Westby Crashes, Still Fast

Henny Ray Abrams | March 4, 2010

DAYTONA BEACH, FL, MAR 4: Project 1 Atlanta’s Dane Westby (Yam) crashed late in a chilly first Daytona SportBike qualifying session, but still held on to the top spot in advance of this afternoon’s final qualifying.Westby, seen in the top two photos, was one of four riders-the others were Josh Herrin, P.J. Jacobsen, and Shawn Higbee, seen in lower photo-to crash just after tipping it right in the middle of the chicane. All four seemed to lose the front end in the transition, sliding unharmed onto the grass. After Westby’s crash, the session was red-flagged and, after a track inspection, the Daytona SportBike Group B took to the track.Before crashing, Westby clocked a 1:51.860 mins. lap on a morning when the ambient temperature was in the low 40’s, with a track temperature of 54 degrees. Westby’s time was well off the 1:50.379 turned in by Graves Motorsports Yamaha’s Herrin in Friday’s night practice.Team Latus Motors Racing’s Steve Rapp (Duc) finished second fastest, half a second down on Westby, with Graves Motorsports’ Yamaha’s Tommy Aquino third.Several of the top riders chose not to ride in the morning session. Missing from the track were Geico Suzuki’s Danny Eslick and Monster M4 Suzuki’s Martin Cardenas, both of whom were in the top six on Wednesday night.Final Daytona SportBike qualifying is set for 6:30 p.m.Wednesday

Daytona SportBike Qualifying:

1. Dane Westby (Yamaha) 1:51.860

2. Steve Rapp (Ducati) 1:52.520

3. Tommy Aquino (Yamaha) 1:53.560

4. Cory West (Suzuki) 1:54.344

5. Brett McCormick (Suzuki) 1:54.426

6. Jake Holden (Ducati) 1:54.581

7. Josh Day (Yamaha) 1:54.710

8. Eric Wood (Honda) 1:54.892

9. Kevin Coghlan (Yamaha) 1:55.126

10. Shawn Higbee (Buell) 1:55.145