It was a day of mixed results for JD Beach as he tackled back-to-back races on Saturday, July 13, in the FIM Superbike World Championship and MotoAmerica Superbike Championship at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. A technical issue cut his race short in WorldSBK, but he was able to put in a solid effort in his national superbike championship and cross the line fourth.
Beach’s goal for his debut in WorldSBK was to put in a solid top-10 finish. He was on his way to achieving that with a good start in the race that had him in the hunt for that position. The dirt/road racer worked his way into ninth, but there was a four-way battle for position. Beach was making ground in that fight until a technical issue forced him to pull into the pits and take him out of a points-paying position.
There was no time to dwell on the misfortune as Beach and his Attack Performance Estenson Racing team had to switch gears to the MotoAmerica race that followed on the heels of the World Championship. Once again, Beach got off to a good start and found himself in the lead pack with the factory four. The pace was hot, and he did what he could to hang on, but he ultimately had to salvage a fourth-place position to take valuable points.
JD Beach – MotoAmerica Superbike #95:
“The World Superbike race started out well. I was feeling good. The group started to pull a little bit of a gap, but then I started to bring it back. Then I went down the corkscrew and went to shift to third gear and the shifter was down. One of the stock parts just broke on the shifter and just made it to where the bike was stuck in second gear. I had to pull into the pits, which sucked, but it was an easy fix. We’ll be back on track tomorrow.
“In the MotoAmerica race, I got off to another great start and was right there in the lead group. There were five of us going back and forth. The race pace was really good. After about midway, I was starting to lose a little bit of front grip. With about four laps to go or so, the grip got really bad. I was starting to get a little bit of chatter. So, at that point, I had lost the top three a little bit and just wanted to bring it home in fourth.
“Doing both races in one day was tough, but luckily I had a ton of help as far as making sure I was eating, I was drinking, and my gear was ready. It was definitely a long day. I think tomorrow, even though we have three races, it shouldn’t be as long of a day. I’m definitely looking forward to it.”