Martin Cardenas was able to overtake Herrin on the final lap for a win in Race 2 at Road America.
The second contest of the Daytona Sportbike series featured a heated battle between Yamaha’s Josh Herrin and Monster Energy Suzuki’s Martin Cardenas. In an event that started as a free-for-all during the first few opening laps, the race ended with one rider making his final pass stick by a margin of less than three hundredths of a second.
Herrin was up front at the very the beginning of the event with Ducati’s Steve Rapp, Suzuki’s Danny Eslick and Cory West all jockeying for position. By the close of the second lap Herrin had lost the lead to Rapp and was followed by Cardenas and Celtic Racing’s P.J. Jacobsen in third and fourth respectively.
While Herrin focused on Rapp, Cardenas was able to overtake the two frontrunners by Lap 4. Shortly afterward Rapp succumbed to Herrin and was pushed back to third ahead of Cory West and Yamaha’s Dane Westby.
Heading into the sixth lap Herrin retok the lead ahead of Cardenas. Meanwhile, Cory West had moved up to fourth ahead of Jacobsen, but soon after was passed by Team Graves Yamaha rider Tommy Aquino.
In what proved to be a tense battle at the front of the pack, Cardenas passed Herrin for the second time on Lap 7, only to once again be overtaken just a few laps later by Herrin.
By Lap 9 the order was Herrin, Cardenas, West and Dane Westby. Steve Rapp who was in sixth-place managed to charge back to the final podium spot on the final lap, but was still more than a second behind Cardenas.
With less than one lap to go, Cardenas broke past Herrin’s Yamaha for the lead and took a victory by just three hundredths of a second. Rapp was able to maintain his pace for the final podium position followed by West and Westby.
Yamaha's Josh Herrin (#8) led an impressive battle against Martin Cardenas (#36), but in the end it wasn't enough to fend off the Suzuki rider.
1. Martin Cardenas (Suzuki)
2. Josh Herrin (Yamaha)
3. Steve Rapp (Ducati)
4. Cory West (Suzuki)
5. Dane Westby (Yamaha)
6. P. J. Jacobsen (Suzuki)
7. Danny Eslick (Suzuki)
8. Clinton Seller (Yamaha)
9. Chris Fillmore (Suzuki)
10. Bobby Fong (Ducati)
11. Fernando Amantini (Kawasaki)
12. Lenny Hale (Yamaha)
13. Michael Beck (Ducati)
14. Marcos Reichert (Yamaha)
15. Dominic Jones (Yamaha)
Daytona SportBike Championship Standings:
1. Josh Herrin, 216
2. Danny Eslick, 198
3. Martin Cardenas, 184
4. Dane Westby, 157
5. Steve Rapp, 150
