend Wayne Rainey, 3-time World Gran Prix champion, MotoAmerica is returning the sport to its former glory days of the 1960s-1990s. With race weekends spanning the country (3 of which run here in the South), the season kicks off at Road Atlanta with great fanfare, including exhibitions by Tony Hawk & Friends, the infamous American Motor Drome Company “Wall of Death”, a Kid’s Zone and the “Caffeine & Kickstands” custom bike show.
I talked with Paul Carruthers recently, MotoAmerica’s Communications Manager, about the 2018 season-

Rob- 2017 was such a thrilling season: The epic battles between Toni Elias, 2016 defending champion Cameron Beaubier, Roger Hayden, and veteran Josh Hayes; Toni taking the Superbike title in the end; Garrett Gerloff winning his 2nd consecutive Supersport title, etc. After watching the preseason testing, who’s looking strong to threaten for the titles this year?
Paul- The preseason has been a good one, and has shown just how close we expect the racing to be in the Motul Superbike class. Cameron Beaubier has been impressive in coming back from injury to lead all the tests and you can tell that he's full of confidence and wants that number one plate back! We all know now how strong Toni Elias can be, so counting him out would be silly talk. There's also a lot of fast young guys jumping up to Superbike this year, riders like Mathew Scholtz and Garrett Gerloff.
Rob- There’s been some realignment of the classes this year, and the introduction of Super Twins, which I think will be thrilling to watch- definitely to hear!
Paul- We think the Twins class has a good future. It's normally a big class in club racing and we think we'll see a lot of local guys showing up to race. It's an interesting class, and we might see a lot of different things out there on the track. Should be fun to watch and, as you say, listen to!
Rob- What can fans expect to see in the racing this year?
Paul- They will see great racing in every class. The Junior Cup will be loaded with talented kids this year, now that it's open to all the manufacturers. Superbike will be a thriller at every round and Supersport will be closer than most people think.
Rob- What can fans expect to experience at a MotoAmerica event this year?

Paul- We are making a big push to make our events truly “events”. While our focus will always be the racing, we are ramping up the other activities so that our fans will have plenty to do every single day at our races. At Road Atlanta, for example, we're having Tony Hawk and his team come in to give the fans skateboarding exhibitions on a giant ramp that will be in the paddock. (Road Atlanta round will also feature the "Wall of Death") We will have musical acts at most of the events, so I think people will be impressed with MotoAmerica in 2018.
Rob- beIN Sports network will be carrying all the races this season, right?
Paul- Between beIN Sports and beIN Connect, all of our races will get live coverage. It might switch around as to what races are on what platform, but they will all be covered.
Rob- Road racing has a long history here in the States. What do you see as its future? A return to the glory days of the 60s-90s?
Paul- It's a different time, but we’ll get it to where it needs to be. We want competitive racing, a chance for our riders to race internationally and we want to provide events that our fans can enjoy from morning ‘till night.

Rob- Can viewers also find and follow the action on MotoAmerica’s website?
Paul- Yes, we’ll have timing and scoring on the site from every event so people at home can follow the action. We are also packing the site with quality content about our series, our teams and our riders with both the written word and video content.
Rob- Born to Ride will be there, covering the Southeastern rounds, and running regular updates on the standings as the racing progresses. It’s going to be an exciting season.
Paul- As always, we look forward to seeing you guys there, and we can't wait to get started!

Don’t miss the speed and roar of American motorcycle road racing- Visit MotoAmerica.com for tickets to every championship weekend, and catch the races on beIN Sports and beIN Connect all season.