Solis Takes Supersport Final at Infineon Raceway
Henny Ray Abrams | May 14, 2011
SONOMA, CA, MAY 14 – Benny Solis sped from the pole position to a dominant victory in the SuperSport final, held on a windy, cool and overcast afternoon at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Ca.Team LTD’s Tomas Puerta (Yam) got the jump, but it was too good and Puerta would soon be assessed a penalty. Rather than a ridethrough, Puerta was given a five second penalty and allowed to continue racing. It was confusing for a time, since he was second on the track, but with the added time third overall. Eventually he would put enough time on the third place finisher that it was clear who was second.
It was also clear who was in front. Solis, on the Red Bull/Roadracing.world/Erion Racing Honda, was in front from the end of the first of 18 laps all the way to the end. Regardless of who was chasing him, Solis was able to pull away at ease.The margin of victory was 8.825 secs.It didn’t look that big because it wasn’t. Minus the five second penalty, Puerta trailed Solis across the line by 3.825 secs., still considerable.The battle for third wasn’t much until the end of the race. It was then that Vesrah Racing’s Corey Alexander ran down and caught Team LTD’s David Gaviria (Yam). Alexander was better mid-corner, but Gaviria had more grunt off the corner and on top speed.Alexander made his first pass on the brakes into the penultimate corner, the right hand hairpin turn 11. But the New Yorker got in too hot and Gaviria kept the spot. The scenario repeated on the final, only this time Alexander wasn’t in quite as hot. Still, he was in too hot and on the exit wheelied as Gaviria drove back past and safety into third. The difference between them was .289 sec.GP Bike Parts’ Travis Ohge was a very distant fifth, with Wyatt Farris no threat in sixth.
SuperSport Results:
1. Benny Solis (Honda)
2. Tomas Puerta (Yamaha)
3. David Gaviria (Yamaha)
4. Corey Alexander (Suzuki)
5. Travis Ohge (Yamaha)
6. Wyatt Farris (Yamaha)
7. Greg McCullough (Yamaha)
8. Dustin Dominguez (Ducati)
9. Sebastiao Ferreira (Yamaha)
10. Jason Lauritzen (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.
