Triumph Big Kahuna Miami/AMA Pro Road Racing AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike Homestead-Miami Speedway Homestead, Florida September 23, 2012 Provisional Race Two Results (wet conditions, all on Dunlop tires): 1. Jake Gagne (Yam YZF-R6), 23 laps 2. Dane Westby (Suz GSX-R600), -7.126 seconds 3. Cameron Beaubier (Yam YZF-R6), -14.249 4. Martin Cardenas (Suz GSX-R600), -38.341 (clinches 2012 Championship) 5. David Gaviria (Yam YZF-R6), -42.804 6. Kris Turner (Tri Daytona 675R), -58.387 7. Huntley Nash (Yam YZF-R6), -62.988 8. Austin DeHaven (Yam YZF-R6), -65.014 9. JD Beach (Yam YZF-R6), -74.112 10. Joey Pascarella (Suz GSX-R600), -80.015 11. Barrett Long (Duc 848EVO), -84.052 12. Nicollas Ferreira (Yam YZF-R6), -93.704 13. Shane Narbonne (Yam YZF-R6), -1 lap, 23.519 14. Bryce Prince (Yam YZF-R6), -1 lap, 26.563 15. Fernando Amantini (Kaw ZX-6R), -1 lap, 52.980 16. Kenny Riedmann (Tri Daytona 675R), -1 lap, 64.107 17. Michael Beck (Yam YZF-R6), -1 lap, 65.006 18. Jason DiSalvo (Tri Daytona 675R), -2 laps 19. Tommy Aquino (Yam YZF-R6), -3 laps 20. Bobby Fong (Yam YZF-R6), -14 laps 21. Melissa Paris (Suz GSX-R600), -19 laps, retired 22. Cory West (Suz GSX-R600), -22 laps, retired 23. Jake Zemke (Duc 848), DNS 24. Benny Solis (Yam YZF-R6), DNS Championship Point Standings (after 17 of 19 races): 1. Cardenas, 415 points 2. Westby, 339 3. Beaubier, 317 4. Tommy Hayden, 250 5. DiSalvo, 225 6. Fong, 222 7. Beach, 215 8. Zemke, 213 9. Pascarella, 189 10. West, 181 11. Gagne, 177 12. Nash, 130 13. Beck, 122 14. Amantini, 103 15. Solis, 101 16. Prince, 94 17. DeHaven, 93 18. Gaviria, 85 19. Aquino, 72 20. Narbonne, 51 More, from a press release issued by Geiger Media on behalf of GEICO: GEICO’s Cardenas clinches second Daytona SportBike championship HOMESTEAD, Fla. (Sept. 23) — The first rain race of the 2012 GEICO Motorcycle AMA Road Racing ended with Martin Cardenas under a shower of confetti as he officially clinched the GoPro Daytona SportBike championship with a safe fourth-place result Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway. This is the second class championship for Cardenas in the last three years. He won the 2010 Daytona SportBike title before switching to Superbike last season. The 29-year-old Colombian returned to Daytona SportBike this year with the GEICO Suzuki team and leads the class with seven race wins and 12 overall podium finishes. “It feels great to get this done with a little extra room to spare,” Cardenas said. “We built up a pretty good points lead earlier in the season and it has been stressful at time maintaining the gap. You always want to race to win each weekend but when you have a big lead in the points you also feel as though you don’t want to make a big mistake. “Every race and every lap since maybe the middle of the summer has been a test. You stay very focused on limiting your mistakes and just riding to the best of your abilities. We have been able to do that this year and I’m very pleased.” Cardenas was quick to thank his many sponsors, including GEICO Motorcycle, Suzuki, Lucas Oil, Team Hammer, M4, Arai, STG, Vortex, Hot Bodies, Alpine Stars, Speedcell and Galfer. “How can you ever thank your sponsors enough?” Cardenas said. “Their support of this team gives us the ability to race at a championship level. I am very grateful for all of them. “This race team is the best. Frank Aragaki (crew chief), Aaron Henry, Nathan Raptis, Rick Kress, Tim Anderson, Scott Crawford, James Siddall, and Chris and John Ulrich — all of them were instrumental to winning this championship.” With one race left on the schedule, the Big Kahuna New Orleans, Oct. 5-7, at the NOLA facility in Louisiana, Cardenas remains focused on finishing strong, not what he’ll be doing next year. “Now we can ride with no worries and try to get a couple more trophies at NOLA,” Cardenas said. “Of course, there are rumors about my return to Superbike but nothing has been decided. Maybe that will change before NOLA. I don’t know. We’ll have to see what happens. For now, we will race the GEICO Suzuki and try to win again.” More, from a press release issued by Yamaha: Surf’s Up For R6 Rainmaster Cameron Beaubier Who Podiums In The Wet And Wins “Big Kahuna” At Homestead-Miami Speedway Homestead, FL September 23, 2012 Sunday’s AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike Race Two at Homestead-Miami Speedway was declared wet from the start due to thundershowers in the area. In those kinds of conditions, it takes a smooth rider to negotiate the questionable grip encountered while racing in the rain. There’s arguably no one smoother in the AMA Pro Road Racing paddock than rapidly rising Yamaha Extended Service/Graves/Yamaha star Cameron Beaubier, who put his #6 Yamaha YZF-R6 on the podium for the 12th time this season. That’s a total of 12 podiums in the 12 races that Cameron has finished in the DSB class this season. On the strength of his dominant win in Saturday’s DSB Race One, followed by his super-smooth third-place finish in the rain on Sunday, Cameron won the surfboard as the Big Kahuna at the South Florida event. It was an appropriate trophy for the rider who hails from northern California. After the race, Cameron said, “It took me a little bit to get going in the rain, and I was a little tense, but I just concentrated on riding smooth and not making any mistakes. When I raced 125s in Europe, I had some wet races, but those tracks have quite a bit more runoff than here. Still, the experience helped me, and I’m grateful for it. I’m proud to win the Big Kahuna trophy for my team, who gave me an R6 that’s always fast in any track condition.” In Sunday’s AMA Pro Motorcycle-SuperStore.com SuperSport Race Two, Yamaha Extended Service/Graves/Yamaha rider Garrett Gerloff finished in 7th place aboard his #96 YZF-R6. His laptimes were consistent with the leaders, and he was moving towards the front, but the race was red-flagged by a rider incident. During the race stoppage, dark clouds moved over the track, and there was lightning in the vicinity, so AMA Pro Racing called the race final after only 10 laps, which was just past the halfway point in the contest. Throughout the weekend, Garrett consistently lowered his laptimes the more he rode on the track, so he showed a lot of potential. Unfortunately, the dodgy weather conditions conspired against the 17-year-old rider at his first visit to Homestead-Miami Speedway. The Y.E.S./Graves/Yamaha team will be back in action the weekend after next for the final round of the GEICO Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing season. The event is the weekend of October 5th through 7th at NOLA Motorsports Park in New Orleans, LA. Don’t miss it! For more news, results, and other team info, be sure to check out Yamaha’s Facebook page. More, from a press release issued by LTD Racing: NASH EQUALS CAREER BEST DSB FINISH IN THE WET AT HOMESTEAD Homestead, FL, (September 23, 2012) Huntley Nash and LTD Racing equaled their best class result on Sunday in the rain at Miami Homestead Speedway. Nash earned seventh in the race to cap off a challenging weekend at the 2.2-mile track with some skilled riding in tricky conditions. Nash had qualified 20th for the doubleheader races, but the Georgian found sped as the weekend progressed. Nash used his quick starting skills and was up to fifth in the beginning of the contest, which was delayed several times before the race began. Nash was able to maintain his solid position firmly inside the top ten for the entire 23-lap race, eventually coming home seventh in the wet affair held in conditions that had dried somewhat by the end. Huntley’s best lap time in the race was 1:34.378. Nash has four seventh-place finishes this year. He would have rather raced in the dry on Sunday or perhaps set a new mark for his best-yet finish, but the result was a momentum-building performance for the young racer. “It was okay,” Nash said after the race. “I really don’t have much to say about this one. It was wet race and I did the best I could.”