LEXINGTON, OHIO, JULY 14 – M4 Broaster Chicken Suzuki’s Dane Westby won his second Daytona Sportbike race on the same track where he got his first, the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio.
Westby was in the mix from the start, when a nine-rider ribbon began streaming around the 2.4-mile, 15-turn road course for the first of 21 laps, right to the end, when it came down to a head-to-head contest with Geico Suzuki’s Martin Cardenas.
Cardenas led across the stripe to start the final lap and Westby wasn’t able to attack in the popular Turn 6 right-hander braking area. The attack came when Cardenas ran wide in the Turn 10 kink right, giving Westby an opening which he took. Then Cardenas fought back in the next corner, the hard right Turn 11, but Westby held firm.
Cardenas had one more chance, in the looping right hand Carousel near the end of the lap. But he ran wide and Westby had the slightest of breathing room.
The margin of victory was .222 sec.
The DSB win was the second of Westby’s career. The first came in Saturday’s DSB race last year.
Y.E.S. Graves Yamaha’s Cameron Beaubier finished third at 1.133 sec. after losing touch with the leaders on lap 17 of 21 when he backshifted one too many times. To that point he was in it for the win. Beaubier had the fastest lap of the race on the final lap in pursuit of the leaders.
The battle for fourth was among six riders, but eventually petered out as one rider after another fell by the wayside. By the finish Y.E.S. Graves Yamaha’s Tommy Hayden was alone in fourth, as was Ducshop Racing Ducati’s Jake Zemke in fifth and JD Beach in sixth on the Road Race Factory/Red Bull Yamaha.
Latus Motors Racing’s Jason DiSalvo was in fourth when he crashed entering Turn 6 on lap 17, his Castrol Triumph 675R ghost riding into the tire wall well off the track.
Cardenas continues to lead the championship with 269 points to 222 for Westby, who broke a tie with DiSalvo for second. Hayden moved into third with 197, five more than DiSalvo.
Mid-Ohio Daytona Sportbike Results:
1. Dane Westby (Suzuki)
2. Martin Cardenas (Suzuki)
3. Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha)
4. Tommy Hayden (Yamaha)
5. Jake Zemke (Ducati)
6. JD Beach (Yamaha)
7. Fernando Amantini (Kawasaki)
8. Cory West (Suzuki)
9. Derek Wagnon (Ducati)
10. Michael Beck (Yamaha)
