The 2019 Nicky Hayden AMA Road Race Horizon Award has been presented to Blake Davis, 13, of Lynchburg, Virginia.
The presentation was made by AMA Track Racing Manager Ken Saillant at the conclusion of the AMA Road Race Grand Championship, which was held in conjunction with the 47th annual WERA Grand National Finals (GNF) October 24-27, 2019, at Barber Motorsports Park, in Birmingham, Alabama.
Davis, the 2018 recipient of the AMA Road Race Youth Rider of the Year award, rode his Lucas Oil-sponsored Kawasaki Ninja 400 to a fifth-place finish in the AMA Lightweight Twins Superstock Expert race, which included many riders on larger twin-cylinder machines like Suzuki SV650s, on October 26. He also took top finishes on the same machine in several WERA races during the GNF.
“I didn’t really think about winning it coming in here,” Davis said of the Nicky Hayden AMA Road Race Horizon Award. “I mean, it was kind of in the back of our minds, and then someone gave us a form to fill out after we got here. I wasn’t really thinking anything of it. I was expecting a few other people [might win it], and when they called my name it was really surprising.”
Davis said he plans to make his professional road racing debut in the 2020 MotoAmerica Junior Cup class after he turns 14, the minimum age to participate in the class, in the middle of next season. After that, Davis said he hopes to one day become the first rider to ever win both the FIM MotoGP World Championship and the FIM Superbike World Championship.
Winners of other special AMA awards at the Road Race Grand Championship included:
Chuck Ivey, 2019 AMA Road Race Senior Rider of the Year
Eli Banish, 2019 AMA Road Race Youth Rider of the Year
Will Ray, 2019 AMA Road Race Novice Rider of the Year
47th WERA Grand National Finals (GNF)/AMA Road Race Grand Championship
Barber Motorsports Park
Birmingham, Alabama
October 27, 2019
Provisional Race Results (listed in chronological order):
AMA 300 SUPERSTOCK EXPERT: 1. Daniel Kinard (Yam YZF-R3); 2. Heather Trees (Yam YZF-R3); 3. Keith Buras (Kaw Ninja 300); 4. Michael Killian (Yam YZF-R3); 5. Colin Gast (Yam YZF-R3); 6. Toni Sharpless (Yam YZF-R3).
AMA 300 SUPERSTOCK NOVICE: 1. Nicole Karamichael (Yam YZF-R3); 2. Eli Banish (Yam YZF-R3); 3. Scott Campbell (Yam YZF-R3); 4. Max Van Den Brouck (Kaw Ninja 400), -7 laps, DNF, crash.
AMA 1000 SUPERSTOCK EXPERT: 1. Vasiliy Zhulin (Yam YZF-R1); 2. Gary Virgin (Kaw ZX-10R); 3. Jeremy Kolewski (Kaw ZX-10R); 4. Christian Guffy (Suz GSX-R1000); 5. Trace Stafford (Duc 1199); 6. Mark Faulkner (Suz GSX-R750); 7. Mark Keown (Yam YZF-R1), -8 laps, DNF.
AMA 1000 SUPERSTOCK NOVICE: 1. Chris Bettis (Yam YZF-R1); 2. David Shadduck (Yam YZF-R1); 3. Edwin Cosme (BMW S1000RR); 4. Justin Nelson (Suz GSX-R1000); 5. Bennett Donan (BMW S1000RR); 6. Bo Bin (BMW S1000RR); 7. Allan Kersey, Jr. (Yam YZF-R1); 8. Joshua Booth (Yam YZF-R6); 9. Roy Horrigan (Suz GSX-R1000), -6 laps, DNF.
AMA 600 SUPERBIKE EXPERT: 1. Greg Melka (Yam YZF-R6); 2. Chuck Ivey (Yam YZF-R6); 3. Connor Funk (Yam YZF-R6); 4. Caleb Odom (Yam YZF-R6); 5. Gabriel DaSilva (Yam YZF-R6); 6. Doug Royce (Yam YZF-R6); 7. Matt Burdett (Yam YZF-R6); 8. Garrett O’Brien (Yam YZF-R6); 9. Andrew Lamoureux (Tri Daytona 675); 10. Isaiah DeBusk (Yam YZF-R6); 11. Kurt Miller (Yam YZF-R6); 12. Nicholas M. Johnson (Yam YZF-R6); 13. William Posse (Yam YZF-R6); 14. Brandon Salyer (Yam YZF-R6); 15. Richard Kay (Kaw ZX-6R); 16. Daniel M. Wallace (Hon CBR600RR); 17. Justin Bourland (Yam YZF-R6); 18. David Grey (Yam YZF-R6), -3 laps, DNF.
AMA 600 SUPERBIKE NOVICE: 1. Will Ray (Yam YZF-R6); 2. T. Christopher Jackman (Kaw ZX-6R); 3. Nathan Seethaler (Yam YZF-R6); 4. Edwin Cosme (Yam YZF-R6); 5. Michael Martin (Yam YZF-R6); 6. Kevin Ferguson (Yam YZF-R6); 7. Pierce Landers, IV (Hon CBR600RR); 8. Hugo Silva (Yam YZF-R6); 9. Neal Wm. Scalf (Yam YZF-R6); 10. Robby Ringnalda (Yam YZF-R6); 11. Joshua Booth (Yam YZF-R6); 12. Ryan Tekavec (Yam YZF-R6); 13. Cory Lang (Yam YZF-R6); 14. Jody Moore (Suz GSX-R600); 15. Andy Rudolph (Yam YZF-R6); 16. Trace Atchison (Hon CBR600RR); 17. Patrick Hannigan (Suz GSX-R600); 18. Jamie Brimacombe (Yam YZF-R6), -1 lap; 19. John E. Talley, Jr. (Yam YZF-R6), -1 lap; 20. Drew Everett (Hon CBR600RR), -4 laps, DNF; 21. Eric Connell (Yam YZF-R6), -4 laps, DNF; 22. Matthew Jordan (Suz GSX-R600), -4 laps, DNF.
AMA 1000 SUPERBIKE EXPERT: 1. Ryan Jones (BMW S1000RR); 2. Vasiliy Zhulin (Yam YZF-R1); 3. Michael Hilton (Duc 1000); 4. Gary Virgin (Kaw ZX-10R); 5. Jeremy Kolewski (Kaw ZX-10R); 6. R. Bryan Land (Kaw ZX-10R); 7. Christian Guffy (Suz GSX-R1000); 8. Freddy Carswell (Kaw ZX-10R); 9. Jesse Ruehling (Kaw ZX-10R); 10. Joshua Goodrich (BMW S1000RR); 11. Trace Stafford (Duc 1199); 12. Mark Keown (Yam YZF-R1).
AMA 1000 SUPERBIKE NOVICE: 1. Chris Bettis (Yam YZF-R1); 2. Rogerio Sabino (BMW S1000RR); 3. Bo Bin (BMW S1000RR); 4. Joshua Booth (Yam YZF-R6); 5. Bennett Donan (BMW S1000RR); 6. Ryan Arona (Yam YZF-R1); 7. Allan Kersey, Jr. (Yam YZF-R1); 8. Edwin Cosme (BMW S1000RR), -4 laps, DNF.
