Video: Riding Cameron Beaubier’s Factory Superbike

As I watched the team roll the motorcycle off the lift, I could feel my heartbeat. I was unusually nervous. Sure, I have ridden motorcycles the majority of my life, but this was something different. This particular bike was bigger, faster, and more ruthless than anything I’ve ever ridden before. But in an instant, the engine fired, filling the Northern Californian air with a roar of 210-plus horsepower...no more time to think. I swung my leg over the bike, put my hands on the controls, and rode down Thunderhill Raceway’s pitlane on Cameron Beaubier’s factory Yamaha R1 superbike.

Riding a factory superbike certainly wasn’t the easiest thing I have ever done. My helmet was filled with an internal battle of not only wanting to ride the best of my ability, but a fight to keep the thought of crashing Yamaha’s art piece out of my mind. Then it clicked. I was aboard Beaubier’s bike for only a short time, why not make the most of it?

Click play on the video above to take a look at how our day on Cameron Beaubier’s R1 went and be sure to look for the full story in the August/September issue of Sport Rider Magazine.