Photography by Larry Lawrence
Cameron Beaubier scored yet another come-from-behind victory Sunday in Daytona SportBike action at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Beaubier ran fourth in the early going of the shortened 15-lap, but again methodically made his way to the front to take the lead on lap six.
Beaubier held it to the end, but he didn’t walk away from the field as he has so many times. It was JD Beach coming up and turning the fastest DSB lap of the weekend with two laps to go in an all-out effort to catch Beaubier. He came up 0.655 seconds short at the flag, but Beach can take solace in the fact that he kept Beaubier honest, turned the best lap and also earned his career-best finish in Daytona SportBike.
“At the beginning I was a little timid,” Beaubier said of the race. “It turned into a good race though. JD was on my tail the whole way. I could hear his motor behind me. It feels great to sweep the races here.”
Beach’s RoadRace Factory Yamaha teammate Jake Gagne was third, about two second back from the lead battle.
Garrett Gerloff and James Rispoli rounded out the top five. It marked the first top-five result for Rispoli, the former SuperSport winner, in DSB. All five were in contention for the lead in the first half of the race when a five-rider breakaway formed.
The win was the sixth in seven races for Beaubier and extended his already large points lead. It’s now up to 45 points (215-170) over Gagne. Beach is third with 138 points.
The race was delayed for about an hour after a rider spread oil from turn 10 to turn 13 in the fan lap.
Daytona SportBike results from Mid-Ohio – Sunday, July 14, 2013
1 6 Cameron Beaubier Roseville, CA Yamaha YZF-R6 15 Laps
2 95 JD Beach Philpot, KY Yamaha YZF-R6 +00.655
3 32 Jake Gagne San Diego, CA Yamaha YZF-R6 +02.775
4 8 Garrett Gerloff Spring, TX Yamaha YZF-R6 +04.337
5 43 James Rispoli Londonderry, NH Suzuki GSX-R600 +04.537
6 85 Jake Lewis Princeton, KY Yamaha YZF-R6 +14.405
7 5 Dane Westby Tulsa, OK Honda CBR600RR +18.105
8 40 Jason DiSalvo Batavia, NY Triumph Daytona 675 +19.459
9 50 Bobby Fong Stockton, CA Triumph Daytona 675 +19.587
10 3 Benny Solis North Hollywood, CA Honda CBR600RR +33.872
