Beaubier Hot in Homestead

Henny Ray Abrams | September 21, 2012

HOMESTEAD, FL, SEPT 21 – Y.E.S. Graves Yamaha’s Cameron Beaubier blew away the field in Daytona Sportbike qualifying with a lap that was fastest by more than a second on a day of changing weather at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Beaubier came to Florida having won Saturday’s race in New Jersey two weeks ago, then crashing on teammate Tommy Hayden’s fallen bike in race two. Beaubier was banged up, but not seriously injured. Beaubier said he was “good to go now, ready to race.”

Prior to Sunday’s crash in New Jersey he’d won three races in a row and five out of six. Even so, he’s a distant third to Geico Suzuki’s Martin Cardenas in the championship standings having missed three races early in the season. With nothing to lose, Beaubier can concentrate on winning, while Cardenas can keep an eye on his championship lead. If Cardenas can keep M4 Suzuki’s Dane Westby-second in the championship-behind him in both races this weekend, he’ll wrap up his second Daytona Sportbike crown.

Cardenas didn’t have a problem with that today. His lap of 1:25.794 mins. was 1.149 secs. slower than Beaubier’s best, but he was a solid second to Westby’s sixth. In between came Jake Gagne (Road Race Factory/Red Bull Yamaha), Latus Motors Racing’s Jason DiSalvo (Triumph), and Meen Motorsports Racing’s Bobby Fong (Yamaha).

Daytona Sportbike Qualifying:
1. Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha) 1:24.645
2. Martin Cardenas (Suzuki) 1:25.794
3. Jake Gagne (Yamaha) 1:25.901
4. Jason DiSalvo (Triumph) 1:25.978
5. Bobby Fong (Yamaha) 1:26.148
6. Dane Westby (Suzuki) 1:26.156
7. Tommy Aquino (Yamaha) 1:26.310
8. Jake Zemke (Ducati) 1:26.417
9. JD Beach (Yamaha) 1:26.592
10. Joey Pascarella (Suzuki) 1:26.928