DiSalvo Gets Second in a Row
Henny Ray Abrams | May 14, 2011
SONOMA, CA, MAY 14 – Jason DiSalvo won what started as the Daytona 200 under a cloud. Tires were failing, he needed two engines, the race was shortened. Today, on a cool, cloudy overcast day in Sonoma, DiSalvo made no doubt who the winner was.Speeding away from the pole position, the Team Latus Motors Racing Ducati rider set the pace with only fellow Ducati rider Jake Holden able to keep him in sight. But not for long. Holden, riding the self-sponsored 848EVO, nearly rammed DiSalvo from behind entering the downhill turn four left on lap six, running off the track and into the grass to avoid what would have been a messy collision. Ending the lap, DiSalvo’s lead of .390 sec. was now 5.412 secs.Holden rejoined the race in eighth place at a pace that allowed him to pick riders off quickly. He moved past Celtic Racing/Fast by Ferracci’s PJ Jacobsen ending the seventh lap with Geico Powersports/Richie Morris Racing’s Danny Eslick (Suz) two seconds ahead.
Lapping in the 1:39’s, Holden caught Eslick, who provided resistance for a lap before Holden made a decisive pass in the downhill turns six Carousel on the tenth lap and set out for DiSalvo.At the time DiSalvo had a lead of 8.023 secs. and it appeared Eslick had no chance. But the next lap the gap was 7.265 secs. and he quickly ate into the lead until DiSalvo picked up the pace.On the 15th lap the lead was down to 4.822 secs., but by then DiSalvo was down in the 1:39’s himself, and Holden was starting to suffer uncomfortable front end slides.DiSalvo was solid over the last handful of laps and began to open up the gap with two laps to go. When he crossed the line the margin of victory was 7.622 secs.The win was DiSalvo’s 11th career AMA win and first at Infineon Raceway. It was also, along with Daytona, the first time he’d won back to back AMA races.Eslick was more than 15 secs. back in third, with Jacobsen alone in fourth. Jacobsen had been battling with Y.E.S. rider Tommy Aquino until pulling away in the closing stages.Aquino was alone in sixth, with Vesrah Suzuki’s Cory West sixth and Cameron Beaubier seventh on the GP Bike Parts Racing Yamaha.
Daytona SportBike Results:
1. Jason DiSalvo (Ducati)
2. Jake Holden (Ducati)
3. Danny Eslick (Suzuki)
4. PJ Jacobsen (Ducati)
5. Tommy Aquino (Yamaha)
6. Cory West (Suzuki)
7. Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha)
8. Paul Allison (Yamaha)
9. Tyler Odom (Honda)
10. Tyler O’Hara (Yamaha)
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.
