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AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike Recap:
Buckeye
SuperBike Weekend presented by Dunlop Tire
at
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course
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DAYTONA
BEACH, Fla. (July 19, 2012) - If Martin Cardenas and
Jason DiSalvo headlined the first part of the 2012 AMA Pro
GoPro Daytona SportBike season, the most recent two events saw Cameron
Beaubier and Dane Westby take the spotlight.
Beaubier,
a Y.E.S./Graves/Yamaha YZF-R6 pilot, doubled in Alabama and took the Sunday win
during the Buckeye SuperBike Weekend presented by Dunlop Tire at Mid-Ohio Sports
Car Course. Westby, who competes aboard the M4 Broaster Chicken Suzuki GSX-R600,
won the Saturday race in Ohio and finished second in three out of the last four
outings.
On
Saturday, Westby showed his resurgent form. After having a series of bad starts
to the year, Westby got the holeshot to start race one. He led DiSalvo (Latus
Motors Racing Triumph Daytona 675) and Cardenas (GEICO Suzuki GSX-R600) on the
first lap.
By
mid-race, Westby, Cardenas, and Beaubier had broken away from the rest and the
three traded the lead. It was typical hard-fought GoPro Daytona SportBike
racing, with the riders taking varied lines and making plenty of moves as the
excitement built. Beaubier and Cardenas both had big moments in the waning laps;
Beaubier lost the lead pack, but Cardenas was able to hang on to dice with
Westby. Cardenas
led entering the last lap before Westby made a move in the double right-handers.
The Oklahoman couldn't make it stick and it looked like his best shot for a win
was gone. He
tried again with three turns to go when Cardenas ran a tad wide in turn 13, and
this time Westby wrestled first from his stablemate and held it to the flag by
just 0.223 of a second.
"We
made a little contact in Thunder Valley. He had me covered on the brakes so I
had to do something creative," said Westby, adding that his plan was to make his
move in the double right-handers. "That worked, but he got the drive on me, but
then he made a little mistake. It was a barn-burner."
"We
passed I don't know how many times," said Cardenas. "My plan was to get a quick
lap and try to win but unfortunately he passed me in some places I didn't expect
him to be. He rode great. Congratulations to him." Beaubier
took third but cut some quick laps after he lost the leading duo with five to
go, including the fastest lap of the race. "My bike was working awesome but I
just made that little mistake," he said.
The
battle for fourth saw Tommy Hayden (Y.E.S./ Graves/ Yamaha)
earn the spot over Jake Zemke (Ducshop Ducati). J.D.
Beach was able to survive an off-track excursion to earn sixth on his
RoadRace Factory/Red Bull Yamaha YZF-R6. Venezuelan Fernando Amantini
(Team Amantini) beat Cory West (Riders Discount Vesrah
Suzuki) in a close battle for seventh. Derek Wagnon earned
ninth on his HSBK Ducati, ahead of Michael Beck on his Team
Beck Yamaha YZF-R6. There
was a high amount of attrition in the race - mostly from crashes -- with notable
retirees including polesitter DiSalvo, Jake Gagne (RoadRace
Factory/Red Bull), Meen Motorsports' Bobby Fong, Daytona 200
winner Joey Pascarella (Riders Discount Vesrah Suzuki) and LTD
Racing's Huntley Nash.
For
Sunday, the race began under the threat on rain. Pole man DiSalvo got the
holeshot, but Cardenas quickly took the lead in the first braking opportunity,
turn six. Westby and Beaubier were charging and by lap two had taken the point.
On lap six, light rain began to fall and the race was stopped. On
the restart, Fong got the holeshot, once again impressing. When Cardenas came
by, Fong stuck to the 2010 champ's tail until Beaubier and Westby were able to
get by on lap 10. With eight to go Westby and Beaubier had moved to the front
and dropped their lap times and by the time seven circuits were left in the
race, Beaubier clocked a 1:28.300, the fastest GoPro Daytona SportBike lap ever
turned at Mid-Ohio. Fong was able to follow that up with 1:28.100 of his own on
the following lap. When
he finally got clear at the front, Beaubier was able to pull out a gap of
several bike lengths and ran to the checkered flag to take his third win of the
year by 0.7 of a second. "I
was struggling a little bit getting past people on the brakes," said Beaubier.
"I knew I had the pace. In warm-up, I tried the hard tire and it worked a lot
better. I was pushing as hard as I could."
Westby
was able to hold off Fong for second. On the weekend, Westby moved clear from a
second place tie in the Daytona SportBike points with DiSalvo and closed the gap
on points leader Cardenas. Westby now trails the Colombian by 40 markers after
gaining 11 on the weekend. "We
had some problems that we didn't have yesterday," said Westby. "We changed out
the brake pads and I was able to attack in the braking zones a little bit better
but we gave it up for some other chatter issues. It was pretty close -- that
extra bit I was holding back because of the chatter might have been it. But it
is what it is. It was a good race. I'd have liked it to be closer like it was
yesterday but every race is different. That's how the cards played today."
Tommy Hayden #22, Martin Cardenas #36, Jason DiSalvo #40 and Jake Zemke #98 lead the field into turn one during one of the Daytona SportBike Series races at Mid-Ohio last weekend. AMA Pro Road Racing photo by Brian J. Nelson.
Fong
earned his first podium since the 2010 season. After a year away from the
Daytona SportBike scene, Fong has ridden hard and fast all year and is wildly
outperforming expectations. "I
had an awesome restart," said Fong. "Martin got by me and I wanted to sit behind
him and save my energy for the end. It didn't turn out that way, though. We
started battling. It was a gamble at the end to see who would get it. I gave it
all I had and it was our first podium of the year." Cardenas
and Hayden diced for fourth, with Cardenas nosing out his fellow veteran by less
than 0.1. West
rebounded to earn sixth in what has been a tough season for him after a fine
2011 when he led Daytona SportBike points at one stage. He was able to beat
Nash, who put a good race together Sunday after his Saturday struggles. Beach
jumped the restart early but was able to make up the ground he lost to finish
eighth. After crashing on Saturday, Pascarella earned ninth ahead of
Austin DeHaven (Kneedraggers.com Yamaha).
Headed
to the Laguna Seca round, Westby and Beaubier have the momentum. It will be
interesting to see if their rivals can reverse it when the GoPro Daytona
SportBike stars join the global superstars of the MotoGP World Championship at
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix, scheduled for July
27-29.
Year-end Award Update:
J.D. Beach
leads the Sunoco "Go the Distance" Award chase, having
completing 697 laps and logged 1985.32 miles over second place Dane Westby with
679 laps and 1952.24 miles.
Benny Solis
sits atop the standings for the $5,000 year-end Saddlemen Rookie of the
Year Award, sitting just two markers over Jake Gagne in the GoPro
Daytona SportBike points.
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AMA Pro Racing is the premier professional
motorcycle racing organization in North America, operating a full schedule of
events and championships for a variety of motorcycle disciplines. Learn more
about AMA Pro Racing at www.amaproracing.com.
For additional information
contact:
AMA Pro Racing Communications, (386) 492-1014, communications@amaproracing.com
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