DiSalvo Sets New Daytona Sportbike Qualifying Record

Henny Ray Abrams | May 4, 2012

SONOMA, CA, MAY 4 – Team Latus Motors Racing’s Jason DiSalvo (Tri) set a new provisional pole record in Friday Daytona Sportbike qualifying at Infineon Raceway, as he attempts to rebound from a miserable weekend in the previous championship round at Road Atlanta.

Mechanical issues on the team’s Triumph Daytona 675 forced DiSalvo out of both races at Road Atlanta two weeks ago. A clutch problem stopped him in race one and an oil leak ended his second race. Two weeks on, DiSalvo is off to a strong start. DiSalvo qualified with a time of 1:38.159 mins., eclipsing Tommy Aquino’s two-year-old qualifying mark of 1:38.439 mins.

“That last lap was pretty good,” he said. “We had been making some small changes all throughout the session and I felt like that lap and the lap time was really the culmination of three or four little adjustments that made for a pretty large net gain.

“So overall just really happy with the lap. I’m pretty blown away at just the overall pace on Friday. The track feels really good. The grip’s really high today. We’ll see if it remains the same over the weekend. I know it’s supposed to get a little bit warm. But, overall, yeah, everything felt fantastic.”

Y.E.S. Graves Yamaha’s Cameron Beaubier was second fastest in his return to racing. After finishing third in the Daytona 200, Beaubier broke his right kneecap and injured his right wrist in a scooter crash. Beaubier missed Road Atlanta two weeks ago, but this weekend is back on track and teaming with Tommy Hayden. Hayden was sixth fastest today.

Beaubier’s lap time was 1:38.466 mins., about .13 sec. quiicker than third fastest Martin Cardenas. Cardenas swept both DSB races at Road Atlanta on his Geico Suzuki GSX-R600.

Road Race Factory/Red Bull’s Jake Gagne sits at the end of the provisional front row.

Daytona 200 winner Joey Pascarella set the fifth fastest time on his sixth lap. Later he’d crash unhurt coming onto the front straight, bringing out a red flag.

Hayden sits next to him, then Dane Westby (M4 Broaster Chicken Suzuki) and Jake Zemke. The Paso Robles resident was eighth fastest on the Ducshop Racing Ducati 848 EVO.

Daytona Sportbike Qualifying:

1. Jason DiSalvo (Triumph) 1:38.159

2. Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha) 1:38.446

3. Martin Cardenas (Suzuki) 1:38.593

4. Jake Gagne (Yamaha) 1:39.325

5. Joey Pascarella (Yamaha) 1:39.864

6. Tommy Hayden (Yamaha) 1:39.864

7. Dane Westby (Suzuki) 1:40.007

8. Jake Zemke (Ducati) 1:40.355

9. Bryce Prince (Yamaha) 1:40.523

10. Cory West (Suzuki) 1:40.610

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.