Herrin wins wet and wild race

From AMA Pro Racing

ELKHART LAKE, WI - Josh Herrin won a hard-fought, wild and wet AMA Pro Daytona SportBike final in race one of the Suzuki SuperBike Doubleheader weekend at Road America in Elkhart Lake, WI, beating Steve Rapp by a margin of just .008 secs. on Saturday.

It was unclear who would make it to the start/finish line first at the end of any lap in the 13-lap race. Officially there were two leaders and five lead changes at the stripe, but unofficially four different riders led the field at some point around the 4.05-mile circuit, exchanging the top spot in the challenging conditions more than 20 times.

As rain drizzled down on the field, 2009 Daytona SportBike Champion Danny Eslick shot to the front of the pack from the start on the No. 1 GEICO Powersports RMR Suzuki GSX-R600 only to be passed by the No. 36 M4 Monster Energy Suzuki GXR-R600 of Martin Cardenas in turn 1. Cardenas was subsequently passed by Herrin's No. 8 Team Graves Yamaha YZF-R6 in turn 2. The Colombian outbraked Herrin in the high-speed turn 4 section and regained the lead. 

Front-row starter Cory West quickly joined the fray, passing Herrin in turn 7 and pressing on Cardenas until his No. 57 Vesrah Suzuki GSX-R600 suffered a mechanical in turn 11 that ended his race. Herrin got a strong run down the back straight and took the lead again under braking in turn 12. Herrin and Cardenas were then trailed by Chris Fillmore's strong No. 55 Vesrah Suzuki GSX-R600, Clinton Seller's No. 4 Project 1 Atlanta Yamaha YZF-R6 and Rapp's No. 15 Team Latus Motors Racing Ducati 848.

Cardenas and Herrin traded the lead nine times over the first four laps, Cardenas repeatedly outbraking Herrin going into turn 5 and Herrin retaking the first position each lap in a sprint to the start finish line coming out of the last corner. Rapp took over the lead on lap 5 as conditions worsened and the trio traded the top three spots numerous times over the ensuing laps before Herrin settled in to the lead again on lap 9. That same lap, the No. 4 Project 1 Yamaha of Clinton Seller surged to second position in the back section of the track over Cardenas and Rapp.

On lap 11, Seller made a deep braking pass into turn 1, the lead pack dicing through turn 2 and going four wide down into turn 3. Herrin emerged unscathed, leading the group to turn 5 before Rapp once again took over.

On the white flag lap, Herrin challenged Rapp going under the bridge in the high speed turn 4 area, making the pass stick for the final time leading Rapp to the finish.

"When I went out on the warm-up lap I felt like it was horrible then and once the race started going it got about 10 times worse," said Herrin. "I was surprised at how good the tires were in it. I think that both of these guys and everybody out there that kept it up did an awesome job because it was probably the trickiest conditions I've ever ridden in. My Yamaha R6 was working great and my Graves Motorsports crew have been working hard all weekend. The Dunlop tires are awesome; it shows you how good DOT tires are."

Rapp's second place finish was his third podium of the season.

"My race was interesting from the first lap when Cory blew up his motor and oiled everybody behind him," said Rapp. "I took my tear-off off before the race because of the rain, so I didn't have a tear-off. There's oil all over me as you can see but that was interesting, the first couple of laps trying to deal with that. After that it was just three or four of us in really, really tricky conditions. It was easy following, but then when you got in front you really didn't know how fast you could go. I think that's why when someone got in front they slowed down again and it kept going back and forth.

"The team did great. We have five guys on our team and they had to basically rip the whole bike apart. We had an oil leak after qualifying so they worked to the last minute to get it going and it was a great bike."

Cardenas claimed the final podium spot.

"It was a great battle with these two guys," said Cardenas. "There were some great passing maneuvers but it was too risky because of the conditions. It's good to finish third and on the box is always good. I hope for a dry race tomorrow to try and get the same result or maybe a little bit better."

Fourth place went to Seller, his highest finish to date and Eslick rounded out the top five. Herrin now leads Eslick in the Daytona SportBike points championship, 190-184.

Sunday's activities at Road America include race two of Daytona SportBike competition closing the weekend with a 3:45pm start time.

SPEED will be broadcasting same-weekend coverage of both Daytona SportBike races, with race two airing Sunday night at 11:00pm ET (8:00 PT).

Rockwall Yamaha's standout JD Beach soared to the top of the AMA Pro SuperSport East championship point standings with a well-fought victory in the first race of the Suzuki SuperBike Doubleheader weekend at Road America. 

A set of unfortunate accidents on the last lap shuffled the order, with Huntley Nash going down in turn 7 and handing the lead to Cameron Beaubier. But Beaubier was only able to lead for four turns before having a lowside of his own in turn 12, returning the lead to Beach for the final time.

Beach officially led just two laps of the 10-lap final, earning his third AMA Pro SuperSport East victory of the 2010 season and taking over the top spot in the championship point standings over Beaubier, 114-102.

Tomas Puerta finished 2.227 seconds behind Beach to take the number two spot on the No. 12 LTD Racing Yamaha YZF-R6 and third in the championship points chase.

Third place went to James Rispoli, who started in fifth position on the No. 17 James Rispoli Suzuki GSX-R600 after a strong final qualifying session.

SportBike Race Results
1. Josh Herrin (Team Graves Yamaha) Yamaha YZF-R6 13 Laps
2. Steve Rapp (Team Latus Motors Racing) Ducati 848 +0.008
3. Martin Cardenas (M4 Monster Energy Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R600 +5.251
4. Clinton Seller (Project 1 Atlanta) Yamaha YZF-R6 +9.959
5. Danny Eslick (GEICO Powersports ·RMR ·Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R600 +22.314
6. P. J. Jacobsen (Celtic Racing) Suzuki GSX-R600 +41.512
7. Fernando Amantini (Team Amantini) Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R +42.773
8. Kris Turner (Turner`s Cycle Racing) Suzuki GSX-R600 +42.793
9. Dane Westby (Project 1 Atlanta) Yamaha YZF-R6 +43.602
10. Jimmy Wood (Jimmy Wood Racing) Kawasaki ZX-6R +44.357
11. Michael Beck (DNA Energy Drink CNR Motorsports Ducati) Ducati 848 +45.241
12. Lenny Hale (Hale Racing) Yamaha YZF-R6 +51.653
13. Marcos Reichert (Rockwall Performance) Yamaha YZF-R6 +51.670
14. Paul Allison (Chronic Motorsports) Yamaha YZF-R6 +51.850
15. Santiago Villa (RoadRacingWorld.com Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R600 +1:06.862
20. Marie-Josee Boucher (Boucher Racing) Honda CBR600RR +2:06.119
Race Time: 31:15.741
Margin of Victory: 0.008
Best Race Lap: Dane Westby (2:21.339)