AMA Pro Road Racing 71st Daytona 200/GoPro Daytona SportBike Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beach, Florida March 17, 2012 Provisional Race Results (3.5-mile course, all on Dunlop tires): 1. Joey Pascarella (Yam YZF-R6), 57 laps 2. Jason DiSalvo (Tri Daytona 675R), -0.048 second 3. Cameron Beaubier (Yam YZF-R6), -0.112 4. Martin Cardenas (Suz GSX-R600), -0.112 5. Dane Westby (Suz GSX-R600), -44.354 seconds 6. Jake Zemke (Duc 848EVO), -47.418 7. Tommy Hayden (Yam YZF-R6), -47.531 8. Jake Gagne (Yam YZF-R6), -47.547 9. Tommy Aquino (Yam YZF-R6), -47.643 10. Cory West (Suz GSX-R600), -58.335 11. J.D. Beach (Yam YZF-R6), -82.197 12. Robertino Pietri (Yam YZF-R6), -103.442 13. Michael Beck (Yam YZF-R6), -1 lap 14. Bobby Fong (Yam YZF-R6), -1 lap, 23.705 seconds 15. David Gaviria (Yam YZF-R6), -1 lap, 35.475 16. Barrett Long (Duc 848EVO), -1 lap, 53.346 17. Shawn Higbee (Buell 1125R), -1 lap, 53.522 18. Fernando Amantini (Kaw ZX-6R), -1 lap, 72.227 19. Bostjan Skubic (Suz GSX-R600), -1 lap, 96.492 20. Ben Young (Yam YZF-R6), -2 laps 21. Josh Galster (Yam YZF-R6), -2 laps, 0.085 second 22. Reese Wacker (Yam YZF-R6), -2 laps, 23.411 seconds 23. Paul Allison (Yam YZF-R6), -2 laps, 68.711 24. David Sadowski, Jr. (Suz GSX-R600), -2 laps, 88.996 25. Nico Vivarelli (Yam YZF-R6), -2 laps, 96.294 26. Melissa Paris (Yam YZF-R6), -3 laps 27. Pat Mooney (Buell 1125R), -3 laps, 8.381 seconds 28. Shane Narbonne (Yam YZF-R6), -3 laps, 13.632 29. Anthony Fania (Yam YZF-R6), -3 laps, 38.375 30. Dalton Dimick (Yam YZF-R6), -3 laps, 38.974 31. Ricky Orlando (Kaw ZX-6R), -3 laps, 70.436 32. Jeff Wrobel (Yam YZF-R6), -4 laps 33. Sam Rozynski (Yam YZF-R6), -6 laps 34. Scott Ryan (Yam YZF-R6), -6 laps, 50.595 seconds 35. Bryce Prince (Yam YZF-R6), -14 laps 36. Frankie Garcia (Yam YZF-R6), -25 laps 37. John Ashmead (Kaw ZX-6R), -28 laps 38. Matthew Sadowski (Suz GSX-R600), -29 laps 39. Darren James (Buell 1125R), -30 laps 40. Austin DeHaven (Yam YZF-R6), -40 laps 41. Benny Solis, Jr. (Suz GSX-R600), -42 laps 42. Dario Marchetti (Duc 848EVO), -46 laps 43. Michael Barnes (Yam YZF-R6), -48 laps 44. Huntley Nash (Yam YZF-R6), DNF 45. Kris Turner (Tri Daytona 675R), DNS 46. Eric Haugo (Yam YZF-R6), DNS More, from a press release issued by Geiger Media on behalf of GEICO: Polesitter Cardenas winds up fourth at 71st annual Daytona 200 DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (March 17) — In one of the closest finishes in Daytona 200 history, polesitter Martin Cardenas brought his GEICO Suzuki GSX-R600 home in fourth place. According to the timers, Cardenas matched the time of third-place finisher Cameron Beaubier but officials gave the final podium position to Beaubier based on visual evidence. The top four riders were separated by just .112 seconds. “To race for 200 miles and have four riders just a tenth of a second apart is incredible,” Cardenas said. “Of course, we wanted to be on the podium but we ended up fourth and that is my best finish ever at this racetrack so we will be okay.” Cardenas was up front for most of the day, and even led a few of the 57 circuits completed. Prior to the first pit stop, he was part of a breakaway group of seven riders. In the middle part of the race, he was swapping the lead with Beaubier and eventual winner Joey Pascarella as the three pulled away from the chase pack. After the second and final round of pit stops, Cardenas found himself six seconds behind Pascarella and Beaubier, with Jason DiSalvo a few seconds further back in fourth. As the star-studded group fought through lapped traffic, Cardenas went to work and managed to close the gap on Pascarella and Beaubier, even though he was riding without the benefit of a drafting partner. Shortly after Cardenas caught the leaders, DiSalvo joined the fray, which set-up a four-bike battle for the checkered flag. “The last 10 laps I was giving 100-percent and more to close the gap on the two guys in front of me. We managed to catch up but at the end, I think maybe they just had a bit more than we did. I was trying to ride the draft, thinking about that, but we all pushed for the line and I ended up fourth. “I felt good all day. I’m tired but not exhausted. It was just normal, physical riding. The bike had the speed. We will see about that at the next race. This one is very different because of the drafting. We’ll see where the others really are when we go to Atlanta. I actually think DiSalvo was just playing with us for much of the day. His bike is very, very fast. But our GEICO Suzuki will be up front as well.” A native of Medellin, Columbia, Cardenas swept the double-header of Daytona SportBike races the last time the tour visited Road Atlanta in 2010. This year’s Triumph Big Kahuna Atlanta event takes place April 20-22 at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Ga. “We earned our first Daytona pole and had a very respectable finish this weekend,” Cardenas said. “I am happy and very proud of the team. This will be a great season for us.” More, from a press release issued by Daytona International Speedway: Project One Yamaha’s Joey Pascarella Wins 71st Running of the Daytona 200 Elena Myers Makes History in SuperSport and Blake Young Captures SuperBike DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. Project One Yamaha’s Joey Pascarella of Vacaville, Calif., survived a four-bike scramble to win the 71st running of the Daytona 200 AMA Pro Daytona SportBike race on Saturday at Daytona International Speedway. Pascarella, who led 41 of the 57 laps, held off 2011 Daytona 200 champion Jason DiSalvo, Yamaha’s Cameron Beaubier and Suzuki’s Martin Cardenas to win by a margin of .048 seconds. “Up front and in the lead was my most comfortable position,” said the 19-year-old Pascarella. “When someone was in front of me, I just didn’t like it as much. When I was up front, I was riding my own pace. I just stayed in the lead as long as I could. When someone would pass me, I just used the draft and got right back by them. I rode smooth laps.” Pascarella and Beaubier were the only two riders remaining in the lead pack after the second round of pit stops, but Cardenas and DiSalvo managed to run down the lead pack to set up the four-man battle in the final laps. “It’s a big deal,” Pascarella said. “Winning any Daytona SportBike race for me would be a big deal. This is the biggest one of them all. It’s the opener, the 200. This is probably the biggest thing I’ve ever done in my life. I’m in shock, I still can’t believe it. “I may not show it, but deep down inside I’m really excited.” The victory in the historic Daytona 200 was Yamaha’s 21st and third in the last four years. Rounding out the podium was DiSalvo riding a Triumph and Beaubier. Cardenas, the pole winner, took fourth. Myers makes Daytona history: Suzuki rider Elena Myers of Discovery Bay, Calif., became the first female to win a professional motorsports event at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday when she captured the AMA Pro Motorcycle Superstore.com SuperSport race. Myers, who finished fifth in Friday’s SuperSport event, found herself in a tight four-bike duel on the final lap of Saturday’s event. Coming off of Turn 4, she managed to hold off Suzuki rider Corey Alexander and Yamaha rider Hayden Gillim by a margin of .240 seconds. “I’d say this is my first legitimate win because I won last time on a red flag,” said Myers, who previously won an AMA Pro SuperSport event at Infineon Raceway in 2010. “It’s really cool to be up here. I was crying like a baby the whole cool down lap. It’s a great feeling. Nothing compares to it. That’s why we come out here and do what we do . . . to stand on top of the box.” In Friday’s SuperSport event, Myers, who rides the No. 21 Suzuki Scoop Fans/SportBikeTrackGear.com Suzuki, was in an eight-bike battle for the victory. On Saturday, there were only four bikes vying for the win on the white flag lap. “Yesterday, I got the short end of the draft,” Myers said. “It was good to just have a few of us up there going back and forth (today). It was a phenomenal race. I stayed there, led a little bit just to see how much I could be behind and then catch up. Everybody’s bikes were really fast and mine was too. I can’t thank my team enough for giving me such a good bike. I’m just happy to get a win for them.” National Guard SuperBike Race 2: Blake Young nipped two-time defending AMA Pro National Guard champion Josh Hayes by .002 seconds at the start/finish line to win the National Guard SuperBike Race 2. Hayes trailed Young coming out of the chicane and attempted the slingshot move on Young at the start/finish line. “It was 100 percent my fault, I just mistimed it,” said Hayes. “I had a good weapon today. I had the bike that could win the race. This one is on my shoulders. He rode a great race. He definitely upped his game from yesterday. Young swept both rounds of last year’s SuperBike races and finished second in Friday’s race. “Definitely today’s race was a lot better than yesterday’s race,” Young said. “I knew Josh was going to be good on the banking and out of the chicane but I just didn’t know how good. I needed to make it happen in the first five laps and be there right on him to see what he was doing out of the chicane that made him so good around the banking. I definitely learned and adapted fairly quick before he could get away. He has got more power than he did last year.” Fans can stay connected with Daytona International Speedway on Twitter (www.twitter.com/disupdates) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/DaytonaInternationalSpeedway). More, from a press release issued by AMA Pro Racing: Ultimate Underdogs: Pascarella and P1A/March of Dimes Win the DAYTONA® 200 Young wins close AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike battle with Hayes; Myers earns historic win in AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (March 17, 2012) – In only his third AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike start, 19 year-old Joey Pascarella took home the win at the 71st DAYTONA® 200 Saturday at Daytona International Speedway. Pascarella, aboard the Project 1 Atlanta/March of Dimes Yamaha YZF-R6, was able to hold the lead despite having three riders (Jason DiSalvo of Latus Motors Racing Triumph, Cameron Beaubier of Graves Yamaha, and Martin Cardenas of GEICO Suzuki) on his tail at the conclusion of the 57-lap race. Pascarella’s margin of victory was 0.048 over DiSalvo, with Beaubier edging out Martin Cardenas by photo finish. Pascarella and Beaubier were the only two riders remaining in the lead pack after the second round of pit stops, but Cardenas and then DiSalvo managed to run down the fast teens from several seconds back to make a four-man battle in the final four laps. Pascarella, who led 41 laps, ran in first as the riders entered the chicane on the final lap. The fast four moved past a lapped rider and made the charge to the stripe for the 57th time, where Pascarella encountered another backmarker. “I knew I could do it and I had faith in myself,” said Pascarella, who did not test the bike or ride before Wednesday’s practice. “I ran my own race. I thought if I led on the last lap and someone passed me, so be it. I felt most comfortable in the lead. Everyone was there the whole race. It ended up working out. I got a draft on a lapper and I was able to bring it home with a win. I don’t know what we’re doing for the rest of the season, but hopefully the team and I can keep going.” Project 1 Atlanta won the pole for the 2011 race with rider Jake Zemke. Runner-up DiSalvo charged hard after slowing before the first round of stops. “I thought I had an issue with the motorcycle and I backed off the pace considerably and we lost a good bit of time. We went through our pit stop and got back out there and everything looked okay and we kept going,” said last year’s DAYTONA® 200 winner. “Once I thoroughly chastised myself for making a silly move like that — you ride it until it stops, you don’t think you hear a noise and pull in — I just rode as hard as I could every lap. Every lap of that race was ten tenths, as hard as I could go. It ended up working out right that we were right there in the end. Through all the laps, and all the sliding around and slicing through lapped riders, it was just in the back of my mind that I was riding for Gary (Nixon) and riding for his memory, and for my crew and all the hard work they put in.” “The race was awesome,” said third-place finisher Beaubier. “I really didn’t get a good draft to the line, but I am happy with third.” Behind the lead pack, another set of riders participated in an equally ferocious battle. M4 Broaster Chicken Suzuki rider Dane Westby led that pack filled with veterans and young riders, breaking away at the line to close out the top five. Ducshop Racing’s Zemke followed, with Y.E.S. Graves Yamaha’s Tommy Hayden, RoadRace Factory/Red Bull’s Jake Gagne, SGA Racing’s Tommy Aquino in tow. Cory West and the Riders Discount Vesrah Suzuki Team rounded out the top 10. AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike Friday’s AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike race winner, Josh Hayes, wasn’t able to savor his season-opening victory for long as his primary rival, Yoshimura Racing Suzuki’s Blake Young, took his revenge on Saturday in a thrilling showdown of the series’ title favorites. Hayes bolted into the lead from the start aboard his Monster Energy Graves Yamaha YZF-R1 but was unable to replicate yesterday’s escape as Young made a concerted effort to track him down and cling onto the lead draft. Their battle pushed them far out in front of a trailing pack that quickly broke into a number of smaller melees, with National Guard Jordan Suzuki’s Roger Hayden and Hayes’ Yamaha teammate, Josh Herrin, vigorously swapping positions in their clash for third. While Young was able to keep pace with Hayes up front, the Mississippian appeared to be very much in control of the race. Utilizing a superior line out of the chicane, Hayes demonstrated the ability to hold an advantage all the way to the stripe while in front or draft past from second while the Suzuki man struggled to do either with any sort of consistency. However, Hayes suffered a moment on the banking while leading late in the race and decided his safest bet would be to follow on the final lap and set up a strike at the flag. That plan unraveled when Hayes mistimed his slingshot attempt, coming up just 0.002 seconds short of Young at the line. Young, who rebounded admirably following Friday’s (relatively) disappointing effort, said, “Today’s race was a lot better than yesterday’s race, for sure. I knew Josh was going to be good on the banking and out of the chicane. I just didn’t know how good. I knew I had to make it happen on the first five laps and be right on him to see what he was doing exactly out of the chicane that made me him so good onto the banking. I definitely learned and adapted pretty quickly before he could get away. “He’s got more power this year than last year for sure, but my guys worked hard for me. We sat back and looked at the data, but I knew it was nothing we were going to see on the data — it was me yesterday. I just didn’t have a very good race and wanted to work hard to show my crew they shouldn’t give up on me yet.” Hayes was happy to leave Daytona with a win, a runner-up, pole, and two lap leader points in his pocket, but couldn’t help but feel like he let one get away on this day. After the race, the defending champ said, “We were both playing the game out there. We both tried each other through the banking and we seemed pretty even on one another. I felt like I was pretty good out of the chicane and I had gotten away with that a whole bunch of times, but in the later part of the race I struggled with some grip and lost the front in NASCAR 4. I ended up going through there about three-quarter throttle and that was the first lap he actually did come by me on the banking. So I started having a few doubts about making a run from the front because if I had an issue like that at the end I’d be a sitting duck. Once I made the run on him and knew I could draft by him just the same I kind of let him lead the last lap and just sat back there. “Going into the back straightaway I was a little further back than I wanted to be and panicked a little bit and ran off in the chicane pretty hard. I don’t think it was the deciding factor, but once we got up on the banking I just mistimed it a little bit. It was 100% my fault — I just mistimed it. I had a good weapon today. I had a bike that could win the race and this one is on my shoulders. He rode a great race and definitely upped his game from yesterday.” Hayden ultimately came out on top of a seesawing duel with National Guard SuperBike rookie Herrin, who responded to his Friday crash with a fine effort to finish within sight of the podium in fourth. After garnering his second podium result in as many days, Hayden said, “Josh Herrin made me earn this one today. He was really riding good for his rookie race weekend. I was trying to break the draft in the infield; I felt I was a little bit stronger than him but he could always draft back by me and I couldn’t draft him. We definitely need to find a little bit more speed but I am happy to come away with two third-place finishes. It’s a good start to the season. We kind of know where we are weak at now so we can try to improve before Road Atlanta.” For the second consecutive day, Foremost Insurance Pegram Racing BMW’s Larry Pegram victimized Motorcycle-Superstore.com/Big Kahuna/LeoVince Attack Kawasaki’s Steve Rapp at the flag. Pegram edged Rapp for fourth on Friday by 0.001 seconds and turned the same trick on Saturday, topping him for fifth by 0.080 seconds. New Yoshimura Racing Suzuki runner Chris Clark came home in seventh, with EvanSteelPerformance.com BMW’s Jake Holden ultimately coming out on top of a mid-race multi-rider affair for eighth, followed by two-time Daytona SportBike king Danny Eslick on the Team Hero EBR 1190RS and Team Venezuela Suzuki’s Robertino Pietri to complete the top ten. AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport SuzukiScoopFans Sportbike TrackGear.com M4 Suzuki’s Elena Myers claimed her second-career AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport victory on Saturday at Daytona International Speedway. Myers won out following a race-long four-rider scrap for the checkered flag, beating National Guard Suzuki’s Corey Alexander and RoadRace Factory/Red Bull Yamaha’s Hayden Gillim to the flag by 0.239 and 0.248 seconds, respectively. Yesterday’s winner, James Rispoli on the Celtic Racing Suzuki GSX-R600, was a factor throughout as well but slowed slightly on the final lap to finish fourth. Next Event Homestead-Miami Speedway, in Homestead, Florida will host an official series test on March 20-22. A month later on April 20-22, AMA Pro Road Racing will return to Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia for Round 2 of the 2012 championship with the first of the season’s three M1 PowerSports-promoted Triumph Big Kahuna events, Big Kahuna Atlanta. AMA Pro Racing is the premier professional motorcycle racing organization in North America, operating a full schedule of events and championships for a variety of motorcycle disciplines. Learn more about AMA Pro Racing at www.amaproracing.com.