Yamaha Scores "Grand Slam" In MotoAmerica's Debut Season

Evans Brasfield
by Evans Brasfield

Grand Slams are relatively rare in baseball and are unprecedented in AMA roadracing. This year, in MotoAmerica’s Inaugural Season, Yamaha has done just that by standing on the top of the box in all four of MotoAmerica’s professional road racing classes: Superbike, Superstock 1000, Supersport, and Superstock 600.

“Never before has a single motorcycle manufacturer won every Championship in all of the AMA/FIM-sanctioned professional road racing classes in one year,” commented Racing Division Manager Keith McCarty, “But, that’s what our Yamaha bLU cRU riders and teams did in MotoAmerica this year. We not only went four for four in Championships, but we also had a perfect season in race wins. Our riders won every race at every MotoAmerica round in 2015. No other manufacturer has ever done that before. It’s quite an accomplishment, and all of us at Yamaha are extremely proud, especially since we accomplished the feat during Yamaha’s 60th Anniversary as a company.”

How many races is that? Well, you’ll need the fingers and toes of more than three people to reach the 64 wins that the Yamaha bLU cRU riders notched during the MotoAmerica season. Here’s how the wins break down:

Cameron Beaubier-2015 MotoAmerica Superbike Champion

In Superbike, MotoAmerica’s premier class, the 18 race wins were scored by Monster Energy/Graves/Yamaha teammates Josh Hayes, with 10 wins, and 2015 MotoAmerica Superbike Champion Cameron Beaubier, with eight and the season title aboard the all-new 2015 Yamaha YZF-R1 Superbike.

Jake Gagne - 2015 MotoAmerica Superstock 1000 Champion

For Superstock 1000, RoadRace Factory/Orion/Yamaha’s Jake Gagne took 13 wins and the championship while Yamalube/Westby Racing’s Josh Day won three with TOBC racing’s Taylor Knapp and Ryders Alley Racing’s Mark Heckles each scoring one victory.

JD Beach - 2015 MotoAmerica Supersport Champion

In Supersport, Yamalube/Y.E.S./Graves/Yamaha rider JD Beach won eight races and the championship aboard his #95 Yamaha YZF-R6. Wheels In Motion/MotoSport.com/Meen Yamaha rider Josh Herrin won four races with Garrett Gerloff scoring two aboard his Yamalube/Y.E.S./Graves/Yamaha and Joe Roberts took home one victory while only competing in the class for the last three races of the season.

Joe Roberts - 2015 MotoAmerica Superstock 600 Champion

In Superstock 600, Wheels In Motion/MotoSport.com/Meen Yamaha rider Joe Roberts stood on the top of the box nine times, followed by Escalante Racing’s **Richie Escalante, Kyle Wyman Racing’s Travis Wyman, HB Racing’s Michael Gilbert, and Tuned Racing’s Bryce Prince with one win apiece.

For more Yamaha racing news, results, photos, and videos, visit www.YamahaMotorsports.com/Racing.

[Source: Yamaha Motor Corp]

Evans Brasfield
Evans Brasfield

Like most of the best happenings in his life, Evans stumbled into his motojournalism career. While on his way to a planned life in academia, he applied for a job at a motorcycle magazine, thinking he’d get the opportunity to write some freelance articles. Instead, he was offered a full-time job in which he discovered he could actually get paid to ride other people’s motorcycles – and he’s never looked back. Over the 25 years he’s been in the motorcycle industry, Evans has written two books, 101 Sportbike Performance Projects and How to Modify Your Metric Cruiser, and has ridden just about every production motorcycle manufactured. Evans has a deep love of motorcycles and believes they are a force for good in the world.

More by Evans Brasfield

Comments
Join the conversation
Next