Clutch Victory: Herrin Wins First AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike
Race at Daytona International Speedway
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (March 15, 2013)
- Just when things start to feel a bit
too certain, the racing gods typically serve up a reminder of the unpredictable
nature of the sport. And such was the case in the AMA Pro National Guard
SuperBike season opener which capped off a thrilling opening day of GEICO
Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing race action on Friday at Daytona International
Speedway.
Josh Hayes' overwhelming pre-race
advantage was rendered meaningless less than five laps into the contest and the
day's glory was shifted over to his young Monster Energy Graves Yamaha teammate,
Josh Herrin, who walked away with the first National Guard SuperBike victory of
his career. Hayes pushed hard to hold onto
first at the green light after earlier earning pole position, but that would
ultimately prove to be his undoing. Hayes fended off quick starts from Yoshimura
Suzuki's Martin Cardenas and Herrin in hopes of making an early escape.
Josh Herrin #2 holds off Martin Cardenas #36 during race 1 of the AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike Series at Daytona on Friday, and went on to win his cherry-breaking first event in the 2013 Geico Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing season's opening round. Race 2 is scheduled to run at 11:00 AM EDT on Saturday, and will be shown tape-delayed on SpeedTV on Sunday, March 17 at 9:00 PM EDT. AMA Pro Road Racing photo by Brian J. Nelson.
Meanwhile, National Guard Jordan
Suzuki's Roger Hayden, one of the few riders thought capable of pushing Hayes,
saw his race end less than one lap into the opener. The Kentuckian lost the
front in the chicane while running third and was unable to continue. Hayes proved unable to break the
pursuit of Herrin, who tucked his identically prepared R1 into the triple
champ's draft and the factory Yamahas promptly stretched away from the pack
while running in formation. The building question whether
Herrin would be able to make it a fight for the entire 15-lap distance became
moot while working lap five as Hayes slowed dramatically and handed the lead
over to his teammate. Hayes limped around for a period after that but eventually
was forced to retire, the victim of clutch issues which he attributed to his
aggressive launch off the line.
Hayes' misfortune didn't
automatically hand the win over to Herrin, however. Despite building up a
two-and-a-half-second advantage on Cardenas, without Hayes to lead the way and
suffering from arm pump issues, Herrin was helpless as the Suzuki pilot gobbled
up that gap. The reigning AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike champ closed right in
on his former DSB rival, slotting in directly behind on lap 8 of 15. Their position and proximity
would remain basically unchanged to the flag from that point on. Cardenas
attempted to line Herrin up for a final slingshot maneuver on the last lap but a
big wheelie coming onto the banking cost him just enough of drive to allow
Herrin to hold him off by 0.135 seconds at the flag. "It feels really good," new race
winner Herrin remarked. "I thought for sure Martin was going to get me on the
last lap. I was trying to get him to pass me and it didn't work. I don't want to
beat up on myself, but it almost doesn't feel like a win because Josh was out,
Roger crashed. But it's still a win and the Monster Energy Graves Yamaha was
working good. They've been putting in a lot of hours to get it working even
better. I'm really grateful that the thing was fast enough to keep Martin behind
me because I knew Martin was right there."
Runner-up Cardenas said, "Herrin
and Hayes got away a little bit and I started pushing and pushing. I caught back
up to Herrin midway through the race. My plan was to stay there and attack on
the last lap because it's Daytona and the draft is very important. But this time
it didn't work for me -- I kind of did the chicane badly and he got me a little
too much. But second place is a good start to the season and we'll try to do a
good job again tomorrow."
Foremost Insurance Pegram Racing's Larry Pegram
enjoyed a successful start in his new partnership with Yamaha. Bouncing back
from a big (and costly) crash on Thursday, Pegram rode a steady race to the
podium in third. "It's been a while -- I haven't
been up here since 2010," the multi-time class race winner said. "I wanted to do
well here and yesterday kind of threw me for a loop. I've already crashed the
thing and did kind of the same thing once while I was testing. Being that this
is my program, you crash these bikes and they get expensive. I was kind of down
in the dumps last night, but my guys stepped up for me and said don't worry
about that crash. I knew I had to get a good start. I was fifth and Roger fell
so I was fourth. Once I got into third I kind of wanted to get through the race
and get a podium. Tomorrow will be a bonus so we'll be able to really go for
it."
Danny Eslick piloted the Jordan
Suzuki to a lonely fourth in his maiden ride aboard the #23 GSX-R1000. Behind him, second Yoshimura
Suzuki entry Chris Clark narrowly edged Team Moto Venezuela Kawasaki's Robertino
Pietri and Team Hero EBR's Geoff May following a race-long tussle for fifth. Motorsport.com Motul Fly Racing's
David Anthony took eighth while another three-way battle decided ninth.
KTM/HMC's Taylor Knapp claimed the position, finishing just 0.108 seconds ahead
of teammate Chris Fillmore, with Team AMSOIL/Hero EBR's Aaron Yates another
0.002 seconds back in his debut on the EBR 1190RS.
The champ will have an
opportunity to get his revenge and go to work on his early championship deficit
on Saturday morning as the AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike stars return to the
high banks at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday for the second race of the 2013 premier class
campaign.
Saturday's SuperBike final will
be aired Sunday night on SPEED in a broadcast set to begin at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00
p.m. PT.
AMA Pro GoPro Daytona
SportBike
Cameron Beaubier claimed pole for
the 72nd DAYTONA 200 on Friday. Beaubier, on board his Yamaha Extended
Services/Graves Yamaha YZF-R6, dominated the field to set a best time of
1:49.612 on the 3.51-mile traditional motorcycle course in the afternoon
session. The 20 year-old topped a front row of teammate Garrett Gerloff, Bobby
Fong of Triple Crown/RMR, and Jake Zemke of Desmo Veloce for the 57-lap
contest.
Beaubier led most of the session
by a wide margin, eventually ending up with more than a second's advantage over
the rest of the field when the session ended. Beaubier won the Rolex Daytona
Cosmograph traditionally awarded to the DAYTONA 200 pole winner handily, but his
rivals are expecting to give him a tougher task on Saturday. "This morning, conditions weren't
good but in the afternoon, the temperatures came up. I got a good draft on the
straightaway at the finish," said Beaubier.
The front row offers a varying
level of rider experience. Veteran Zemke is a former DAYTONA 200 winner while
Gerloff has never competed in the 200-mile race before. Row two is packed with some of
the best young riders in the country. J.D. Beach of RoadRace Factory heads up
the second row, along with Meen Motorsports' Jake Lewis, last year's winner Joey
Pascarella on the Riders Discount Triumph and LTD Racing's Huntley Nash.
The sighting lap for the 72nd
DAYTONA 200 begins at 12:40 p.m. local time Saturday. The race will be televised
on SPEED in a next-day delayed broadcast beginning at 1:30 p.m. ET/10:30 a.m. PT
on Sunday.
AMA Pro
Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport
In AMA Pro
Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport race one, Stefano Mesa won a closely
contested event on the Motosport.com entry, winning a draft-fest by 0.026 over
David Sadowski, Jr. Hayden Gillim took third place on the Team 95 bike in a
photo finish which had to be confirmed by high-speed camera.
Mesa said, "It feels great. These
guys rode a great race. It came down to the last lap and came down to the
banking. I tried to get it up front and it worked out for us. I hope to win some
more this year and I think this is a good start to the season." After winning at Elkhart Lake
last season, today's win marked the Colombian's second career AMA Pro
victory. "It was a wild one from my seat,
too," said David Sadowski, Jr. Sadowski ran down the lead pack and nearly took
victory in the 10-lap race.
Matt Sadowski earned fourth ahead
of RoadRace Factory's Tomas Puerta, the polesitter who led much of the race
before being shuffled back late. Sebastiao Ferreira, finishing sixth, was just
0.274 behind the winner on his BP Racing machine. Mark Miller, Jr. was seventh,
just behind the lead pack. The Mar Del Auto rider finished ahead of Cody Wyman
(Harv's H-D).
The second AMA Pro
Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport race will be held Saturday at 10:00 a.m.
ET/7:00 a.m. PT and will be broadcast live at http://www.speed2.com.
AMA Pro Vance & Hines
Harley-Davidson Series
The AMA Pro Vance & Hines
Harley-Davidson Series opener more than lived up to the lofty pre-race
expectations of a thrilling battle for the first victory of the 2013 GEICO
Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing season. Eleven
riders took the fight to the checkered flag, with as many as eight riders
running side-by-side on the banking as they jockeyed for position throughout the
seven-lap affair.
On the final lap, Eco Fuel
Saver/Scrubblade/Bartel's Harley-Davidson's Tyler O'Hara and Revolution
Performance/Millennium Technologies' Kyle Wyman once again demonstrated why they
are regular contenders for victory in the class, showcasing some serious
strategic acumen. Sitting several positions out of
first as they started the final run to the flag, Wyman and O'Hara built up steam
as they utilized the draft to blast past a succession of opponents. Wyman rushed
into first with the checkers in sight, but O'Hara made one final slingshot
maneuver and stole the win away at the stripe.
"It was crazy," race-winner
O'Hara said. "It was almost like riding a Pro Single on a mile. It was hairball
and I'm just happy everybody rode respectfully... My main goal was to come out
of here with some good points and we did. Coming onto the banking I was in
like sixth or seventh and I told my dad I thought I could win from around sixth.
I was like 'slingshot -- engaged! "It's all about putting yourself
in the right place at the right time. It feels really good to come out of here
with a win." Rossmeyer's Harley-Davidson's
Bobby Fong came home in third in a race that saw the top 10 riders separated by
a meager 0.792 seconds.
Rossiter's Harley Davidson's
Michael Corbino finished fourth and Canadian Steve
Crevier rounded out the top five, followed by defending champ Michael Barnes,
who got shuffled down the order in the chaotic final drafting battle. NJMP
winner Shane Narbonne was seventh, followed by pole winner Travis Wyman, Gage
McAllister and Eric Stump completing the top ten. Ben Carlson was
originally scored fifth, but was later disqualified for failing to comply with
post-race technical inspection.
Live Timing & Scoring of all
on-track sessions will be available at http://live.amaproracing.com/rr/.
Between the races, stay connected with AMA Pro Road Racing at www.twitter.com/AMAProSBK and www.facebook.com/AMAProRoadRacing;
keep up with Daytona International Speedway via Twitter (www.twitter.com/DISupdates) and
Facebook (www.facebook.com/DaytonaInternationalSpeedway).
For
tickets and additional event information, visit www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com
or call 1-800-PITSHOP.
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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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