Tomas Puerta shot off the line in the first race and claimed the win after leading every lap.
The 2011
Motorcycle Superstore SuperSport series kicked off in Daytona with a big increase to the rider lineup. Despite top contenders from last season like J.D. Beach, Cameron Beaubier, Huntley Nash and Joey Pascarella graduating to the Daytona SportBike class, the opening contests still provided heated racing amongst young talent in sport.
Red Bull Rookie champion Benny Solis returned to the
AMA Pro Road Racing circuit aboard one of the few
Honda’s in the field with Roadracingworld.com. Hayden Gillim also came back and looks to have grown since the rookie championship. I failed to recognize him on the bike at first, but he’s definitely one to be looking out for this season. Now that Columbian rider Stefano Mesa is of age he’s scheduled to race the entire season and should be a regular up front for sure.
In addition to some new talent the class also saw the return of former stars like Tomas Puerta, David Gaviria, Elena Myers, Dustin Dominguez and Miles Thornton. Although Miles Thornton snared the poll, the three young Columbians dominated the entire weekend.
Puerta's teammate, David Gaviria (#700), took advantage of a small lead in the second heat for the win.
In Race 1 Puerta led straight out of the grid and pretty much took off to win his first race of the year with a seven-second gap. The battle for second had a group of four riders, including Puerta’s own teammate, David Gaviria, along with Solis, Mesa and Dustin Dominguez. With two laps to go Gaviria was in second, but a last-second pass by Mesa saw him finish third by just 0.008 seconds.
“I’m really excited about it and really happy for my first win,” said Puerta. “I was wanting it bad. Last year, I was happy to just be at the front at times but this year I am really trying for the championship. In this race, I pushed hard for the first four laps and then I saw I had a gap. I tried to build up the gap because it is so hard to win here.”
Gaviria was also happy with his result for his first race with the LTD Racing team.
“I think I made a good decision at the end with my strategy but I came up just short of second place,” said Gaviria. “I’m learning a lot about racing here at Daytona and the draft in this race. I need to learn more about this and I am happy with bike and the team. It should be fun to get to race again tomorrow and I am expecting another good result.”
Apparently Gaviria is a fast learner, because in Race 2 he had it sorted out and nailed his first AMA SuperSport win. Race 2 was a much closer race and began with a first lap red flag due to a scary crash in Turn 2. Two riders came together, sending one of the bikes ghost-riding across the infield and the exit of the Horeshoe as the rest of the field was going through. The bike narrowly missed Puerta and could have been disastrous for Solis if he hadn’t high-sided right before it. You know it’s a bad situation when you’re grateful to see a rider highside.
Stefano Mesa (#37) was battling for the lead in the second race when he crashed coming out of the chicane.
When the race was restarted the three Columbians were at the front on the pack again with AntRacing.com’s James Rispoli in fourth. Rispoli ended up losing sight of the pack on Lap 7 after making a major mistake with his braking. Rispoli would later say that the only way he could keep up with the Ducati and Yamahas was to out-brake them in Turn 1.
“I tried to out brake even harder than I was normally to make up more time to catch them, and the rear came out and I backed it in and ran wide.”
The fight for the lead became a three-way Columbian battle until Mesa crashed coming out of the chicane, then making it a battle between teammates Gaviria and Puerta. Gaviria came out on top this time, followed by Puerta and Rispoli.
“I didn’t expect it, but I am really, really excited to have won this race,” said Gaviria. “To win at the first event is a great result and very promising for the season. I tried my best in the infield but I couldn’t hold Tomas [Puerta] off, then I tried my hardest on the banking. Maybe I was a little lucky, but I am really pleased with how the weekend has gone for me and the team.”
And pleased he should be. He rode two great races, learning from the first to get the second win.
Puerta, who almost had the double win, was disappointed with second place, but congratulated his teammate.
David Gaviria: "To win at the first event is a great result and very promising for the season. Maybe I was a little lucky, but I am really pleased with how the weekend has gone for me and the team.”
“David, he ran a great race. I tried to do the same thing I did yesterday and make a break early, but I couldn’t get away from the other riders. I knew early that the race was going to come down to the end. On the last lap, I tried to make a move on David on the infield and I had hoped I could make it to the line first but it wasn’t meant to be.”
After running wide and losing the lead pack, Rispoli said he was happy with his podium result.
“It feels really good to be on the box at Daytona. [It] gives me a lot of confidence going into the rest of the season starting off in second place for points.”
After a seven-week break it will be interesting how things shape-up when the class splits up between the east and west. Last year’s SuperSport series had some great battles and it’s looking to be no different this year.
