Herrin stays on SportBike roll

From AMA Pro Racing

MILLVILLE, NJ - Josh Herrin (No. 8 Team Graves Yamaha YZF-R6) earned the title of Big Kahuna one race ago at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) and he proved it Saturday in the opening day of AMA Pro Road Racing competition at the AMA Pro Superbike Championships on Thunderbolt Raceway at New Jersey Motorsports Park, taking the Daytona SportBike win. 

Herrin's late-season charge has moved him, his Graves team and Yamaha into the hunt for the AMA Pro Daytona SportBike Rider, Team and Manufacturer championships. He ran nose-to-tail with Tommy Aquino (No. 6 Team Graves Yamaha YZF-R6) at the front of the field for the majority of the race, and Herrin took a lead he would hold to the finish when his 17-year-old teammate lowsided on lap 20.

"I got right in the spot that I like to be, I like to just sit second or third and just watch what's going on," Herrin said. "My plan was to try and strike at him in the last two laps. It's a bummer that we had to win like that. Tommy was running a really good race and I know he would have fought right to the end."

Herrin has now moved to within 22 points of Daytona SportBike leader Danny Eslick (No. 9 GEICO Powersports/RMR Buell 1125R) who had a steady run to a fifth-place finish on Saturday. Eslick has 373 points and Herrin has 351 as the only riders left with a mathematical chance to take the Daytona SportBike rider title on Sunday. The team championship is based on the same point scenarios. Herrin would need nothing short of another dominating victory coupled with a bad day for Eslick to leave New Jersey as the champ, but that is far from his focus.

"As for the championship, we just keep fighting and hope for the best," Herrin said. "If we get it, we get it. If we don't, we're going to win some races trying. It's fun and I'm just trying not to stress out about it at all and just go and do my race."

While Herrin has some ground to make up in the rider and team battle, Yamaha is leading the Daytona SportBike manufacturer standings in one of AMA Pro Road Racing's closest championships. Yamaha leads with 411 points, Suzuki has 403 markers and Buell is right there with 402 points.

Chaz Davies (No. 57 Factory Aprilia /Millennium Technologies Team Aprilia RSV1000R) finished second to match his previous best 2009 finish at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on the Fourth of July event weekend. He raced alongside Herrin in a battle for second early in the race but was never able to mount a challenge for the lead in the closing laps.

"In the end, I just didn't quite have it," said Davies, who crossed the finish line 6.028 seconds behind the winner. "I just didn't have what it took to run with these two guys. Happy enough, and I was feeling pretty good in the opening four or five laps. I managed to keep in touch enough to get a good run up to the start-finish and got side-by-side with Josh, got some good top speed and knew I'd be pretty strong on the brakes. It was getting tight."

Steve Rapp (No. 48 Bazzaz/Pat Clark Motorsports Yamaha YZF-R6) finished third and joined Davies in posting a finish that equaled his best this season. Rapp also finished third in May at Infineon Raceway.

"Really good day," Rapp said. "I just wanted to get those first four or five laps out of the way. Chaz was right in front of me the whole race, and I used him to pace me. We had a great race. It kind of felt like back last year, or the year before, when we raced for Kawasaki. We raced a lot very closely together so I felt comfortable around him. He rode really smooth. This was a really good race for us, the bike was great."

Bobby Fong (No. 51 Paradigm Racing Yamaha YZF-R6) finished fourth while Eslick rounded out the top five.

Superpole winner Jason DiSalvo (No. 40 Team M4 Suzuki GSX-R600) recovered from an opening lap off-course ride at Turn 1 to finish 13th.

Sunday's Daytona SportBike race will start at 2 p.m. ET.

Race Results (Top 20)
1. Josh Herrin (Team Graves Yamaha) Yamaha YZF-R6 23 Laps
2. Chaz Davies (Factory Aprilia Millennium Technologies Team) Aprilia RSV1000R +6.028
3. Steve Rapp (Bazzaz) Yamaha YZF-R6 +6.728
4. Bobby Fong (Paradigm Racing) Yamaha YZF-R6 +17.911
5. Danny Eslick (Rossmeyer Geico Powersports RMR Buell) Buell 1125R +19.031
6. Jake Zemke (Erion Racing) Honda CBR600RR +20.033
7. Chris Peris (Erion Racing) Honda CBR600RR +21.280
8. Chris Fillmore (Chris Fillmore Racing) Yamaha YZF-R6 +22.319
9. Dane Westby (Westby Racing ·Kneedraggers.com) Yamaha YZF-R6 +24.563
10. Leandro Mercado (Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki) Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R +38.062
11. Michael Beck (Team Beck Racing) Yamaha YZF-R6 +38.078
12. Jamie Hacking (Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki) Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R +47.067
13. Jason DiSalvo (M4 Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R600 +47.479
14. Aaron Gobert (Factory Aprilia Millennium Technologies Team) Aprilia RSV1000R +50.344
15. Ricky Parker (RPR Racing) Yamaha YZF-R6 +1:04.332
16. Kyle Wyman (Wyman Brothers Racing) Yamaha YZF-R6 +1:06.286
17. Josh Day (Four Feathers Racing) Yamaha YZF-R6 +1:08.768
18. Russ Wikle (Roadracingworld.com ·Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R600 +1:22.080
19. Michael Barnes (GEICO Powersports ·RMR ·Buell Racing) Buell 1125R +1:30.613
20. Fernando Amantini (Amantini Racing) Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R 22 Laps
Race Time: 32:23.415
Margin of Victory: 6.028
Best Race Lap: Josh Herrin (1:23.748)

Point Standings (Top 20)
1. Danny Eslick 373
2. Josh Herrin 351
3. Martin Cardenas 340
4. Jamie Hacking 283
5. Jason DiSalvo 270
6. Jake Zemke 233
7. Chris Peris 226
8. Chaz Davies 219
9. Tommy Aquino 214
10. Steve Rapp 200
11. Taylor Knapp 169
12. Roger Hayden 149
13. Bobby Fong 119
14. Michael Barnes 115
15. Michael Beck 113
16. Damian Cudlin 92
17. Chris Fillmore 90
18. Dane Westby 83
19. Shawn Higbee 70
20. Robertino Pietri 63