Herrin Wins Daytona SportBike Season Finale
Henny Ray Abrams | September 4, 2011
MILLVILLE, NJ, SEPT 4 –
Monster Energy Graves Yamaha’s Josh Herrin won the final Daytona SportBike race of his career in the shortened 10-lap sprint at New Jersey Motorsports Park.Herrin was leading when the race was stopped on the 14th of 23 laps when Santiago Villa crashed. Scoring reverted to the end of lap 13 for a 10-lap final..The last DSB race of the year would be fought among the same combatants, for the most part. Herrin was joined at the front by Saturday’s Daytona SportBike winner Tommy Aquino (Yamaha Extended Service/Pat Clark Sport), M4 Suzuki’s Dane Westby, and Cameron Beaubier on the RidersDiscount.com/Jake Holden Racing Yamaha.There was little among the lead quartet, though Herrin was able to lead across the strip every time. Westby took second from Aquino on the fourth lap and hounded Herrin. On the final lap he made a pass in turn six, but Herrin struck back on the exit. For the final eight turns he didn’t put a wheel wrong to win his fifth race of the year.
A day earlier he’d announced on the podium that he’d be moving to the Superbike class in 2012, where he’ll join Josh Hayes.Westby was second by .135 o a second with Aquino third at .577 of a seconds.Beaubier lost the chance to be on the podium when he nearly crashed early on the final lap after making a move on Aquino in turn one. He would finish two seconds back.The next rider across the line was RMR Geico’s Danny Eslick, who lost his chance to be part of the lead group early. The riders just outside the top four were tightly bunched until the eighth lap. Celtic Racing/Fast by Ferracci’s had a mechanical problem going over the turn four hill, causing Vesrah Suzuki’s Taylor Knapp to move hard to his left and off the track, crashing unhurt in the dirt. Eslick would lead Vesrah Suzuki’s Cory West across the strip, followed quickly by Latus Motors Racing’s Jason DiSalvo.The final points standings show Eslick with 275 points to 256 for Herrin.Daytona SportBike Results:1. Josh Herrin (Yamaha)
2. Dane Westby (Suzuki)
3. Tommy Aquino (Yamaha)
4. Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha)
5. Danny Eslick (Suzuki)
6. Cory West (Suzuki)
7. Jason DiSalvo (Triumph)
8. Bryce Prince (Yamaha)
9. Mike Selpe (Yamaha)
10. Huntley Nash (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.
