Cardenas took his second win of the season in a hotly-contested Daytona SportBike final on Saturday.
Monster M4 Suzuki’s Martin Cardenas held off a rabid group of Daytona SportBike riders to claim his second victory of the young season. But he had to work for it each and every lap.
The exciting race went right down to the wire, featuring a five-way battle at the front most of the 20-lap Saturday final. This then turned into a four-way dice when Graves Yamaha’s Tommy Aquino fell off slightly from the group with two laps remaining. Going into the final lap, the gap from Cardenas at the front to Geico Suzuki’s Danny Eslick in fourth was a mere 0.6-seconds, with Vesrah Suzuki’s Cory West and Project 1 Atlanta’s Dane Westby sandwiched in between the two.
And that would be almost exactly how they finished, as the Columbian rider put his head down on the final lap and pulled away ever so slightly to win at the track where he got his first career AMA victory last season. He would stay 0.8-seconds in front of West, who took his career-best AMA finish today in second, just 0.033 seconds in front of Eslick, who led 12 of the race’s 20 laps and moved around Westby for the final podium spot on the last lap. Pole sitter Aquino finished fifth, though only a tenth behind Project 1 Atlanta’s Westby.
Cory West took his career-best AMA result with a second in Daytona SportBike Race 1.
Sixth was Latus Ducati-mounted Steve Rapp, while Westby’s Project 1 teammate Clinton Sellers was seventh. Championship front runner Josh Herrin had a rough day, running off track and finishing eighth, with West’s Vesrah Suzuki teammate Chris Fillmore just off his back wheel in ninth. Riding a fully privateer machine, Geoff May rounded out the top-10.
Daytona SportBike Saturday Results
1. Martin Cardenas (Suzuki)
2. Cory West (Suzuki) -0.844 sec.
3. Danny Eslick (Suzuki) -0.878 sec.
4. Dane Westby (Yamaha) -1.196 sec.
5. Tommy Aquino (Yamaha)
6. Steve Rapp (Ducati)
7. Clinton Sellers (Yamaha)
8. Josh Herrin (Yamaha)
9. Chris Fillmore (Suzuki)
10. Geoff May (Suzuki)
American Superbike
Hayes took his first American Superbike win of the season on Saturday at Road Atlanta.
Graves Yamaha’s Josh Hayes took his first American Superbike race win of the season, holding off a four-way battle for the lead on Saturday in Road Atlanta.
Continuing the trend this season, the Superbike final was yet another close race, the top four within a second for the entire 20-lap final. Hayes, Rockstar/Yoshimura Suzuki’s Blake Young, Jake Zemke on the National Guard Suzuki and Tommy Hayden all ran in the front group during the 20-lap final, with all but Zemke leading a lap. Young was up front the most, leading 10 of the 20 laps, while Hayes led nine and Hayden was in front for one.
It was Hayes that crossed the line first in the lap that mattered, the final one. Young, who started on pole for the first time in his career, actually led across the line to start the last go-round, but Hayes was able to sneak by to take the win by 0.183-seconds. Young finished less than half-a-second in front of his Rockstar/Yoshimura Suzuki teammate Hayden in third, the Kentucky rider a mere 0.153-seconds in front of Zemke in fourth.
After taking his first career pole, Young went on to finish a close second in Race 1 at Road Atlanta.
The top four had gapped Pat Clark Motorsport’s Ben Bostrom by nearly 10 seconds in fifth, while John Hopkins struggled with a still-healing right wrist to finish a distant sixth on his M4 Monster Suzuki. Roadracingworld.com Monster Suzuki’s Chris Ulrich was seventh, nearly 20 seconds further adrift, with Taylor Knapp eighth, Chris Clark ninth and Barrett Long rounding out the top-10.
Note: The above results were under protest as Yamaha’s Josh Hayes had jumped the first start, prior to a red flag on Lap 3 which involved Trey Batey, who had fallen in Turn 6 and was injured (the extent currently unknown). Hayes had come in to serve his stop-and-go penalty on the third lap the race, just as it was red flagged, with DMG then allowing him to restart the 18-lap final from the front row despite the race scoring being set back to the previous lap. Yoshimura Suzuki filed a results protest, with the AMA later ammending the results to push Hayes back into sixth.
American Superbike Saturday Results
1. Blake Young (Suzuki) -0.183 sec.
2. Tommy Hayden (Suzuki) -0.641 sec.
3. Jake Zemke (Suzuki) -0.794 sec.
4. Ben Bostrom (Yamaha) -9.634 sec.
5. John Hopkins (Suzuki)
6. Josh Hayes (Yamaha)
7. Chris Ulrich (Suzuki)
8. Taylor Knapp (Suzuki)
9. Chris Clark (Yamaha)
10. Barrett Long (Ducati)
S
uperSport
J.D. Beach took his Rockwall Yamaha to the Saturday SuperSport victory.
In AMA SuperSport it was J.D. Beach taking the win at Road Atlanta Saturday, topping his Rockwall Yamaha teammate Cameron Beaubier by a scant 0.108 seconds. Fellow former Red Bull Rookies Cup rider Huntley Nash completed the podium on his LTD Yamaha, just over two seconds adrift of the lead pair.
Travis Wyman was fourth, as Thomas Puerta rounded out the top-five. Sixth was the first of the Top Gun riders, Kawasaki-mounted David Gaviria, followed by Sam Nash in seventh, another Top Gun. Miles Thornton was eighth on his Yamaha R6, with Suzuki-mounted James Dellinger in ninth and Jim Cohrs rounding out the top-10. Pole sitter Joey Pascarella fell out on the opening lap.
SuperSport Saturday Results
1. J.D. Beach (Yamaha)
2. Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha) -0.108 sec.
3. Huntley Nash (Yamaha) -2.079 sec.
4. Travis Wyman (Yamaha)
5. Thomas Puerta (Yamaha)
6. David Gaviria (Kawasaki)
7. Sam Nash (Suzuki)
8. Miles Thornton (Yamaha)
9. James Dellinger (Suzuki)
10. Jim Cohrs (Yamaha)
