Why America's latest MotoGP export could be a game changer

The United States of America's contribution to grand prix motorcycle racing over the decades makes for an astonishing roll call.

But it's been nine years since an American won a grand prix in any class, when Ben Spies took his sole MotoGP victory at the 2011 Dutch TT on the factory Yamaha. The last world champion from the States came even further back, in 2006, when Nicky Hayden beat Valentino Rossi to the premier class crown. The absence of a full-time MotoGP rider from America now stands at five years.

Hayden's final season in MotoGP in 2015 coincided with a change in America to the AMA Superbike series, where Hayden cut his teeth in before getting his call up from Honda for the 2003 premier class campaign.

Worried by the state of the AMA Superbike series and the lack of young Americans coming into Europe, MotoGP promoters Dorna Sports worked closely with three-time 500cc world champion Wayne Rainey to figure out a plan. What resulted was the rebranding of the series to MotoAmerica, with the aim of repopulating world championship grids with fast Americans.

It was a slow process, but in 2020 the tree has started to bloom. Joe Roberts' step up to podium form in Moto2 this season and GRT Yamaha World Superbike rookie Garrett Gerloff - both MotoAmerica alumni - storming to the rostrum late on in his debut campaign have pointed the ship in the right direction. More significantly, it has seemingly provided enough proof that the jump from America to the world stage can be successfully landed by arguably the country's most talented rider.

Last week, the American Racing Team announced it had secured Cameron Beaubier for the 2021 Moto2 season, as Roberts moves to Italtrans to take the place of Avintia MotoGP-bound Enea Bastianini (another significant move in its own right).

Beaubier spent a season in the 125cc class with KTM in 2009 as Marc Marquez's team-mate, but returned to America soon after when it didn't go to plan after scoring just three points. Over the next decade he would establish himself as the hottest property in the United States, winning the MotoAmerica Superbike title five times in 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020, and tallying up 51 career victories in the top class.

Despite a wildcard outing in WSBK in 2016 at Donington and the occasional link to a seat, 27-year-old Beaubier's big-time shot never seemed forthcoming. Grand Prix legend and MotoAmerica president Rainey (pictured below) believes the comfortable living and perhaps not having the desire of others before now played a part in Beaubier staying Stateside for as long as he did.

"Cameron's been the MotoAmerica Superbike champion the last five out of six years," Rainey told Autosport. "Out of all the riders that have come through MotoAmerica, he's probably the one that should have been the first to go.

"Cam, he's probably got the most natural talent of the three [himself, Gerloff and Roberts], but I think the difference has been Cam has mostly relied on his talent whereas the other two guys - Joe and Garrett - they chased the world championship, they went after it. Cam, I think he was having success here, he was making really good money; probably as far as World Superbike salaries go, he was right at the top from everybody because he was doing very well in America and I think he was building his bank account."

"I think with Joe doing well and Garrett doing well his first year, I think it's opened the eyes of both paddocks about the American racers and what's going on in MotoAmerica. And also, from Cameron's point of view seeing the success these riders have had, I think Cameron thinks he's as good or better than both of these guys" Wayne Rainey

This isn't an issue unique to America. While the US was ruling the two-wheeled world in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Britain's fortunes in grand prix racing diminished and the rise of production racing offered a high level, affordable means of competition and a decent way to earn a living. And the lack of top WSBK talent coming to MotoGP - most notably six-time champion Jonathan Rea - is largely down to him having to weigh up trading in a winning package and a comfortable living for a riskier move to MotoGP not with a top factory team.

Beaubier's reservations about uprooting his life for a world championship assault are easy to understand, then, not least because until now there was no one else finding success from America to justify the risk or to open the eyes of top teams on the world stage.

This is where Roberts' haul of three poles and third place in the Czech GP, and Gerloff's Catalunya and Estoril WSBK podiums this year have come at the right time. Beaubier warmed more to the idea of trying it on the world stage and now there are genuine examples to follow.

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"I think there came a point where [he thought] 'either I go now or I'm never going to get this opportunity'," Rainey says. "So, we talked a couple of weeks ago before the announcement and he asked me about what I thought about the opportunity of going over there. And I said 'what's your motivation', and he said 'I want to be world champion'.

"So, for me that was confirmation that his heart was in the right spot, his head's in the right way because if he just said 'if I don't go now, I may never get a chance' I thought that wouldn't have been the correct answer."

Rainey adds: "I think it worked both ways. I think with Joe doing well and Garrett doing well in his first year, I think it's opened the eyes of both paddocks about the American racers and what's going on in MotoAmerica.

"And also, from Cameron's point of view seeing the success these riders have had, I think Cameron thinks he's as good or better than both of these guys, and so I think that was good. I don't think Cameron chased it as hard, or he didn't want to be there as much as he does now. And I think the timing was everything for him."

Whereas six years ago no one in the grand prix paddock other than those with a faint romantic hope of a return of the glory days of Rainey, Kevin Schwantz, Eddie Lawson, Freddie Spencer and Kenny Roberts paid any attention to what was going on in America, they very clearly are now.

"Cameron Beaubier, he's a really nice guy," Yamaha MotoGP star Maverick Vinales said at Aragon last weekend. "I follow him a lot in Yamaha. He's riding well, I think he will do really good here in Moto2 because I see him pick up the bike very fast, I see him [working] really good with the tyres with the 1000cc bike. The R1 is not an easy bike, especially on the rear tyre."

Rainey, perhaps unsurprisingly, agrees with Vinales' assessment. But for good reason. Beaubier has been plying his trade on big, powerful and "clumsy" 1000cc Superbikes. The Moto2 class is notoriously tough to adjust to, but doing so from Superbikes instead of 250cc single-cylinder Moto3 machines - Rainey believes - will be easier for him to get to grips with. What Beaubier also has going for him is knowledge of Dunlop rubber, which supplies both Moto2 and MotoAmerica.

Furthermore, Beaubier isn't afraid to throw down the gauntlets for a fight - something he'll need in the ultra-competitive final step on the ladder to MotoGP.

"Cameron does a lot of his talking with his helmet on," Rainey adds. "But I've seen him in his battles here and he's not afraid to take his gloves off as well. So, I think if there's some elbowing and bar banging and guys getting moved out of the way, he can be a part of that."

Beaubier's contract with American Racing is for two years, giving him some time to adapt. Roberts (pictured) needed till his third full season to flourish, while the same can be said of Jake Dixon - who needed a season to bed in - coming from a similar situation as Beaubier in stepping to Moto2 from the British Superbike Championship last year.

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Rainey believes Beaubier will be "very competitive from the get go" in 2021, but he concedes there will be pressure on his shoulders.

Ultimately, this isn't just 'another rider from America' - this is the one name everyone in motorcycle racing circles has heard of and highly rates. The racing world's eyes are fixed on America now and success for Beaubier - its top two-wheeled star - will burst the dam.

"The way people look at Americans or certainly the way they used to was you had to be racing for the podium," Rainey explains. "If you weren't racing for the podium, normally you wouldn't even get a shot.

"So, he's there now. There's going to be a lot of stuff riding on his shoulders, like if he's competitive and he's racing for the podium and he is on the podium and he does win races, this is really going to open the door for more American riders, more riders from the US championship.

"Cameron does a lot of his talking with his helmet on, but I've seen him in his battles here and he's not afraid to take his gloves off as well. So, I think if there's some elbowing and bar banging and guys getting moved out of the way, he can be a part of that" Wayne Rainey

"We are already seeing in the world championships, teams are reaching out and looking into our paddock to these young riders now. It's starting to work. It's taken us six years to actually get it to the level that I think we're going to be represented well. But really, if Cam can go those next couple of steps and do what we always thought Americans should be doing, then if he does that it's going to be good for everyone."

Beaubier will be touching 30 by the time his two-year Moto2 deal is up, which might not sound ideal in him being able to take that final step to MotoGP.

But it's worth remembering Johann Zarco was 27 when he was selected by Tech3 for 2017 as double Moto2 world champion and was courted by Honda and KTM for 2019 factory deals. And even after the massive misstep of his KTM move, he's secured himself a factory Ducati for 2021.

Should Beaubier find the success expected of him in Moto2, Dorna won't have any qualms about helping him secure a place on the MotoGP grid and he'd be a welcome addition to any manufacturer's roster as a key marketing asset for its brand in America.

Beaubier coming from MotoAmerica to Moto2 and striking it big before stepping up to MotoGP is the dream scenario for Dorna and MotoAmerica. With the recent successes of Roberts and Gerloff, and Beaubier's move, MotoAmerica and Dorna are now in a position to look into the American Talent Cup idea first floated six years ago such is the strength of the US Superbike series as its own entity now.

Autosport wrote earlier this year that Roberts was set to bring about the first stages of America's long-awaited resurgence in grand prix racing. Beaubier, then, is very much the final step. If he succeeds, the doors between America and the rest of the world will be blown off the hinges.

Luckily, it seems Beaubier is well-equipped to shoulder that responsibility and transform it from a hoped-for outcome to reality.