Professional rider JD Beach put on a race for the ages Saturday to take his first American Flat Track premier class win at the inaugural Super TT.
Beach, who lives in Philpot, got a win in Phoenix in front of the team’s home crowd at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park.
Beach said it’s something he’s worked hard for and until now has just been close.
“It just got to the point where all the guys that I grew up racing with, they were all getting wins and stuff, and I was like, ‘I don’t know if it’s going to happen for me,’” he said. “To get this first win is awesome and to win on this brand is amazing for me because Yamaha has done a lot for me during the past six years, and to do it at the home race for the team is really cool.”
It was a night of firsts not only for Beach, but also for the team and the brand. The win marked the first victory for the team’s all-new Estenson Racing Yamaha MT-07 DT and the first time a Yamaha Twin has topped the box at a Grand National since Scott Pearson in 1981 at the Peoria TT.
The race was red flagged after a first-turn crash that involved his teammate Kolby Carlile and other riders.
When racing resumed, Beach was in third place and quickly worked his way into second. He ran a lonely second for much of the race with the leader off in the distance, but as the 25-lap main event wore on, Beach started to close that gap. With two laps to go, Beach made the pass for the lead and took the checkers by 2.24 seconds.
Team owner Tim Estenson said it took a while to set in that Beach actually won.
“When I saw JD (Saturday) night fighting it out, and when I saw him take over second place, I thought, ‘All right, we can settle in and get a second. This is going to be really outstanding for us,’” Estenson said. “Next thing you know, like everybody saw, JD ran him down and made the pass and won. It sounds silly, but I felt numb because it’s one of the goals that I’ve told multiple people that I have.”
The win was a big boost for Beach and the team as a whole as they have been working hard to develop the new Twin. The Estenson Racing squad heads west to Southern California for the So-Cal Half-Mile in Perris on May 11.
Information courtesy of Estenson Racing.
