Cardenas wins wild SportBike battle

From AMA Pro Racing

TOPEKA, KS - Martin Cardenas (No. 36 Team M4 Suzuki GSX-R600) won a class-leading seventh AMA Pro Daytona SportBike race Sunday in the Tornado Nationals presented by BriggsAuto.com at Heartland Park Topeka.

Cardenas passed Danny Eslick (No. 9 GEICO Powersports/RMR Buell 1125R) twice on the final lap. Cardenas and Eslick are now tied for first with 318 points apiece in the Daytona SportBike championship standings with just two double-header weekends of racing left this season.

"The race was very tough," Cardenas said. "I noticed that the pace wasn't as good as yesterday and Danny was struggling in the first part of the track. I made a move three or four laps from the end and put a little bit of a gap in the parts that I saw he was struggling. He came right by me again so I just waited for the last lap to make a move and it worked out. It was a very good race. The bike worked awesome." 

Eslick was leading at the start of the final lap but Cardenas was in hot pursuit along with Josh Herrin (No. 8 Team Graves Yamaha YZF-R6), who had recovered from a mid-race trip off course to race back into contention. Cardenas and Eslick traded the lead twice while working the Turn 6 and 7 section of the course before the Colombian took the lead for the final time out of the backstretch chicane with just half a lap to go. Eslick then had his hands full with Herrin, who made a late-braking pass for second stick just two corners from the finish.

"It was just an awesome race," Eslick said. "I got away for a little while just past halfway and tried to lead as many laps as I could and hopefully get that point for the most laps led. Both these guys ran an awesome race and it was a lot of fun. I almost crashed on that last lap trying to chase Martin down in the chicane. I don't know if I hit the bodywork or what I did, but I was down, no saving it, and somehow it stood back up. I figured from there I'd go with second, then Josh came sliding by me. We'll take a third today, tied for the championship. It's a good weekend."

Herrin is now third in the Daytona SportBike standings with 261 points behind the two leaders.

"That was really scary," said Herrin, who fell to seventh after his off-course incident. "I ran it in really hard, and I was going to try to make a move on Danny going on the outside. I think I hit his exhaust or something with my fist and it just jabbed it, cut my hand actually. I ran off into the grass, made a couple of jumps through there and charged back. That was definitely the furthest I've had to work to catch back up to the leaders. 

"The pass on Danny on the last lap was just full lock, sliding the bike on the last corner. Taking a second after charging that long is just as good as a win to me."

As he did on Saturday, Eslick spent the opening part of the race methodically charging through the field. He took the lead for the first time with a first-to-third pass of Cardenas and then-leader Herrin in the fast run through Heartland Park's Alpha and Turn 1 section on Lap 10. Eslick led the next nine race laps at the line before the white flag battle and was one of four riders to set the pace in the 20-lap race. Superpole winner Jason DiSalvo (No. 40 Team M4 Suzuki GSX-R600) led the first six laps, Herrin led Laps 7 through 9 and Cardenas officially led just the final lap.

DiSalvo finished fourth while Tommy Aquino (No. 6 Team Graves Yamaha YZF-R6) continued his recent run of strong performances to round out the top five.

Next up for Daytona SportBike is the Suzuki Big Kahuna Nationals at Virginia International Raceway (VIR), Aug. 14-16. The races will be featured in a pair of same-day, two-hour telecasts on SPEED on Saturday, Aug. 15 at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT) and Sunday, Aug. 16 at Midnight ET (9 p.m. PT).

In AMA Pro SuperSport action, one champion was crowned and another rider took a giant step toward clinching a title of his own with a convincing victory in Sunday's 16-lap final at Heartland Park Topeka.

Josh Day (No. 4 Kerker Racing Yamaha YZF-R6) led every lap from the pole for his second straight SuperSport victory. He crossed the finish line a comfortable 18.553 seconds ahead of runner up Dustin Dominguez (No. 44 House of Kawasaki/Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R) and J.D. Beach (No. 73 Honda/Red Bull Honda CBR600RR) finished third.

Day has increased his SuperSport East championship lead to 126 points with two races remaining on the 2009 schedule. His title bid was given a boost in Topeka when nearest challenger Leandro Mercado (No. 92 Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R) was unable to participate in the Tornado Nationals. Mercado is second in the East standings with 81 points. Russ Wikle (No. 5 Roadracingworld.com Suzuki GSX-R600), who finished fifth Sunday, is third with 79 points.

"It was a really good weekend," Day said. "It's been one of those picture-perfect weekends for us. The track was a little demanding today. I just kept my head down and ended up with a win. It's really a shame Leandro hasn't been here. I know he'd be up front battling with us all but I'm sure he'll be back at VIR so that race should be really good for everybody."

Ricky Parker (No. 96 Team Graves Yamaha YZF-R6) overcame a spill in the earlier Daytona SportBike race to finish fourth and clinch the SuperSport West title. Despite missing the year's opening pair of races at Daytona and Auto Club Speedway, Parker sealed the crown with a strong record of two victories, one second-place finish and the fourth-place showing in Topeka.

"I had a good day," Parker said. "The bike's working good, it's working better everyday. I want to thank my family for coming here this weekend for the support and for these guys racing with me for doing a good job today. They were pretty fast. They kicked my butt again so let's just say they spanked me."

Next up for AMA Pro SuperSport East is the Suzuki Big Kahuna Nationals at Virginia International Raceway (VIR), Aug. 14-16.

Daytona SportBike Race Results (Top 20)
1. Martin Cardenas (M4 Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R600 20 Laps
2. Josh Herrin (Team Graves Yamaha) Yamaha YZF-R6 +0.245
3. Danny Eslick (Rossmeyer Geico Powersports RMR Buell) Buell 1125R +0.299
4. Jason DiSalvo (M4 Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R600 +1.489
5. Tommy Aquino (Team Graves Yamaha) Yamaha YZF-R6 +3.440
6. Jake Zemke (Erion Racing) Honda CBR600RR +10.506
7. Roger Hayden (Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki) Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R +11.261
8. Taylor Knapp (Latus Motors Racing) Buell 1125R +11.492
9. Bobby Fong (Paradigm Racing) Yamaha YZF-R6 +11.823
10. Chris Peris (Erion Racing) Honda CBR600RR +21.044
11. Aaron Gobert (Factory Aprilia Millennium Technologies Team) Aprilia RSV1000R +26.167
12. Michael Beck (Team Beck Racing) Yamaha YZF-R6 +26.336
13. Marcos Reichert (RockwallPerformance.com) Yamaha YZF-R6 +26.788
14. Garrett Carter (Garrett Carter Racing) Yamaha YZF-R6 +27.643
15. Steve Rapp (Bazzaz/Pat Clark Motorsports) Yamaha YZF-R6 +30.224
16. Shawn Higbee (Higbee-Racing.com) Buell 1125R +30.628
17. Michael Barnes (GEICO Powersports · RMR · Buell Racing) Buell 1125R +35.296
18. Ty Howard (Paradigm Racing) Yamaha YZF-R6 +40.757
19. Matt Hall (TWC Racing) Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R +47.277
20. Santiago Villa (Roadracingworld.com · Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R600 +52.540
Race Time: 41:29.065
Margin of Victory: 0.245
Best Race Lap: Josh Herrin (1:39.315)

Daytona SportBike Point Standings (Top 20)
1. Martin Cardenas 318
2. Danny Eslick 318
3. Josh Herrin 261
4. Jamie Hacking 241
5. Jason DiSalvo 235
6. Chris Peris 199
7. Chaz Davies 194
8. Tommy Aquino 192
9. Jake Zemke 186
10. Steve Rapp 163
11. Taylor Knapp 146
12. Roger Hayden 121
13. Michael Barnes 113
14. Damian Cudlin 92
15. Michael Beck 84
16. Chris Fillmore 77
17. Bobby Fong 71
18. Shawn Higbee 67
19. Ben Bostrom 62
20. Robertino Pietri 60
39. Miguel Duhamel 5