ROAD AMERICA: HISTORY IN THE MAKING

As the MotoAmerica Series prepares to roll into Road America in a few short weeks for what will be the 40th season of uninterrupted Superbike racing at the picturesque circuit in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, the list of AMA Superbike race winners reads like a who’s who of American road racing.

Twenty-five men have won the 58 races (the series has featured doubleheaders every year since 2000) held so far on the track affectionately known as the “Four Miles of Fun.” And 11 of those 25 are multiple-time winners.

The list is headlined by the all-time winningest rider in AMA Superbike history – Mat Mladin. The Australian won nine times in Wisconsin, his first coming in 1997 and his last in 2009. The next two in line are active MotoAmerica racers. Four-time AMA Superbike Champion Josh Hayes, who will be competing in the Supersport class in a few weeks, is ranked second witheight Superbike wins at Road America.

Cameron Beaubier (1) and Josh Hayes (4) battled in 2016 with Beaubier winning both races. Beaubier has won seven MotoAmerica Superbike races in Wisconsin and Hayes has eight wins there. Photo by Brian J. Nelson

Three-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion Cameron Beaubier will arrive in Elkhart Lake with seven career victories at Road America. That means that if Beaubier does what he has done twice before (2015 and 2018) and sweep the two races this year, he will move into a tie with Mladin at the top of the list for all-time Road America Superbike wins.

Miguel Duhamel is fourth on the list of Superbike winners at Road America with five victories. Next up is Anthony Gobert with the Australian earning three wins in Wisconsin.

From there, the list of multiple winners reads like this: Ben Spies, Eddie Lawson, Fred Merkel, Doug Polen, Nicky Hayden and Jamie James. In case you weren’t keeping track, five of those six winners went on to win World Championships.

Ditto for a lot of those on the list of one-time winners at the track: Freddie Spencer, Wayne Rainey, Kevin Schwantz, Neil Hodgson and Toni Elias… those five have also won World Championships.

Miguel Duhamel (17) won five times at Road America during his career. Photo by Brian J. Nelson

And the rest… Mike Baldwin, Pascal Picotte, Alessandro Gramigni, Eric Bostrom, Larry Pegram, Tommy Hayden, Blake Young, Doug Chandler and Rich Arnaiz.

With Nicky Hayden sweeping the first doubleheader at Road America in 2000, four others have followed suit with two-race sweeps in Wisconsin: Beaubier (2016, 2018), Hayes (2013, 2014), Mladin (2006) and Duhamel (2002, 2004).

As far as the manufacturer victories, Yamaha heads the list with 19 Superbike wins at Road America. Suzuki is next with 15 wins, followed by Honda with 12, Ducati with eight and Kawasaki with four.

Of late, Yamaha has been dominant in seven of the eight Superbike races since MotoAmerica took over the AMA Superbike Series in 2015.

The 2019 MotoAmerica Series invades Road America with its five classes (EBC Brakes Superbike, Supersport, Liqui Moly Junior Cup, Stock 1000 and Twins Cup), May 31-June 2 for what will be the 40th season of AMA Superbike racing in “America’s Dairyland.”

Doug Polen doing all the work at Road America in 1988. Polen won two Superbike races at Road America – one on a Yoshimura Suzuki and the other on a Fast By Ferracci Ducati. Photo by Brian J. Nelson
Scott Russell (22) and Jamie James (48) battled for victory at Road America in 1989 and it ended in tears with both riders crashing together in turn five. The surprise win went to privateer rider Rich Arnaiz. Photo by Brian J. Nelson
This is the tears part as Russell and James walk away from the turn-five wreckage. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.
Anthony Gobert (95) leads teammate Ben Bostrom (1) and the rest of the pack in 1999. Gobert won three times at Road America. Photo by Brian J. Nelson

(Story and photos from MotoAmerica.com/Brian J Nelson)

0.00 avg. rating (0% score) - 0 votes