2011 AMA SuperSport
Saturday’s AMA Pro Road Racing Round 2 action at Infineon Raceway kicked off with AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport Race 1, which was utterly dominated by Roadracingworld.com’s Benny Solis.
Solis-piloting the lone Honda machine in the field-took over the lead almost immediately from LTD Racing Y.E.S. Yamaha’s Tomas Puerta, who received a five-second penalty for jumping the start. Looking incredibly smooth, Solis was never headed during the 18-lap race, taking his career first AMA Pro Road Racing victory in style.
Puerta’s job, once the penalty was assessed, was relatively straightforward: get those five seconds back, thus turning the second position he held visually on the track into a scoreboard reality. He got the job done without incident, but his LTD teammate, David Gaviria, had a significantly harder time bringing home his podium result, being haunted in the final laps by Vesrah Suzuki’s hard-charging Corey Alexander.
The newfound speed Alexander demonstrated in AMA Pro’s early-May official test was made manifest in Race 1; on each of the race’s final two laps, he dove under Gaviria on the track’s final turn, only to be outgunned to the finish. Still hunting his first AMA Pro Road Racing victory, Alexander appears to have announced he won’t be denied much longer.
Even larger battles raged further back in the field, with fifth through tenth positions dicing for position for most of the race. Emerging triumphant behind fourth-place Alexander was Travis Ohge, followed by Wyatt Farris, Greg McCullough, Dustin Dominguez, Sebastiao Ferreira, and local Jason Lauritzen. For full results, click here.
David Gaviria, 3rd: “I was feeling so good at the start, but at the middle of the race I ran out to the rear tire. I pushed very hard, but I couldn’t do anything because all the time I was sliding. I tried to make a different between me and Alexander, but I couldn’t do it. At the end of the race he catch me, and we were fighting a lot, but in a good way. I was lucky at the last lap…. My bike was without tire, so I couldn’t do anything.”
Thomas Puerta, 2nd: “I was really trying to get a holeshot because I knew that would be important to be part of the podium. I knew I moved on the start … it went to my head. I was trying not to think about it but I did; on third lap I did a big mistake before running down the hill and Benny pass me. I really wanted to finish the race but I didn’t think I could make a podium… I just tried to keep decent lap times and be there on the podium, because I knew I would have those five seconds.”
Benny Solis,1st: “I didn’t know [Puerta] jumped the start, so I thought, “Man, he’s on it! Once I got by him I put my head down and little by little was able to get away, but for sure it was difficult to get that gap at the beginning. We came here with a strong setup, and to take the win is really special. I just kept pushing and pushing and found a little more time here.”