Puerta Takes Daytona Supersport

Paul Carruthers | March 11, 2011

DAYTONA BEACH, FL, MARCH 10 – You don’t see many people run away and hide at Daytona International Speedway, but LTD’s Tomas Puerta did just that today in the Motorcycle-Superstore.com Supersport final.Puerta led from the start and for awhile it looked like it would be a classic Daytona battle that went to the flag. But Puerta had a different plan and he soon started to pull away – half a second here, half a second there until he had 2.5 seconds on the field at the halfway mark of the 10-lap race. That lead would continue to grow until he crossed the stripe 7.6 seconds ahead at the completion of 10 laps for his first win in the Supersport class.Behind him things were more typical of what we have come to expect from middlweight races at Daytona. The race for second went the distance with Stefano Mesa taking the spot by just .008 of a second over David Gaviria with Benny Solis just as close in fourth. Then came a gap to Dustin Dominguez.All three riders on the podium were from Colombia.Elena Myers ended up sixth, barely ahead of James Rispoli, Eric Stump, Ricky Parker and Hayden Gillim, with Gillim a part of the scrap for second until running straight in turn one to start the final lap.

Supersport Final

1. Tomas Puerta (Yamaha)2. Stefano Mesa (Ducati)3. David Gaviria (Yamaha)4. Benny Solis (Honda)5. Dustin Dominguez (Aprilia)6. Elena Myers (Suzuki)7. James Rispoli (Suzuki)8. Eric Stump (Yamaha)9. Ricky Parker (Yamaha)10. Hayden Gillim (Yamaha)