Martin Cardenas dominated the first DSB race after leading for its entirety.
The opening Daytona SportBike race at Barber Motorsports Park was red-flagged after mere seconds due to a crash that involved Chronic Motorsports’ Paul Allison. After lining up again, the race restarted 10 minutes later and what followed was M4 Monster Energy
Suzuki’s Martin Cardenas leading all 21 laps to take a dominating victory.
Championship-contender Cardenas got an excellent start off the restart and immediately assumed the lead, with Geico Powersports Suzuki’s Danny Eslick and Team Graves
Yamaha’s Josh Herrin right behind. On the second lap, Project 1 Atlanta’s Clinton Seller advanced into second-place as Herrin’s Yamaha teammate, Tommy Aquino, settled into fifth with
Ducati’s Steve Rapp and Dane Westby in pursuit.
But the tricky Alabama circuit claimed several riders in the DSB series Race 1 on Saturday, including Vesrah Suzuki’s Cory West and Chris Fillmore, Chronic Motorsports’ Sam Rozynski and Paul Allison, Grant Smith’s Memory Racing’s David White, Giant Racing’s Alistair Douglas and Fogi Racing’s Ben Young.
After making his way into the top-three, Aquino became another victim of the track, as he crashed while trailing the leader by less than a second.
By the halfway point, Cardenas was putting in a strong run ahead of Seller, Eslick and Herrin. Not content with being outside the top-three, Herrin began a charge for the front that resulted in him taking third-place ahead of Eslick.
Each time Seller and Herrin began closing the gap on Cardenas, the Colombian would respond by increasing his pace - making him impenetrable. Cardenas took a crushing victory over Seller, who maintained excellent form in second-place for much of the contest. Herrin finished third, more the two-and-a-half seconds off the pace of Cardenas.
2010 Daytona SportBike Barber Race 1 Results:
Clinton Seller (#4) also put in a strong performance at Barber to secure a second-place finish behind Cardenas.
1. Martin Cardenas (Suzuki)
2. Clinton Seller (Yamaha)
3. Josh Herrin (Yamaha)
4. Dane Westby (Yamaha)
5. Danny Eslick (Suzuki)
6. Kyle Wyman (Yamaha)
7. P.J. Jacobsen (Suzuki)
8. Kris Turner (Suzuki)
9. Michael Beck (Ducati)
10. Russ Wikle (Suzuki)
11. Fernando Amantini (Kawasaki)
12. Barrett Long (Ducati)
13. Reese Wacker (Suzuki)
14. Jodi Chirstie (Honda)
15. Abe Stacey (Suzuki)
2010 Daytona SportBike Championship Points:
1. Martin Cardenas, 375
2. Danny Eslick, 372
3. Josh Herrin, 367
4. Steve Rapp, 267
5. Dane Westby, 226
