M4 Suzuki rider Martin Cardenas scored his second victory of the season in Race 1 of the Daytona SportBike series at Barber. The GSX-R600 riders closest challenger was his teammate, Jason DiSalvo. Kawasaki’s Jamie Hacking claimed the final podium position, just edging Graves Yamaha’s Josh Herrin. As for Buell’s Danny Eslick, the points leader tallied a lackluster eighth aboard the 1125R.

In the opening laps, Hacking was up front but dropped down, running in eighth one position ahead of the Eslick. Herrin took the lead on Lap 2, with Aprilia RSV1000 rider Chaz Davies moving up to challenge for the R6 at the front, while the eventual 1-2 finishers, Cardenas and DiSalvo, tussled over third.

Cardenas then charged up through the ranks, moving into second on Lap 5, ahead of Davies and within a second of Herrin. It wasn’t long before both Suzuki’s maneuvered past Herrin for 1-2 in the running order, while Davies dropping out of contention – the British rider eventually finishing 28th.

Now a three man race for the lead, Cardenas, DiSalvo and Herrin were all close, with Hacking and Zemke four seconds back fighting over fourth. As a rhythm settled up front, Cardenas and DiSalvo pressed their advantage over the R6 of Herrin, DiSalvo eventually getting around his teammate. Hacking consolidated fourth, with Zemke fading down the chart.

As the two Suzukis opened up a gap, Hacking battled with Herrin over the final podium position. The young gun Herrin has got the better of the veteran Hacking in past Supersport races, but not during Saturday’s Daytona SportBike race. Once Hacking worked around the Yamaha, there wasn’t enough time to run down the Suzukis and their comfortable three-second lead.

In the meantime, Cardenas was right behind his teammate and would take the lead going into the white flag lap with a scant 0.119 edge before stretching the final tally to a devilish 0.666 at the line. Hacking fended off a late surge from Herrin to score the podium. Meanwhile, Herrin led a threesome of R6 riders, with teammate Tommy Aquino and Steve Rapp claiming fifth and sixth.

Jake Zemke was the top finishing CBR600RR rider, piloting his Erion Honda mount to seventh. As for the points leading Eslick, the Oklahoman was the top-finishing Buell but clearly off the leaders pace, his best lap with the 1125R a full second off the pace of the Inline-Fours leading up front.


Daytona SportBike Barber Race 1 Results:
1. Martin Cardenas (Suzuki)
2. Jason DiSalvo (Suzuki)
3. Jamie Hacking (Kawasaki)
4. Josh Herrin (Yamaha)
5. Tommy Aquino (Yamaha)
6. Steve Rapp (Yamaha)
7. Jake Zemke (Honda)
8. Danny Eslick (Buell)
9. Taylor Knapp (Buell)
10. Chris Peris (Honda)
11. Mike Barnes (Buell)
12. D. Cudlin (Yamaha)
13. C. Fillmore (Yamaha)
14. Roger Hayden (Kawasaki)
15. D. Parkerson (Kawasaki)