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SBK, Yamaha: Cameron Beaubier to sub for Guintoli at Donington

The MotoAmerica champion will début at the English round, the seventh of the season

SBK: Yamaha:  Cameron Beaubier to sub for Guintoli at Donington

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Following confirmation that Sylvain Guintoli, still convalescent after the terrible high-side at Imola that resulted in a fractured left ankle, will have to miss out on the English round at Donington, as well as Alex Lowes' uncertainty, in pain from his collarbone that was broken in Malaysia, the Yamaha Superbike team came up with an interesting idea.

Riding in place of the 33 year-old Frenchman, former World Champion in 2014 astride an Aprilia, will be 23 year-old American and MotoAmerica champion, Cameron Beaubier, a rising star on the USA motorcycling scene, highly recommended to the European teams by a certain Ben Spies, another rider who did “rather well” in SBK, winning the title in his rookie year, 2009.

It was precisely in 2009 that a very young Beaubier raced in the 125 Championship astride a KTM and was teammate to Marc Marquez, in his second championship season where he finished eighth, whereas Beaubier struggled quite a bit, finishing in the points only twice at Jerez and Sachsenring, ending his season twenty-ninth in the overall standings.

Back in the United States, Cameron came into his own with the bigger and less complicated 4-stroke factory derivative bikes and last year he brought home the championship organised by Wayne Rainey, the new MotoAmerica, attracting attention from the fans and the European teams. The victory came astride an R1 not much different from the one that competes in the world championship.

For Beaubier the Donington will not be anything new, even if the official Yamaha R1 is rather different from the small KTM 125 he raced there in 2009, but the American says that he is enthusiastic: “"I feel really fortunate that the Pata Yamaha team is giving me this opportunity to be a part of the team for the weekend while Sylvain is healing up. I can't wait to be there, also because the team is English and it will be their home round.”

Cameron could become the new name to remember and this is a very interesting opportunity for him:I'm also thankful that Yamaha US is allowing me to do this in the middle of our season. It will be a tough weekend at Donington with lots of learning but I'm going to do my best and have fun.”

 

Translated by Jonathan Blosser
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