Five
Champions in four classes were crowned at the end of AMA Pro
Racing action at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama. Josh Hayes, Martin
Cardenas, Danny Eslick, Austin DeHaven and Tyler
O’Hara all captured AMA’s Number One Plate for
their championships in their respective
classes. The drama was increased for all involved with rain in the
morning in the area.
In AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike, Josh Hayes finished seventh in damp conditions to clinch the
2010 National Guard SuperBike title, his first. Hayes had seven wins
and three pole positions on his Team Graves Yamaha in a season that saw
him battle to the very last race of the season with Saturday’s winner,
Tommy Hayden. Hayden took fourth on Sunday but it wasn’t enough to
overcome the eighteen point lead Hayes held at the start of the race.
In the AMA Pro Daytona SportBike class, Martin Cardenas captured his
series high ninth win of the year to take his first AMA Pro Racing
championship by eight points over last year’s champion, Danny Eslick
and his GEICO Powersports Suzuki team. Martin, on his M4 Monster
Energy Suzuki took a solid victory over Eslick and Dane Westby in
another classic Daytona Sportbike race.
Sunday’s Daytona SportBike race was also affected by wet weather and
after the Project 1 Atlanta Yamaha team riders Clinton Seller and Dane
Westby took up station at the front, Martin, running third, was the
one who was firmly in control of the championship. His main rivals,
Eslick and Team Graves Yamaha rider Josh Herrin had a coming together
at one point and both were back from the comfortable looking Cardenas.
In SuperSport, Austin DeHaven captured the title of AMA Pro
SuperSport Young Gun champion as he took a second place finish in
addition to his fourth place from Saturday to score a combined point
total to grab the number one plate for the Young Gun group in
SuperSport. Tyler O’Hara took the Top Gun national
championship after finishing ninth and seventh respectively in the
weekend’s races. The race was won by East Division champion J.D. Beach
who didn’t figure into the combined race for the Young Gun championship
after crashing out of Saturday’s race. Early challengers for the
title, Huntley Nash and Joey Pascarella many others crashed out of
today’s race that was run in wet conditions. A disappointed Tomas
Puerta finished third in both races but it wasn’t enough to stop DeHaven from grabbing the Young Gun crown.
The first race of the day was run in the most difficult conditions.
The Vance & Hines XR1200 series lined up with the visiting British
champion Jeremy McWilliams taking the win over veteran Michael Barnes
and New Jersey winner P.J. Jacobson. McWilliams showed the way from
start to
finish with Barnes riding the Jones Brothers XR1200. The two ran nose
to tail for the entire eleven lap race but it
was McWilliams who pulled away at the end to take the win, making him
unique in that he has won on XR1200 Harley-Davidsons on two continents
this year. Barnes was delighted to be riding and Jacobson backed up
his fine form from New Jersey to take another podium finish. Due to
his early season three wins, it was Danny Eslick riding the RMR Bruce
Rossmeyer Daytona Racing XR1200 with valuable support from GIECO
Powersports and Lucas Oil who captured the initial Vance & Hines
XR1200 championship and the number one plate that goes with it.
Visit www.amaproracing.com for complete event and series information.
