Cardenas Leads Daytona Sportbike at NJMP
Henny Ray Abrams | September 7, 2012
MILLVILLE, NJ, SEPT 7 – Geico Suzuki’s Martin Cardenas ended the summer break with the provisional pole in the Daytona Sportbike class at New Jersey Motorsports Park.
Cardenas began the break by finishing second to Y.E.S. Graves Yamaha’s Cameron Beaubier in the DSB race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. The Colombian had started the season hot, winning six of the first eight races. But since Beaubier returned to full health and competitiveness-he broke his knee in a scooter incident following Daytona-at Barber Motorsports Park, he’s won four of the past five races. Still, it’s unlikely Beaubier can overcome the 64 point lead, 314 to 250, that Cardenas brought to New Jersey.
Provisional DSB qualifying was tight at the top today. Cardenas finished at 1:23.522 mins, with Beaubier’s teammate, Tommy Hayden, second at a gap of .027 sec., while Beaubier himself was only .022 behind Hayden. The fourth fastest rider, Latus Motors Racing’s Jason DiSalvo (Triumph), was .033 off Beaubier’s pace.
Daytona Sportbike Qualifying:
1. Martin Cardenas (Suzuki) 1:23.522
2. Tommy Hayden (Yamaha) 1:23.549
3. Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha) 1:23.571
4. Jason DiSalvo (Triumph) 1:23.604
5. Bobby Fong (Yamaha) 1:24.020
6. Aaron Gobert (Yamaha) 1:24.529
7. Tommy Aquino (Yamaha) 1:24.720
8. Cory West (Suzuki) 1:25.081
9. JD Beach (Yamaha) 1:25.272
10. Jake Zemke (Ducati) 1:25.347
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.
