Yamaha's David Gaviria (#700) put in a strong defensive ride ahead of Tomas Puerta to seal the win in Race 2.
During the second
Motorcycle Superstore SuperSport contest at Daytona LTD
Yamaha’s David Gaviria narrowly defeated race 1 winner, Thomas Puerta, across the line by just 0.048 seconds. Meanwhile AntRacing.com’s James Rispoli earned third in the final laps of the contest, finishing well off the pace of the leader by more than 14 seconds.
Once again Puerta had an excellent start from the second row to beat out fastest qualifier, Miles Thornton along with the other front row starters.
Ducati’s Stefano Mesa, Gaviria, Rispoli,
Aprilia’s Dustin Dominguez, Thornton, Ducati’s Emerson Connor,
Suzuki’s Elena Myers and Yamaha’s Eric Stump were all running inside the top-10 at the start of the race.
On Lap 2 Gaviria and Mesa both made passes on Puerta to move to the top of the order as Stump and Myers also advanced into sixth and seventh, respectively. With the top-four riders all riding extremely close Mesa and Gaviria played cat and mouse for the lead with Gaviria eventually securing the spot halfway into the battle.
On Lap 6 Puerta secured the runner-up position ahead of Mesa as Myers made a pass ahead of Stump. Mesa would suffer a disappointing crash near the end of the contest, eliminating his solid run in the first round of the series. Shortly
Puerta was able to get another holeshot at the start of Race 2.
afterwards, Stump also suffered a fall while running sixth which put him to the back of the pack as Gaviria’s lead became threatened by Puerta.
In the final laps of the race the top-two were separated by a mere 0.113 seconds. Gaviria would eventually cross the line safe after successfully defending the lead, though only by a fraction of a second from Puerta.
“I’m very happy to win this race," Gaviria said. "I didn’t expect it, but I’m really, really excited and happy because this is a first race, and winning the first race in the championship is a good result, so I’m happy for today’s result. We were working together, and I tried my best on the middle field to gain some advantage, but I couldn’t do it. On the last lap he passed me, then on the banking I tried my best very hard, I reached him and then I passed him. I was a little bit lucky, and it is wonderful to be up front and win this race.”
“I really don’t like it [finishing second]," said Puerta. "I tried to do the same thing as yesterday, just get a holeshot and push hard. I knew I had to do something with one or two laps to go, so I passed David in the Horseshoe and tried really hard to make a little gap, but he got me on the banking."
Rispoli landed his first podium after finishing seventh in Race 1, and Connor had a good comeback from his crash on Friday to finish just off the box in fourth.
“It was a great battle; it was really tough," Rispoli said. "There was a lot of passing going on, a lot of moves that kind of helped me stayed in the group. I was pushing really hard—I’ve never gone as fast as I went this weekend—just had a little get-off in Turn 1. I looked back and saw we had plenty of time, and I was thinking a good fourth place is okay coming out of Daytona, then coming around the chicane I saw Stefano."
Ducati's Emerson Connor (#50) overcame his crash in Race 1 at Daytona to finish just off the podium in fourth on Saturday.
1. David Gaviria (Yamaha)
2. Tomas Puerta (Yamaha)
3. James Rispoli (Suzuki)
4. Emerson Connor (Ducati)
5. Dustin Dominguez (Aprilia)
6. Sam Nash (Yamaha)
7. Elena Myers (Suzuki)
8. Corey Alexander (Suzuki)
9. Ricky Parker (Yamaha)
10. Sebastiao Ferreira (Yamaha)
11. Brent Lyskawa (Ducati)
12. Jeff Wrobel (Yamaha)
13. Zared Leon (Yamaha)
14. Russell Proctor (Yamaha)
15. Jett Chandler (Yamaha)
