Solid Top-Five Finish for JD Beach at Road America
Home / News / Solid Top-Five Finish for JD Beach at Road America
After a tough start to the weekend at round four of the MotoAmerica Superbike Championship at Road America, JD Beach and his Attack Performance Estenson Racing team continued to make forward progress forward, finishing fourth in race two on Sunday, June 2.
Qualifying on a Superbike at Road America for the first time since 2011 was a challenge for Beach, but he and his team had a good showing when it came time to race until bad luck struck with a technical issue late in race one.
Although disappointing, the dirt track/road racer saw the positive gains made and went into race two looking for improvement. He got a good start from seventh on the grid and ran a solid fifth for most of the race. The factory four were able to pull a gap on the 4.05- mile track, so Beach and fellow privateer rider Mathew Scholtz combined forces to try to catch the leaders. When it became clear that strategy wasn't going to work, the pair battled for position, with Beach ultimately finishing fourth after an error by one of the factory riders caused them to crash out of the race.
"Race two was better than the first race, but we kind of lost touch with the lead pack. I was running in fifth with [Mathew] Scholtz right behind me. I think we both rode a smart race and we weren't really trying to pass each other. We started to close in on the lead guys a bit, then with about three laps to go, we kind of knew we weren't going to get up with them. So then we started to have a good battle. It was fun, for sure. It was nice to bring the bike home in fourth. We for sure need to pick up the pace some, but I think we learned some things. I'm really looking forward to the next round in Utah."
Photo Credit: Estenson Racing/Brian J. Nelson
road america