DiSalvo stays perfect in SportBike

From AMA Pro Racing

SONOMA, CA - Jason DiSalvo won his second Daytona SportBike race of the season at Infineon Raceway on Sunday, maintaining a perfect record through the first three races of the 2011 season.

Monster Energy Graves Yamaha's Josh Herrin seemed to return with a vengeance on Sunday; having sat out AMA Pro Daytona SportBike Race 1 while serving a one-race penalty incurred at Round 1, he wasted no time when the track went green for Race 2's Infineon Raceway event. Though Latus Motors Racing's DiSalvo didn't let Herrin have it easy, Herrin sailed into the lead off the start, with Jake Holden (Jake Holden Racing) hot on DiSalvo's rear wheel.

Holden, too, had company, as GEICO Powersports RMR Suzuki's Danny Eslick was immediately gunning for third, and while DiSalvo and Herrin diced for the lead, Holden targeted the position ahead. The first big lineup change came when DiSalvo tried the inside of Herrin, only to be sent wide when Herrin shut the door, DiSalvo's trip leaving the way wide open for both Holden and Eslick.

The top four now covered by less than a second, Holden set out after Herrin and made a desperate grab for the lead when Herrin went wide, holding it while the Yamaha rider raged behind. With Eslick watching from third position, Herrin continued to put pressure on Holden until Holden slid out of the lead, ceding the frontrunner position to Herrin and being left on the sidelines with his head in his hands.

With just four laps elapsed, DiSalvo, and Eslick - trailed by dueling riders Cory West (Vesrah Suzuki) and PJ Jacobsen (Celtic Racing/Fast by Ferracci) - began a back-and-forth contest for second position that was suddenly halted by a weather-induced red flag, as several corners began reporting wet track surfaces.

The riders retook the grid just under 30 minutes later, Herrin again commanding the holeshot with DiSalvo in hot pursuit. Through the next handful of laps the top three diced for position, each taking over the lead temporarily until DiSalvo did so with authority on Lap 11 and dropped his head, dedicated to the all-important task of building a buffer between himself and the chase pair. Immediately laying down the quickest lap the race had seen thus far, DiSalvo proceeded to do just that, soon putting a second between himself and Herrin, a gap he proceeded to stretch through the remaining laps.

"I was strong a couple places on the brakes today, so I thought I could make some passes," DiSalvo said. "But from yesterday, too, all my experience for the 22 laps of yesterday's race was leading out at the front, and that's what I was used to seeing. I wasn't used to having Josh and Danny blocking my sight in a couple corners, and I wasn't able to get some visual references to kind of see where I was going. So once I got out in front, got in that rhythm, got in that zone, I just kept chugging away - pulling laps, keeping my head down, and riding hard."

Herrin, meanwhile, proved unable to sustain under Eslick's onslaught; following some back-and-forth swapping of position, Eslick finally made it stick and set out after DiSalvo.

"After the restart we were all going back and forth and running around and just trying to figure out who was doing what, so it was pretty fun," Eslick said. "It was nice to throw a little bit of excitement in there ... [but] I just didn't have anything for Jason today. He was riding great and the bike was working good for him, so it was all we could do to hang in there. It's gonna be a tough season."

All the action at the front, meanwhile, was complemented by a forced rippling up through the ranks behind, as young-gun Jacobsen had climbed as high as fourth and spent the remaining handful of laps chipping away at the gap between himself and the Yamaha rider, who seemed to be flagging as the race wound down. 

"The first start was really good for us, we were running really well," Herrin said. "Then the red flag came out because of the rain, and the restart was good start again, and I just tried to stay out there. I had a feeling once we let Jason go by it was going to be hard to keep up with him, and it was. Trying to keep the pace he was running, I kind of overcooked my tires a little bit ... [but] I'm just really excited to get out of here with some points. Real grateful we got to ride, and just glad to put [Daytona] behind us."

In a repeat of Saturday's dominant performance at Infineon Raceway Round 2, Roadracingworld.com's Benny Solis took Sunday's AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport victory by a big margin, besting Y.E.S. LTD Racing's Tomas Puerta along with the rest of the 20-rider field. Puerta's hard-charging teammate, David Gaviria (Race 1's third-place finisher), was also in line to notch another podium finish until misfortune struck on Lap 5.

Puerta seized the lead off the line, followed closely by Solis and Gaviria, the latter sliding underneath to take over second position before the end of Lap 1. Behind them, Vesrah Suzuki's Corey Alexander headed a six-rider line of riders but began to quickly outpace the rest of the field behind him.

The top three sailed around the track just tenths apart, the battle putting space between the trio and fourth place. While Solis hunted Gaviria, Gaviria was intensely looking for a way past Puerta, a hope that ended when Gaviria highsided in Turn 11 of Lap 5, his bike coming to rest in the corner itself while the rider scrambled to the sidelines.

Solis, meanwhile, had been forced to check up significantly to avoid both bike and rider but quickly made up time on Puerta, passing him within laps and almost immediately beginning to put time on the second-place rider. Suddenly, heartbreak hit Alexander, the Vesrah rider sliding into the grass then scrambling to get his bike upright and back on track. 

While Solis continued to stretch his lead, Alexander began an inspired charge up through the pack, picking off riders until he reached fourth, where the dwindling laps fated him to remain. What would have been Alexander's career-first AMA Pro podium instead became Ohge's, while Solis and Puerta brought their machines home in first and second, respectively.

The AMA Pro Road Racing Series next travels to Utah's Miller Motorsports Park for the "Big M Weekend," where it will run alongside the World Superbike series in a combined May 28-30 event.

Daytona SportBike Race Results
1. Jason DiSalvo (Team Latus Motors Racing) Ducati 848 22 Laps
2. Danny Eslick (Richie Morris Racing) Suzuki GSX-R600 +4.534
3. Josh Herrin (Monster Energy Graves Yamaha) Yamaha YZF-R6 +14.143
4. PJ Jacobsen (Celtic Racing) Ducati 848 +17.303
5. Cory West (Vesrah Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R600 +21.222
6. Cameron Beaubier (GP Bike Parts Racing) Yamaha YZF-R6 +21.560
7. Tommy Aquino (YES, Pat Clark Sports, Graves, Yamaha) Yamaha YZF-R6 +22.496
8. Dane Westby (M4 Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R600 +23.041
9. Taylor Knapp (Vesrah Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R600 +36.703
10. Paul Allison (Triple Crown Industries) Yamaha YZF-R6 +46.367
11. Fernando Amantini (Team Amantini) Kawasaki ZX-6R +53.391
12. Bryce Prince (Bryce Prince Racing) Yamaha YZF-R6 +55.170
13. Tyler OHara (GP Bike Parts Racing) Yamaha YZF-R6 +55.690
14. Santiago Villa (M4 Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R600 +1:23.022
15. Josh Galster (Josh Galster Racing) Yamaha YZF-R6 +1:26.101
16. Huntley Nash (LTD Racing Y.E.S Yamaha) Yamaha YZF-R6 +1:32.993
17. David Sadowski, Jr. (Top Shelf Motorcycles Racing) Ducati 848 +1:39.715
18. Matthew Sadowski (Top Shelf Motorcycles Racing) Ducati 848 21 Laps
19. Craig Mason (Team TDS Guns/Fast50s.com/Defense Industries) Yamaha YZF-R6 +11.488
20. Oscar Covarrubias (Get Some Racing) Kawasaki ZX-6R +11.922
21. Melissa Paris (HT Moto Yamaha) Yamaha YZF-R6 +23.870
22. Kevin Boisvert (Bayside Performance) Suzuki GSX-R600 +44.506
23. Patrick McCord (Peak Performance Racing) Kawasaki ZX-6R 15 Laps
24. Tyler Odom (Don Odom Racing) Honda CBR600RR 12 Laps
25. Jake Holden (Roberson Motorsports) Ducati 848 3 Laps
Race Time: 1:05:49.199
Margin of Victory: 4.534
Best Race Lap: Jason DiSalvo (1:39.513)

Daytona SportBike Standings (Top 20)
1. Jason DiSalvo 93
2. Cory West 56
3. Danny Eslick 46
4. Tommy Aquino 45
5. Cameron Beaubier 42
6. Josh Herrin 37
7. PJ Jacobsen 36
8. Paul Allison 35
9. Fernando Amantini 32
10. Taylor Knapp 29
11. Jake Holden 25
12. Jake Zemke 23
13. Tyler OHara 23
14. Dane Westby 21
15. Huntley Nash 20
16. Santiago Villa 19
17. JD Beach 18
18. Bryce Prince 18
19. Josh Galster 13
20. Tyler Odom 12