Monday, September 7, 2009

Herrin completes SportBike sweep

From AMA Pro Racing

MILLVILLE, NJ - Josh Herrin (No. 8 Team Graves Yamaha YZF-R6) completed a sweep of both AMA Pro Daytona SportBike races in the AMA Pro Superbike Championships on Thunderbolt Raceway at New Jersey Motorsports Park (NJMP) on Sunday.

Herrin also swept the Suzuki Big Kahuna Nationals at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) three weeks ago to end the season as the hottest rider in the class. 

His victories in the final four races vaulted him to second in the final championship standings, just five points behind 2009 Daytona SportBike Champion Danny Eslick (No. 9 GEICO Powersports/RMR Buell 1125R). Eslick finished seventh Sunday and ended his successful championship run with 387 points to Herrin's 382. Eslick's No. 9 GEICO Powersports/RMR Buell team also won the Daytona SportBike Team Championship with the same 387-point total.

Herrin's late charge helped Yamaha win the Daytona SportBike Manufacturer Championship. Yamaha's total of 441 points edged Suzuki and Buell who ended up tied with 416 points.

Herrin and most of the other front runners survived an opening lap dust up in Turn 1 that shuffled the running order and ended with four riders going down or off course. Herrin was in sixth place at the end of lap 1 but was up to fourth and mixing it up with the leaders two laps later. He was challenging Saturday runner-up Chaz Davies (No. 57 Factory Aprilia /Millennium Technologies Team Aprilia RSV1000R) for the lead on lap 11 when the Aprilia rider slid off course. Davies was uninjured but his weekend was over.

"Turn 1 was definitely really scary," Herrin said. "I thought we were done for, but luckily we got out of there. I think we were in seventh going into Turn 3 and it was definitely harder than I wanted it to be. A little more stress on us, but we made it happen. My Graves Yamaha crew has been working really, really hard all year. We came up five points shy but it's the best that we've done since I've been in AMA Pro so hat's off to them."

Herrin's final battle for the lead was with Jake Zemke(No. 1x Erion Racing Honda CBR600RR), who joined his teammate Chris Peris (No. 10 Erion Racing Honda CBR600RR) in having one of Honda's best races of the season. Zemke passed Herrin for the lead on lap 21 only to have the Yamaha rider draft past two laps later in the fast run down the front straight to start the last lap.

"On the white flag lap we went down into Turn 1 and I thought 'There's no way he's going to make the corner, I'm just going turn right back underneath him,'" Zemke said. "As soon as I took the thing in, I lost the rear and it skidded away. It gave Josh a nice little gap. I was able to close back up a little bit there at the end but it was just not enough. So, congratulations to Josh and congratulations to Danny on his first championship, that's great to see.

"It's been a long year for us. It would have been nice to finish it off with a win but we'll take the second place. It's going to be a long winter but we'll come out swinging next year."

The young Yamaha standout crossed the line just .063 of a second ahead of Zemke for the win while Herrin's teammate Tommy Aquino (No. 6 Team Graves Yamaha YZF-R6) finished third.

"I got a really clean start and apparently I was the only one," said Aquino, who led the first lap. "I was out in the lead for a little bit. I got passed a couple of times and I just settled in. Once I thought I was settled in, somebody else would kind of stuff me, but I was trying to ride my race. Eventually some people either moved out of the way by themselves or I moved them out of the way. It went pretty good and I'm happy with this."

Peris finished fourth after running as high as second while Jamie Hacking (No. 88 Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R) rounded out the top five.

Hacking's teammate Roger Hayden (No. 95 Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R) edged Eslick for sixth place at the line, but the 2009 Daytona SportBike Champion raced to the end while wrapping up the title.

"Going back all the way to three weeks before Daytona, I didn't have a ride," Eslick said. "The season has been amazing and with just the first couple of wins, we would have been happy with that. We've kept on going and won a couple more races, had some off weekends and made the best of what we have. My guys have worked so hard. The GEICO Powersports/Bruce Rossmeyer/RMR Buell team has just worked so hard all year long and never given up.

"It's been a long, hard fight the whole way and this weekend is no different. We've had some tough times a month ago, but we made it through. Who would have thought I'd have any wins coming into the season, and to leave with the championship, I couldn't ask for anything more."

Superpole winner Jason DiSalvo (No. 40 Team M4 Suzuki GSX-R600) had another challenging race and finished eighth. Saturday's third place finisher Steve Rapp (No. 48 Bazzaz/Pat Clark Motorsports Yamaha YZF-R6) was also uninjured in a lowside incident in Sunday's race.

Of the riders involved in the opening lap incident, only Aaron Gobert (No. 97 Factory Aprilia /Millennium Technologies Team Aprilia RSV1000R) required medical attention, but he was examined and released.

The AMA Pro SuperSport National Championship Shootout will not be run until next month at Daytona, but apparently nobody told 2009 SuperSport Champions Josh Day (No. 4 Team E.S.P. Yamaha YZF-R6) and Ricky Parker (No. 96 Team Graves Yamaha YZF-R6). The two riders waged a thrilling SuperSport shootout of their own Sunday at NJMP with SuperSport East Champ Day ultimately winning the race by .460 of a second over SuperSport West Champ Parker.

"Ricky really made me work hard for it today and I just want to say hat's off to him for riding it smooth and not doing anything dirty out there today," said Day, who won his fourth straight SuperSport race. "It was definitely a tough race for us all. It was all close racing; we were just out there having fun. It was just awesome to come out on top though."

Day clinched the East title one race ago in Virginia but officially ended his 2009 campaign with 189 points after Sunday's victory. He was credited with leading 16 of the SuperSport race's 19 laps in New Jersey but the number of unofficial lead changes within laps was almost impossible to follow.

J.D. Beach (No. 73 Rockwall Performance/Red Bull Yamaha YZF-R6) finished third for his third straight podium finish. He also moved to second in the final SuperSport East standings with 107 points.

Next up on the SuperSport schedule is the National Championship Shootout at Daytona International Speedway, Oct. 16-18. The lucrative non-points race is open to any rider that has run at least one SuperSport race this season, with the winner earning the title of SuperSport National Champion.

Daytona SportBike Race Results (Top 20)
1. Josh Herrin (Team Graves Yamaha) Yamaha YZF-R6 23 Laps
2. Jake Zemke (Erion Racing) Honda CBR600RR +0.062
3. Tommy Aquino (Team Graves Yamaha) Yamaha YZF-R6 +8.087
4. Chris Peris (Erion Racing) Honda CBR600RR +8.230
5. Jamie Hacking (Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki) Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R +16.326
6. Roger Hayden (Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki) Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R +24.281
7. Danny Eslick (Rossmeyer Geico Powersports RMR Buell) Buell 1125R +24.283
8. Jason DiSalvo (M4 Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R600 +33.896
9. Clinton Seller (Markbilt Racing) Yamaha YZF-R6 +35.030
10. Ricky Parker (RPR Racing) Yamaha YZF-R6 +37.677
11. Leandro Mercado (Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki) Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R +37.681
12. Taylor Knapp (Latus Motors Racing) Buell 1125R +43.705
13. Michael Beck (Team Beck Racing) Yamaha YZF-R6 +45.332
14. Kyle Wyman (Wyman Brothers Racing) Yamaha YZF-R6 +47.551
15. Christian Cronin (Crusty Motorsports) Yamaha YZF-R6 +1:03.924
16. Fernando Amantini (Amantini Racing) Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R +1:26.664
17. Huntley Nash (Four Feathers Racing) Yamaha YZF-R6 +1:27.191
18. Michael Barnes (GEICO Powersports ·RMR ·Buell Racing) Buell 1125R +1:27.339
19. Josh Galster (Slednecks Racing) Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R +1:27.810
20. Mike Selpe (Slidewayz Racing) Suzuki GSX-R600 22 Laps
Race Time: 32:25.711
Margin of Victory: 0.062
Best Race Lap: Roger Hayden (1:10.134)

Daytona SportBike Final Standings (Top 20)
1. Danny Eslick 387
2. Josh Herrin 382
3. Martin Cardenas 340
4. Jamie Hacking 299
5. Jason DiSalvo 283
6. Jake Zemke 258
7. Chris Peris 244
8. Tommy Aquino 235
9. Chaz Davies 219
10. Steve Rapp 200
11. Taylor Knapp 178
12. Roger Hayden 164
13. Michael Beck 121
14. Bobby Fong 119
15. Michael Barnes 118
16. Damian Cudlin 92
17. Chris Fillmore 90
18. Dane Westby 83
19. Ricky Parker 72
20. Shawn Higbee 70

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