AMA Pro Daytona SportBike
In AMA Pro Daytona SportBike presented by AMSOIL, Josh Herrin was able to bounce back from the disappointment of Saturday’s race that ended for him almost as soon as it started.
Once again, this race was action all the way with the usual players and more taking the fight to the front for the entire 23 lap race.
After winning yesterday’s dramatic photo finish race, Bobby Fong had a short day on Sunday when he went down in turn one moments after the start, his DNA Energy Drink Ducati too damaged to continue and as quickly as that he was out.
Meanwhile, GEICO Powersports Suzuki rider Danny Eslick was again battling with Team Graves Yamaha rider Josh Herrin, Cory West on his Vesrah Suzuki, Steve Rapp with his rapid Team Latus Motors Ducati and Herrin’s Team Graves Yamaha teammate, Tommy Aquino.
As quickly as things started to happen, Herrin came by the line on lap five indicating that he was feeling some rain.
Moments later, after taking the lead, Eslick also put up his arm to let the field behind him know that moisture was making conditions potentially too dangerous to continue without a potential change to rain tires. The race was red flagged and after a short break, the brief shower passed and the field reformed for the restart.
Again, Herrin and Eslick had strong starts and headed the field. Martin Cardenas in particular had a tough start and dropped back to ninth on his M4 Monster Energy Suzuki. But as usual, Cardenas began one of his patented charges to the front which took him right back to the middle of the action by lap 15 and he was up to third with one lap to go but went off the track on the last lap to finish fifth. The battle up front was reminiscent of yesterday as there would be two and three lead changes per lap.
Herrin was strong out of the last corner and he would lead and the line but then Eslick would out-brake everyone to regain the lead. Steve Rapp was back up in his usual position up front and he would grab the lead only to have Eslick or Herrin re-pass him again and again.
Cory West was right in the middle of the action also and if not for him running wide in turn one on the last lap, he was one of at least five riders that could have won this race.
Going into the last lap, the first four were separated by under a tenth of a second at the line and Herrin, West, Eslick, Cardenas and Rapp all hurtled into turn one for the last time.
Cardenas and West went wide and had run off course, leaving Herrin, Eslick and Rapp to battle it out. Eslick was leading, but Herrin got back by and as they came to the line, Steve Rapp grabbed second from Eslick. Herrin’s margin of victory was 0.174 over Rapp and only 0.241 over his championship points rival Eslick.
Herrin reflected on a day where he was able to bounce back from the disappointment of Saturday’s race.
Josh Herrin says: “The race was really good, every time somebody passed me it seemed like it was somebody different. Danny rode an awesome race, my bike was a little faster today so it was a little bit easier to get those extra points.”
Herrin was able to lead the most laps and with the win, he made up some valuable ground on points leader Eslick.
Danny Eslick says: “I figured it’d be pretty close to the same deal as yesterday and then Josh was up in there. I knew Cory would be strong again today so there was quite a few of us up there. That little bit of drizzle was kind of sketchy. It was hard to tell if it’s coming down harder that it was. We were just trying to be a little bit cautious there. I think it was a good call, to figure out what was going on. It turned out pretty good, it presented a good race after the restart. It was a lot of fun, there at the end, it got pretty wild.”
Steve Rapp was happy to be back on the podium again, his seventh appearance this year.
Steve Rapp says: “When I was out front, I gave it my best shot, and then when they started coming back by again and it’s like, ‘Well there’s no point, obviously I can’t get away so I’m going to ride with them for a little bit, see if they make a mistake.’ It worked out pretty good.”
P.J Jacobson ran well today on his Celtic Racing Suzuki and he took a solid fourth ahead of Cardenas. Michael Beck had another good day on his DNA Energy Drink Ducati and took sixth.
West recovered to finish seventh ahead of Paul Allison on the Chronic Motorsports Yamaha. Tommy Aquino had an off-track excursion and finished a disappointed ninth ahead of Fernando Amantini on his Team Amantini Kawasaki.
All in all, it was more of the same in Daytona SportBike Presented by AMSOIL, two more absolute barn burners with the championship fight going right down to the last race.
2010 AMA Daytona Sportbike Results, VIR Race 2:
1. 8 Josh Herrin Team Graves Yamaha Yamaha YZF-R6 23 Laps
2.15 Steve Rapp Team Latus Motors Racing Ducati 848 0.174
3. 1 Danny Eslick GEICO Powersports ·RMR ·Suzuki Suzuki GSX-R600 0.240
4. 54 P. J. Jacobsen Celtic Racing Suzuki GSX-R600 2.591
5. 36 Martin Cardenas M4 Monster Energy Suzuki Suzuki GSX-R600 10.774
6. 60 Michael Beck DNA Energy Drink CNR Motorsports Ducati Ducati 848 13.444
7. 57 Cory West Vesrah Suzuki Suzuki GSX-R600 21.096
8. 210 Paul Allison Chronic Motorsports Yamaha YZF-R6 26.772
9. 6 Tommy Aquino Team Graves Yamaha Yamaha YZF-R6 31.697
10. 7 Fernando Amantini Team Amantini Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R 34.341
