M4 Suzuki's Martin Cardenas passed Eslick on lap 15 and then put in his fasted time on the next lap (1:29.678) to win his first victory in the new Daytona SportBike class.
Martin Cardenas scored his first career Daytona SportBike victory with a win at Road Atlanta. The M4 Suzuki rider was joined on the Race 1 podium by Kawasaki’s Roger Hayden and Buell’s Danny Eslick. The points leader, Kawasaki’s Jamie Hacking finished seventh in an incident-filled, race-shortened 16-lap affair.
Kawasaki’s Leandro Mercado was one of three crashed riders on the day and the race was under yellow flag and pace car for a portion of the first half of the planned 20-lap contest. Things got back up to speed after Lap 6, with 2008 Formula Xtreme champ, Erion Honda’s Jake Zemke, leading the usual front-runner of late, Buell’s Eslick.
Eslick and Zemke were neck and neck during the following laps, with Cardenas pacing third. Hayden was lurking in fourth, with Aprilia’s Chaz Davies fifth and Hacking in sixth. Close racing saw the front four all within a second of one another on Lap 13 – the top six running within two seconds of the leader.
On Lap 14 Eslick bolted up to the front followed by Cardenas, with Zemke tumbling to third. The next lap it was Cardenas who dispatched Eslick, with Hayden overtaking Zemke for the final rostrum position.
Roger Hayden(95) had his best finish of the season taking second place in Race 1 at Road Atlanta
Lap 16 saw Cardenas and Hayden turn their best lap times of the race with Eslick and Zemke dueling over third.
"As soon as I got to the front, I broke up a little bit and I had a little bit of time, but I was looking back every lap and he was right there," said Cardenas about the younger of the two Hayden brothers. "He was closing a little bit, especially on the back part of the track. I was feeling the pressure."
Yet the pressure proved short lived when the red flag came out, the order was set with the completed Lap 16 results, giving Cardenas victory.
Cardenas scores his first-ever SportBike victory with the Race 1 win at Road Atlanta. Hayden’s second-place finish is his best result in the new series too, with Eslick scoring his third consecutive podium for the Buell team.
"If the race wasn't stopped, I think the last lap would have been very interesting with passes and everything," said Cardenas on the red flag ending. "The race was very tough, because I started from 10th and to pass here is very difficult. It worked out okay and the bike was working very good. I want to thank the team. The Suzuki was very good and M4, everybody, thank you very much."
M4 Suzuki's Martin Cardenas took first, followed by Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki's Roger Hayden and Buell's Danny Eslick in Race 1 of Daytona SportBike in Road Atlanta.
1. Martin Cardenas (Suzuki)
2. Roger Hayden (Kawasaki) +.500
3. Danny Eslick (Buell) +.881
4. Jake Zemke (Honda) +1.217
5. Chaz Davies (Aprilia) +1.730
6. Josh Herrin (Yamaha) 1.938
7. Jamie Hacking (Kawasaki)
8. Tommy Aquino (Yamaha)
9. Chris Peris (Honda)
10. Taylor Knapp (Buell)
11. Mike Barnes (Buell)
12. C. Fillmore (Yamaha)
13. B. Thompson (Aprilia)
14. Michael Beck (Yamaha)
15. R. Pietri (Yamaha)
Daytona SportBike Points:
1 Jamie Hacking 69
2 Jason DiSalvo 60
3 Daniel Eslick 57
4 Josh Herrin 56
5 Martin Cardenas 51
6 Jake Zemke 41
7 Chaz Davies 41
8 Steve Rapp 33
9 Benjamin Bostrom 31
10 Leandro Mercado 31
