Team M4 Suzuki’s Dane Westby rode his Dunlop-shod GSX-R600 to a convincing victory in the Michelin Pro Series Sanctioned by ASRA Team Challenge endurance race Friday at Daytona International Speedway.

Using new, U.S.-made Dunlop DOT-labeled tires, Westby lapped the 3.51-mile infield road course as fast as 1:53.126 and won the 44-lap race, both the overall and the GTU class, by a margin of one full lap.

The victory was extra sweet for 24-year-old Westby as it came on the same day it was announced that he had renewed his contract to continue racing for Team Hammer, Inc., the parent company of Team M4 Suzuki, in 2012.

“It is pretty good,” Westby said of the timing. “I’m lucky to be on another team for next year. A bunch of other guys don’t have rides. I’m glad to take this win first thing, and hopefully that bodes well for us. I would really like to take home a Daytona 200 win. Team Hammer has been known for endurance racing. I think I have the speed. I know I have the speed. I used to think I have the speed, but now I know I have the speed.”

Asked about his game plan for the Team Challenge race, Westby said he was doing some tire testing for Dunlop, but “I wanted to win the race. I had no idea what the competition was really like. I started in the second group. It wasn’t the second wave, but it was back there. I tried to go from the beginning. I sorted through some traffic, there wasn’t anybody in front and I thought, ‘This is cool. This will be easy.’ And then I saw I was in fifth. So then I realized I was going to have some work to do. I just worked throughout the whole race. I tried to go fast and not give up. There were a few mechanicals and that worked out for me.”

The “mechanicals” Westby referred to included the M.O.B. Racing Suzuki GSX-R1000 of P.J. Jacobsen and Shane Narbonne running out of fuel on track just short of their one and only scheduled pit stop. Jacobsen led the race from the start, pulled away with laps as fast as 1:49.463 and was leading the race by over one lap, but his bike ran out of fuel seven minutes short of their scheduled pit stop. M.O.B. Racing was brought back to the pits on a crash truck, refueled and resumed their race, but they lost several laps in the process and eventually finished 10th overall.

Martinez Motorsports was second from the start with Jason Farrell running strong on the Kawasaki ZX-10R he was sharing with Team Owner Calvin Martinez, but Martinez Motorsports chose a less-durable set of Dunlop slicks than Dunlop was recommending and chunked both their front and rear tires, forcing an unplanned change of both wheels. Martinez Motorsports lost several laps during the tire swap and finished sixth overall and fourth in the GTO class.

Like Westby, Chester Auto Repair’s Eric Helmbach rode the race solo, as he did during most of the eight-race Team Challenge season, but he had enough endurance and speed on his BMW S1000RR (which wore a Pirelli front slick and a Dunlop rear slick) to finish second overall and first in GTO in the race, which allowed Chester Auto Repair to repeat as the overall and GTO Team Challenge Champions.

“I had a 12-point lead in the overall Championship over Stiles Racing and a 12-point lead in the GTO Championship over Thrashed Bike Racing coming into the weekend,” Helmbach told Roadracingworld.com. “I didn’t have to beat either of them. I only needed to be close to them. I didn’t know if I was going to be able to do that with all of the talent in the race today, but as it turned out they had their problems and I was able to beat them both.”

In spite of excessive wear with the Michelin DOT-labeled tires on their Yamaha YZF-R6 that caused them to slow toward the end of each of their two stints, Stiles Racing’s husband-and-wife pairing of Meghan and Scotty Ryan were able to finish third overall and second in the GTU division. Although that was not enough for them to capture the overall title, it was enough for them to win the GTU Championship.

Thrashed Bike Racing (Walt Sipp/Joel Spalding) ran as high as third overall during the first half of the race on their Pirelli-shod Buell 1125RR, the same bike that Erik Buell Racing’s Geoff May raced in AMA Pro Superbike at the beginning of 2011, but a two-pit-stop strategy caused them to lose ground and a blown engine caused them to retire from the race.

Third place in GTU and ninth overall went to Markbilt Racing (Mike Aboyoun/Eric Stump).

Motocorse Performance’s Fernando Ferreyra and his brother Walter Ferreyra won the GT Lights class on a Dunlop-tired Ducati PS1000LE, beating Kid Racing (Collin Leiby/Mark Miller, Jr.) and PQM Racing (Cole Quinn/Pat Quinn), who got second and third, respectively, in the GTU class.

The Team Challenge had 37 teams start the race.

Michelin Pro Series Sanctioned by ASRA Series Team Challenge Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beach, Florida October 14 Provisional Overall Race Results:

1. Team M4 Suzuki (Dane Westby), Suz GSX-R600, Dunlop, GTU, 44 laps 2. Chester Auto Repair (Eric Helmbach), BMW S1000RR, Pirelli/Dunlop, GTO, 43 laps 3. Stiles Racing (Meghan Ryan/Scotty Ryan), Yam YZF-R6, Michelin, GTU, 42 laps 4. BMF Racing (James Cohrs/Rick Johnson/Russell Proctor), Yam YZF-R1, Dunlop, GTO, 42 laps 5. Barry Motorsports (James Barry/Tyler Sweeney), Yam YZF-R1, Dunlop, GTO, 42 laps 6. Martinez Motorsports (Jason Farrell/Calvin Martinez), Kaw ZX-10R, Dunlop, GTO, 41 laps 7. Neyra Racing (Justin Neyra/Trey Yonce), Kaw ZX-10R, GTO, 41 laps 8. Markbilt Racing (Mike Aboyoun/Eric Stump), Yam YZF-R6, GTU, 41 laps 9. Dynoworks Racing (Donny Wright), Suz GSX-R600, GTU, 40 laps 10. M.O.B. Racing (P.J. Jacobsen/Shane Narbonne), Suz GSX-R1000, Dunlop, GTO, 40 laps

GTO: 1. Chester Auto Repair (Eric Helmbach), BMW S1000RR, Pirelli/Dunlop, 43 laps 2. BMF Racing (James Cohrs/Rick Johnson/Russell Proctor), Yam YZF-R1, Dunlop, 42 laps 3. Barry Motorsports (James Barry/Tyler Sweeney), Yam YZF-R1, Dunlop, 42 laps 4. Martinez Motorsports (Jason Farrell/Calvin Martinez), Kaw ZX-10R, Dunlop, 41 laps 5. Neyra Racing (Justin Neyra/Trey Yonce), Kaw ZX-10R, 41 laps 6. M.O.B. Racing (P.J. Jacobsen/Shane Narbonne), Suz GSX-R1000, Dunlop, 40 laps

GTU: 1. Team M4 Suzuki (Dane Westby), Suz GSX-R600, Dunlop, 44 laps 2. Stiles Racing (Meghan Ryan/Scotty Ryan), Yam YZF-R6, Michelin, 42 laps 3. Markbilt Racing (Mike Aboyoun/Eric Stump), Yam YZF-R6, 41 laps 4. Dynoworks Racing (Donny Wright), Suz GSX-R600, 40 laps 5. Keenny Strulovic Racing (Kenny Strulovic), Yam YZF-R6, 40 laps 6. SGA Racing (Melissa Paris/Kat Zimpel), Yam YZF-R6, 39 laps

GT Lights (GTL): 1. Motocorse Performance (Fernando Ferreyra/Walter Ferreyra), Duc PS1000LE, Dunlop, 39 laps 2. Kid Racing (Collin Leiby/Mark Miller, Jr.), Suz SV650, Dunlop, 38 laps 3. PQM Racing (Cole Quinn/Pat Quinn), Suz SV650, Pirelli, 37 laps 4. KRM Racing (Chris Boy/Kevin Mendez), Bim 1000, 37 laps 5. G-Baby Racing (Jim Doyle/Suzanne Mears), Suz SV650, 36 laps 6. Mototech Racing (Frank De Le Renta), Suz GSX600F, 32 laps

Provisional Championship Point Standings (after 8 of 8 races):

Overall: 1. Chester Auto Repair, 224 points 2. Stiles Racing, 208 3. Thrashed Bike Racing, 172 4. RNR Repsol Racing, 156 5. Martinez Motorsports, 129 6. Premier Racing, 118 7. Old Glory Racing, 115 8. Barry Motorsports, 100 9. Moto Medusa, 63 10. Saddlebaum Racing, 46

GTO: 1. Chester Auto Repair, 252 points 2. Thrashed Bike Racing, 221 3. Martinez Motorsports, 146 4. Barry Motorsports, 126 5. Integrated, 48 points 6. RPM Motorsports, 41 7. D2 Cycles 2, 39 8. Hawkeye Superbikes, 32 9. BMF Racing, 30 10. Plenty Money Racing, 26

GTU: 1. Stiles Racing, 246 points 2. RNR Repsol Racing, 201 3. Premier Racing, 154 4. Moto Medusa, 110 5. Next Level Motorsports, 44 6. TIE, Rick Valdez Racing/Team M4 Suzuki, 35 8. Metric Devil, 30 9. TIE, Markbilt Racing/Huff Racing/Begin It Now Racing, 26

GT Lights (GTL): 1. Old Glory Speed Shop, 231 points 2. Saddlebaum Racing, 93 3. Mototech Racing, 89 4. Kid Racing, 60 5. G-Baby Racing, 51 6. TIE, Motocorse Performance/Daytonasportbikes.com, 35 8. TIE, Moto Corse/M&M Racing, 30 10. TIE, PQM Racing/Team Dangerous/Tank-Slappers, 26