Henny Ray Abrams | June 6, 2010
ELKHART LAKE, WI, JUNE 6: LTD Racing’s Huntley Nash (Yam) was jubilant after his breakthrough win in a tensely fought combined East/West SuperSport race at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.”It feels so good,” Nash said. “I don’t even know what to say, because I didn’t think it would come this soon.”Nash was in the mix from the start, along with teammate Tomas Puerta and Rockwall Performance Yamaha’s J.D. Beach, Saturday’s winner.The three made a slight break with Nash mostly in front, with Beach at the point on the sixth lap, but not for long. And when he was in front there wasn’t much in it. The race would be decided in the final two laps.Beach was leading into the final corner on the penultimate lap when Nash barged his way through on the inside, the pair making contact.They led across the stripe with James Rispoli (Suz) third, and Puerta fourth. Soon they were joined by Beach’s teammate, Cameron Beaubier, who had a lousy start but was the fastest rider on the track. Miles Thornton (Yam) was at the tail end of the six-pack.On the final lap the pack would break up in turn five, the hard braking left at the end of the middle straightaway. Nash protected the inside line as he, Beach, and Puerta got through cleanly. Just behind, Rispoli ran himself and Beaubier wide, separating them and Thornton from the leaders.Then it was Beach’s turn to make a mistake. In the next left at the top of the hill Beach ran wide to the right, allowing Puerta through and into second.Nothing changed for the next several corners, including the Carousel and the dead stop chicane. Nash was in control through Canada Corner, turn 12, and controlled the final sequence. He hit the uphill ramp to the finish line in the lead and sped to victory by .200 secs. Beach outraced Puerta to the line to take second and extend his championship lead.After six of 14 rounds, Beach leads the SuperSport East championship with 139 points. Beaubier is second at 118, while Puerta is a point behind and Nash another point back.Thornton ended up fourth, more than a second back, with Rispoli and Beaubier in a photo finish for sixth.Neither of the SuperSport West leaders was a factor. DNA Energy Drink’s Joey Pascarella, who came into the weekend with a 51 point lead, wasn’t comfortable after crashing his Ducati on Saturday and sat out the race. The decision turned out to be the right one. Lucas Oils Roadracingworld.com Suzuki’s Elena Myers crashed in turn 12 for the second day in a row, scoring no points.Pascarella continues to lead Myers 143 to 92 after seven of 13 races.
Results:
1. Huntley Nash (Yamaha)
2. J.D. Beach (Yamaha)
3. Tomas Puerta (Yamaha)
4. Miles Thornton (Yamaha)
5. James Rispoli (Suzuki)
6. Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha)
7. David Gaviria (Kawasaki)
8. Nicholas Hansen (Kawasaki)
9. Daniel Guevara (Suzuki)
10. Ryan Kerr (Kawasaki)
Henny Ray Abrams | Contributing Editor
Abrams is the longest-serving contributor at Cycle News. Over the course of his 35-some years of writing and shooting photos, he’s covered events from MotoGP to the Motocross World Championship - and everything in between.
