2013 Daytona AMA SuperBike | Race 1 Results

2013 AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike at Daytona

Spoiler Alert: 2013 AMA SuperBike race one results from Daytona International Speedway listed below

When Thursday’s practice and qualifying sessions began for the opening round of the 2013 AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike series at Daytona International Raceway, it was no surprise who was ridiculously fast – Monster Energy Graves Yamaha’s Josh Hayes.

The three-time SuperBike champion was untouchable, taking the pole position for the SBK race held during the week of the 72^nd running of the Daytona 200 by 1.059 of a second ahead National Guard Suzuki’s Roger Lee Hayden.

But as it goes in racing, things changed quickly during the first of two AMA SBK races held Friday afternoon at the 2.9-mile circuit featuring 12 turns. Hayes got his usual quick start from pole, but things quickly went sour for the reigning SuperBike Champion.

Hayes would not finish the race due to clutch issues, handing over the win to his teammate, Josh Herrin. Joining Herrin, who celebrated his first-ever AMA SuperBike victory at Daytona, was Yoshimura Suzuki’s Martin Cardenas and Pegram Racing Yamaha’s Larry Pegram.

When the 15-lap race got underway, Hayes propelled his YZF-R1 into the lead. But unlike his usual quick getaway from the field – something he was known for in the 2012 SuperBike Championship – Herrin soon caught up.

The man who qualified second, Hayden, lost the front end of his Suzuki GSX-R1000 in the chicane on the first lap, ending his day. He was in third when the wreck occurred.

For the first five laps, Hayes and Herrin were running alone up front, followed a half of second back by the duo of Cardenas and Pegram. And about a half of second behind Pegram was Jordan Suzuki’s Danny Eslick and Yoshimura Suzuki’s Chris Clark.

But during the end of lap five on the long straightaway where speeds of these liter bikes hover around 200 mph, Herrin took the lead as Hayes dropped off the main line. Hayes attempted to run, but later pitted. His day ended early due to a clutch problem on the Yamaha, something attributed to his “aggressive” launch.

Herrin would pull away from the grid, eventually having over two seconds on Cardenas. But by lap eight of 15, the reigning AMA Daytona SportBike Champion was directly behind Herrin, putting the pressure on.

Herrin was able to hold Cardenas off, eventually finishing 0.135 of a second ahead of the Columbian. Taking third 7.539 behind Herrin was Pegram, who switched over to Yamaha superbikes following two years on BMW S1000RR superbikes.

Sixth went to Team Moto Venezuela Kawasaki’s Robertino Pietri. Who was followed by Team Hero EBR’s Geoff May following a race-long battle for fifth with Clark.

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 second SuperBike race gets underway at 11 a.m. EST Saturday morning. Speed will broadcast race 2 at 9 p.m. Saturday.

2013 Daytona AMA SuperBike Race 1 Podium Quotes:

 Josh Herrin (Monster Energy Graves Yamaha YZF-R1 Superbike) says: “It feels really good. 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.”

Martin Cardenas (Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 Superbike) says: “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.”

Larry Pegram (Foremost Insurance Pegram Racing Yamaha YZF-R1 Superbike) says “It’s been a while – I haven’t been up here since 2010. 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.”

 2013 Daytona AMA SuperBike Race 1 Results: