Here are the highlights of the Sunday races from the AMA Big Kahuna Nationals. Yesterday's action was frantic, and today's racing should be no different.
Martin Cardenas of course, won the race yesterday. Race two for both Daytona Sportbike and Superbike will be run. Check out these highlights.
There's a huge headwind that will undoubtedly affect the bikes in the races today. At the start, Jake Zemke and Tommy Hayden both get the jump as a couple bikes got offline. Jake Gagne is third now. Hayden subs for the injured Garrett Gerlach. Cory West, Dane Westby and others battle as well. Zemke has the lead. Like yesterday's race, this one is 20 laps long. Cardenas wanted to get by Hayden, but no. Corey West is going for it. So are Huntley Nash and Bobby Fong. Martin Cardenas gets sideways under braking. There is a group of eleven bikes battling for position.</p><p>Jason DiSalvo on the Triumph is quick.
Dane Westby passes Jake Gagne. DiSalvo passes Zemke. This lead battle is pretty intense. Cardenas has the advantage, but the other riders want a piece of this race, too. Walt Sipp dumped his Buell. Tommy Hayden has fast lap at a 1:29.5 on his Yamaha. Cory West high sided his Suzuki and is out of the race. He came off the last corner and had too much lean angle. West is back on his bike, actually. So, he can continue. Tommy Hayden still leads, but Jason DiSalvo on the Triumph is coming. Six laps are complete. Cardenas has a pit board, but a lot of riders want to see for themselves where they are. Jason DiSalvo still holds fast lap at 1:29.4. The debris flag is shown after West's crash. Part of the ferring will be retrieved off the course.
These 600cc bikes are flying another time. Jake Zemke is being hounded by Dane "The Wolverine" Westby. This is good racing. The top three are all in the 1:29 flat bracket. It's the halfway mark in this race. Meanwhile, Bobby Fong, Huntley Nash and J.D. Beach. Tommy Hayden and Jason DiSalvo are closing in. Cardenas doesn't have it all his own way this time. </p><p>Tommy Hayden is racing for points to help his two team mates who are injured. Jake Zemke and Jake Gagne battle. Westby is more relaxed in the race today than he was in yesterday's competition in terms of his riding style. These bikes are production based ones you can buy off the showroom floor. Jason DiSalvo is in trouble. His Triumph has an engine problem, and he retires from the race. Thus, it's a battle between Cardenas and Hayden. Eight laps to go.
Jake Zemke, Dane Westby and Jake Gagne are in a hotly contested scrap. Just like in the FIM Superbike race, the marshals are not paying attention to riders telling them there is debris on the track. But, it might be clear enough to keep the race going. Six laps left. David Gividia who won a Super Sport title on the west coast, is out of this race. Dane Westby passes Zemke. Meanwhile, in the front, it's still Cardenas vs. Hayden. The gap between the top two and third place is 10.5 seconds. </p><p>Five laps left. The gap between the top two and the other three bikes is getting larger. The four cylinder bikes are easier to handle than the V Twin powered ones (i.e. the Suzuki's, Honda's and Yamaha's, are lighter than the Ducati's and Triumph's). The top two are still nose to tail. The two leaders go around a lapped bike. There's still action in the third place battle between Westby and Zemke. Horsepower is key between the Suzuki and the Ducati. But, Westby is a demon on the brakes. It's the white flag. One lap left. This is for all the marbles. Cardenas opens a gap into turn ten. Hayden won't catch up. Martin Cardenas sweeps the Big Kahuna Nationals.
#36 Martin Cardenas Suzuki GSXR 600
Coming up, Superbike race two. Jason Rispoli won the AMA Pro Supersport event (the first race). In the second one, it was Jake Lewis winning after a late red flag. In XR1200, there was liquid on the racetrack. However, it ran clean to the end and Tyler O'Hara won.
Superbike is on deck. The bikes are on the grid, ready to go. Blake Young is on pit lane and will have cold tires. He did the formation lap, though. Young starts on his spare (B) bike. At the start, Blake Young gets the lead over Josh Hayes and Josh Herin. Hayes wants to pass Herin to go after Young. Danny Eslick looks to move up on his KTM but Chris Fillmore won't have it. Hayes passes for the lead. This race is going to be 20 laps. These bikes are running in the 2:18-2:20 lap time bracket. Ben Bostrom crashes his Suzuki. He's not had a good weekend, the former World Superbike racer.</p><p>Blake Young leads Josh Hayes. Chris Clark. Chris Fillmore and Larry Pegram all battle each other. Josh Hayes takes over the lead.
Josh Herin is also coming back pretty quickly. Geoff May on the EBR motorcycle is in the pit with a shift linkage problem. May will come back out on this fairly new bike. It came out mid season in 2011. Yamaha and Suzuki are the bike makes battling each other in the top four. Josh Hayes is building a lead over Blake Young. </p><p>Larry Pegram on his BMW is followed by the Kawasaki of Steve Rapp. Chris Clark on his Suzuki is also in this battle. He had an issue with the front forks in yesterday's race. Pegram and Rapp battle for position. Rapp will continue with the Kawasaki team for the rest of the season. Danny Eslick on the EBR has Taylor Knapp behind him. This mid pack race is pretty entertaining. Two laps 'til halfway. Knapp passes Danny Eslick for ninth place. The EBR has an air cooled brake system using one disc instead of two.
Josh Herin and Roger Hayden continue to battle. Hayden is not using traction control. Some other riders are. Some riders don't like traction control as it slows the bike down. At halfway, Josh Hayes has a ten second lead over Blake Young. The lap times are in the 1:24 bracket from the leaders. Hayes is quicker than he ran in qualifying. Rapp and Pegram are battling for fifth. Chris Clark is also in this scrap, or close to it. Eight more laps. The Pegram/Rapp battle continues. </p><p>Chris Clark is losing spots. Maybe it's his use of traction control. Or, it could be the tire. Taylor Knapp continues to lead Chris Fillmore on the KTM. Six laps remain in race two. Josh Hayes has had the lead for most of this race. Blake Young cannot run as quickly as he did yesterday on the primary bike. The wind is gusting even more than before. There's a battle for the last podium spot. Roger Hayden has Josh Heron in his sights. Heron passes a lapped bike and Hayden still wants the spot. He's being patient. Four bikes battle for fifth. Pegram, Rapp, Knapp and Fillmore are the riders involved. Eslick also is in this scrum. </p><p>Fillmore on the KTM needs to get a good result for that team. Knapp moves around Rapp and Pegram. Fillmore also passes Rapp. Taylor Knapp seems to have it all his way on that bike, but Steve Rapp is fading. Taylor Knapp wants by Larry Pegram. Pegram probably is like, "where did he come from?" It's BMW vs. Kawasaki vs. KTM. The KTM doesn't have to top speed of the other two bikes. A backmarker (Jordi Burgess from Australia), slows the trio down slightly. Pegram, Knapp and Fillmore continue to battle. BMW vs. Suzuki vs. KTM.
It's the last lap. Heron and Hayden battle in turn ten. Josh Hayes looks like he'll have the advantage. Can Hayes win? Yamaha has never won at Road Atlanta. Hayes has won Road Atlanta five times. He will win again! Yamaha wins a Superbike race! Josh Heron holds off Hayden. Larry Pegram has passed Taylor Knapp. Pegram will hold station ahead of Knapp, Fillmore and Rapp.
#1 Josh Hayes Yamaha R1
Once again, the next race will take place at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California in about three weeks.
No comments:
Post a Comment