Cameron Beaubier (Photo: Evan Williams)

While on a smaller scale, Beaubier's ability to take the fight to Cardenas and defeat the enormously accomplished and talented rider with regularity had something of a '06 Spies/Mladin feel (minus the off-track tension).

Cameron's success shook the class to the core and made us to rethink our preconceived notions of the SportBike pecking order. In fact, it forced the paddock to seriously mull the possibility that Beaubier had already outgrown the undercard and would be better served graduating to the premier Superbike class in 2013.

Three-time AMA Pro Superbike champ Josh Hayes had little difficulty acknowledging the skill and potential of the future challenger to his throne -- repeatedly predicting that the upstart would someday knock him from his pedestal.

Any showdown between the two will likely be put off until 2014, as Beaubier seems poised to take another shot at the Daytona SportBike crown next season -- this time as a heavy odds-on favorite.

But for 2012 he'll have to settle with being named SPEED.com's 2012 Breakthrough Rider.

Also Deserving of Consideration

Cal Crutchlow took a big step forward after an uneven rookie season in MotoGP and established himself as a permanent fixture in the top five in 2012. He registered seven front-row qualifying performances and landed on the box twice aboard Tech3's satellite Yamaha M1.

Tom Sykes missed out on taking the World Superbike crown by a single point. Once overshadowed and nearly pushed out of the series altogether due to the misfortune of being rookie teammates with Ben Spies, Sykes is very much a superstar in his own right now.

Chaz Davies already picked up SPEED.com's 2012 Rookie of the Year award. Sure, he came into '12 a reigning world champion (World Supersport), but running up front and winning World Superbike races is a whole new level of success.

SPEED.com Motorcycle Racing Editor Chris Martin saw Eddie Lawson win aboard a Kawasaki the first time he attended an AMA Superbike race and witnessed Ben Bostrom win a World Superbike race aboard a V&H Ducati the first time he worked one. He has written about AMA SBK, WSBK, and MotoGP for SPEED.com since 2003. Chris is now on Twitter.