M4 Suzuki's Martin Cardenas is the hottest rider in Daytona SportBike right now, winning his fourth consecutive race after a victory in Race 2 today at Infineon.
M4 Suzuki’s Martin Cardenas is almost as hot as today's sun in Sonoma, winning his fourth consecutive Daytona SportBike race this afternoon at Infineon Raceway. The Colombian rider used patience and poise in Race 2 before mounting his attack on the lead. M4 Suzuki teammate Jason DiSalvo would keep him honest, closing the gap to 0.104 seconds on the fast lap, but Cardenas would hold on for his fifth victory of the season. The M4 Suzuki rider now holds a 23-point lead over Jaime Hacking in the championship standings.
"The weekend was good. At the beginning, it was a little bit tough because the pace that these guys were running was a little too much but then in every practice session we were able to close in a little bit. In Saturday’s race, the M4 Suzuki GSX-R600 worked awesome and I knew I could win. Today, it was a little bit the same. The bike was great, I think had a little bit of an issue with grip but for everybody it was the same because the tires were spinning a lot," Cardenas said.
Team Graves Yamaha’s Josh Herrin led after the first lap, followed by DiSalvo and Yamaha teammate Tommy Aquino. Cardenas was back midpack in seventh after Lap 1 but worked his way
Buell's Danny Eslick has seen his grip on first place slip away in the last few weeks.
up to fifth on Lap 4, then jumped up to fourth a lap later. Two riders in front of Cardenas helped his cause when first Hacking crashed out of third place and Aprilia’s Chaz Davies went out with a mechanical problem.
DiSalvo would hold on for second place, giving M4 Suzuki a one-two finish, with the Team Graves Yamaha duo of Herrin and Aquino capturing the third and fourth spots, respectively. Aquino would pass Erion Honda’s Jake Zemke on the last lap after Jake Z. battled at the front all day.
"We really wanted that number-one spot on Sunday and after (crashing) yesterday I was really gunning for it but Martin ran an incredible race. The last lap was flawless by him, actually by both of us. But we were just so evenly matched, that there was no place to make a move," DiSalvo said.
Bazzaz Performance's Steve Rapp followed up yesterday’s podium with a sixth-place showing today.
The Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki team had a rough day. Hacking crashed twice, but was able to salvage a 13th-place finish. Rider Roger Hayden was in seventh place before DQing on Lap 16.
Buell’s Dan Eslick finished back in 12th and sits third in the championship point standings with 168.
AMA Pro RoadRacing Daytona SportBike Race 2 Results:
Daytona SportBike Race 2 podium (
left to right): Jason DiSalvo (M4 Suzuki) in second, with his teammate Martin Cardenas taking the win, and Team Graves Yamaha rider Josh Herrin rounding off the podium.
1. M. Cardenas (Suzuki)
2. J. DiSalvo +0.104 (Suzuki)
3. J. Herrin +5.057 (Yamaha)
4. T. Aquino +5.486 (Yamaha)
5. J. Zemke +6.037 (Honda)
6. S. Rapp +7.878 (Yamaha)
7. C. Peris +10.728 (Honda)
8. B. Fong +11.100 (Yamaha)
9. T. Knapp +28.443 (Buell)
10. D. Cudlin +29.869 (Yamaha)
11. M. Beck (Yamaha)
12. D. Eslick (Buell)
13. J. Hacking (Kawasaki)
14. R. Pietri (Yamaha)
15. R. Wikle (Suzuki)
