Beaubier Captures Dramatic Win in Race One at Road America
Monster Energy Graves Yamaha’s Cameron Beaubier captured his second win of the season in Saturday’s AMA Pro Superbike Race One at Road America.
The Superbike rookie has now notched two wins in his first three races of the season and expanded his championship lead to 13 points ahead of second place Roger Hayden.
Last year’s GoPro Daytona SportBike champion Beaubier and his Monster Energy Graves Yamaha teammate Josh Hayes started the race in first and second, the same order they finished, and dominated the field for all 13 laps and 53 miles aboard their identical YZF-R1 bikes.
Beaubier led early, but Hayes took the lead around mid-race and gradually notched increments on the gap to his teammate until he had built a comfortable lead.
Beaubier came on strong in the final laps, though, and found himself closing in on the lead with just over a lap to go. He reached Hayes’ back wheel in the final turn of Lap 12, and regained his draft as they entered the front straightaway.
Beaubier utilized the long front stretch of the four-mile track to reel Hayes in and initiate a pass as the white flag waved. In the first turn of the final lap, Beaubier completed his maneuver around Hayes.
The rookie effectively outmaneuvered his three-time champion teammate, denying any attempt at a pass on the final lap. Beaubier took the win by .306 seconds.
Third place finisher Martin Cardenas challenged the two frontrunners in the opening laps of the race as the three pulled away from the pack. By lap 8, Cardenas fell to four seconds behind the lead. Beaubier and Hayes continued to increase the gap to third place through the second half of the race, and Yoshimura Suzuki Factory Racing’s Cardenas finished 15 seconds off the lead.
Cardenas’ Yoshimura Suzuki teammate Roger Hayden finished 26 seconds behind the lead in fourth, followed by ADR Motorsports/Sic/Motul Fly Racing’s David Anthony in fifth and the final Yoshimura finisher Chris Clark in sixth.
AMA Pro SuperBike Road America Race 1 Results
1. Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha)
2. Josh Hayes (Yamaha)
3. Martin Cardenas (Suzuki)
4. Roger Hayden (Suzuki)
5. David Anthony (Suzuki)
6. Chris Clark (Suzuki)
7. Chris Fillmore (KTM)
8. Chris Ulrich (Honda)
9. Cory West (EBR)
10. Jason Farrell (Kawasaki)
11. Frankie Babuska (Suzuki)
12. Trent Gibson (Kawasaki)
13. Francois Dumas (BMW)
14. Bernat Martinez (Yamaha)
15. Larry Pegram (EBR)
Going Once, Going Twice for Kyle Busch, Nationwide Race Winner
On Friday, Kyle Busch won the first of three races at the Monster Mile in the Truck Series and on Saturday, he completed the second race in the Nationwide Series in Victory Lane. This was Busch’s 66th victory in the Series and his third victory in 2014.
Busch also became the first driver to win both the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and NASCAR Nationwide Series races in the same weekend at Dover.
Busch admitted that he may have to start a new trophy case for all of his Monster Mile trophies, but he also wanted to focus on the ‘big’ trophies not just the little ones.
“I have two Cup wins, so I have a mom and a dad,” the driver of the No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota said. “But I have a lot of kids. I guess I need some aunts and uncles now and not as many kid trophies. We will work on that tomorrow and see if we can’t roll out of here with another one.”
With the first and second race in the books, Busch turned his thoughts to the possible sweep of the Dover weekend.
“I’ve got 134 wins now but none of them mean nothing,” Busch said. “A sweep here would rank right up there with the Bristol sweep because of the magnitude of stress put on the body, car and equipment through this race track is right up there.”
Trevor Bayne, in the No. 6 AdvoCare Ford, gave Busch a run for his money but came up short in the second spot. This was his fifth top-10 finish at Dover and his 10th top-10 finish in 2014.
“We had to battle hard today but I feel like this is a great start to the summer for us,” Bayne said. “We’ve had some big gains at Dover and this is the best finish I’ve ever had here. This is one of the most competitive cars we’ve had all season.”
“It was a solid run for our AdvoCare Mustang.”
Joey Logano, who had scored the pole for the Buckle Up 200 presented by Click It or Ticket, and who was trying to make history with a fifth consecutive win, had to settle for a third place finish in the No. 22 Hertz Ford.
“It went OK,” Logano said. “We were going for five in a row today so we came up short there.”
“We didn’t have a good enough start to pass cars on the restarts there,” Logano continued. “My car was just too loose and every time I’d get around someone, I’d get freer and I would be too loose to clear them.”
“It’s kind of frustrating but unfortunately all good things must come to an end,” Logano said. “Hopefully we will get it done in the fall and sit in the same place again.”
Logano did, however, take some solace in his pole run, scoring his Nationwide pole with a lap of 23.155 seconds and at 155.474 miles per hour. He was also extremely proud that his Penske teammates scored poles as well, with Brad Keselowski on the Cup pole and Helio Castroneves on the Indy pole.
“It’s frustrating that we didn’t carry the flag for the racing but to have all three series with Penske at the front is pretty cool,” Logano said. “I don’t know if we’ve done that before or not but definitely a great way to have started the weekend.”
Although Chase Elliott was the highest finishing rookie in fifth, he was most dejected in the media center after the race.
“It’s a little frustrating,” the driver of the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet said. “Kyle just did a better job getting out front and we didn’t. We will get better for the fall race again when it really counts.”
“These cars are so close,” Elliott continued. “I don’t think Kyle had a better car than we do but I just think he did a better job than I did today. That’s when I get mad at myself because I know I can do better. We just have to regroup and fine tune before we get back here.”
“We’ve got to keep performing better than we did today.”
The unofficial race results for the 33rd annual Buckle Up 200 presented by Click It or Ticket are as follows:
1 Kyle Busch Monster Energy Toyota
2 Trevor Bayne AdvoCare Ford
3 Joey Logano Hertz Ford
4 Matt Kenseth Resers Toyota
5 Chase Elliott# NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet
6 Kyle Larson Target Ticket Chevrolet
7 Brian Scott Shore Lodge Chevrolet
8 Ty Dillon# Bulwark/Airgas Chevrolet
9 Elliott Sadler OneMain Financial Toyota
10 Regan Smith Breyers Chevrolet
11 Chris Buescher# Ford EcoBoost Ford
12 Brendan Gaughan South Point Chevrolet
13 Ryan Sieg# RSS Racing Chevrolet
14 Landon Cassill Meding’s Seafood Chevrolet
15 James Buescher Rheem Toyota
16 Dakoda Armstrong# WinField Ford
17 Joe Nemechek Herbal Mist Tea’s Toyota
18 Jeff Green Hefty Ultimate/Reynolds Wrap Toyota
19 Paulie Harraka Buckle Up Toyota
20 Jeremy Clements RepairableVehicles.com Chevrolet
21 Timmy Hill Lilly Trucking Chevrolet
22 Mike Bliss TriStar Motorsports Toyota
23 Joey Gase Chevrolet
24 Derrike Cope Youtheory Chevrolet
25 Josh Reaume JGL Racing Dodge
26 Dylan Kwasniewski# Rockstar Chevrolet
27 Ryan Reed# ADADrivetoStopDiabetesbyLillyDiabetes Ford
28 JJ Yeley JGL Racing Dodge
29 Tanner Berryhill# NationalCashLenders.com Dodge
30 Jeffrey Earnhardt teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet
31 Cale Conley IAVA Chevrolet
32 Mike Harmon The 30 Days Foundation Dodge
33 Josh Wise Curtis Key Plumbing Chevrolet
34 Carl Long Headrush Toyota
35 Tommy Joe Martins# Dodge
36 Todd Bodine Chevrolet
37 Morgan Shepherd King’s Tire Chevrolet
38 Ryan Ellis RWR Chevrolet
39 Matt Dibenedetto Curtis Key Plumbing Chevrolet
40 Blake Koch Supportmilitary.org Toyota
Alex Bowman: ‘Just a Normal 21 Year Old Turning Laps for a Living’
Alex Bowman, driver of the No. 23 Dr. Pepper Toyota for BK Racing, may be competing for Rookie of the Year honors in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, but he describes himself as “just a normal 21 year old who gets to turn laps for a living.”
Bowman, who hails from Tucson, Arizona, started his lap turning career on short tracks in his home state, graduating at the age of seven to driving quarter midgets. The young racer than progressed to USAC and at age 17, moved to stock car racing, first in the Pro Cup Series in 2010 and then in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East in 2011, where he won the Rookie of the Year honors.
Bowman moved to the ARCA Racing Series for two years and then made his Nationwide Series debut at Chicagoland Speedway where he finished 17th. He ran full-time in Nationwide in 2013 and got the call to move up to NASCAR’s elite series for the 2014 season.
“As far as getting this deal, I got a phone call from Rick Carpenter that he wanted to talk and sat down with him and Mike and Ron Devine and I worked on it for a couple months,” Bowman said. “And we were able to put it together and go from there.”
While Bowman is enjoying competing at the highest level of the sport, he is also enjoying being a part of one of the biggest rookie crops to grace the Cup Series.
“It’s great as far as being in one of the largest classes of rookies,” Bowman said “You’ve seen some rookie classes ride around all year in the past but there is none of that this year.”
“You’ve seen the class this year put on a heck of a show so far,” Bowman continued. “So I feel good about being a part of such a big class.”
Bowman’s crew chief Dave Winston is also a rookie, and yes the pair have indeed made their share of rookie mistakes, from issues over the radio to issues on pit road.
“My crew chief Dave, it’s his first year being a crew chief,” Bowman said. “So, we’ve both made our share of mistakes and we are both learning.”
“It’s really funny when he tries to talk on the radio and he has never really talked on the radio before,” Bowman continued. “So, it’s these little short bursts of words that scramble together.”
“I think we’re working together really well,” Bowman said. “He’s definitely a good crew chief and he has a really positive attitude, which goes throughout the whole team. It’s a big difference versus what I had last year. I’m really happy with how the guys gets along and how everybody works together.”
“My biggest rookie mistake is that I’ve spun on pit road a couple of times,” Bowman admitted. “On pit road at Daytona and Kansas as well I spun. So, I need to work on that a little bit. So, that’s our biggest thing.”
While Bowman has yet to spin at Dover, he admitted that he has yet to really master the Monster Mile.
“It’s gone alright so far here at Dover,” Bowman said. “We unloaded okay but as practice went on, we made some changes and got going in the right direction. We weren’t too bad in the first practice but we will see how practices go and how we will be during the race.”
Bowman has the utmost respect for Dover as he turns laps around the Monster Mile. But he cannot quite say that it is one of his favorite tracks just yet.
“It’s one of the toughest places we go,” Bowman said. “It’s real physical. It’s a lot of fun but at the same time when you have a bad race car it’s a really long day.”
“I like it more than a lot of places but at the same time, if you have a bad race car you’re probably going to hate it.”
“If we get out of here with a top-30, that would be good,” Bowman said. “I’d be pretty happy with that.”
While Bowman dreams, as do most rookie drivers, of winning races and competing for future championships, he has one unique hobby that sets him apart from his fellow Cup competitors.
“I guess I’m not really a typical race car driver in that I don’t hang out with anybody in the sport or anything like that,” Bowman said. “Most of my friends have no clue about racing. I hang out with a lot of car people but not a lot of race car people.”
“All my cars most of the garage would look at and be like, that’s stupid,” Bowman continued. “I’m into like the low cars. Everything I own is really low or really fast.”
“It’s fun and is something that I’ve always been interested in,” Bowman said. That’s what all my friends do too.”
“Other than that though I’m pretty much a normal 21 year old kid that gets to turn laps for a living.”
Bowman will race with his other BK Racing teammates Ryan Truex and Cole Whitt. He will start in the 23rd position for the 45th annual FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks on Sunday, June 1st.
