12-Second DSB Victory for Jake Gagne

Larry Lawrence | June 1, 2014

Photography by Larry Lawrence

Jake Gagne was picture perfect Sunday en route to a 12.209-second victory to complete the sweep of the Road America Daytona Sportbike Doubleheader. Gagne built a big lead on his RoadRace Factory/ Red Bull Yamaha and then backed it off late when drizzle hit the track. Y.E.S. Yamaha’s J.D. Beach won out in a long battle with Yamalube Yamaha’s Dane Westby. Their battle was hampered by the light rain on the final lap.

Unfortunately the race was marred by a crash that took out Garrett Gerloff.

Gerloff came from around the outside to lead the pack into turn one. Riders went three abreast in turn five and Gagne emerged the leader. As the pack came through turn 13 Gerloff’s bike had a puff of smoke and suddenly he and Jake Lewis went down bringing out the red. Gerloff immediately got attention from emergency medical staff. The front wheel of his Yamaha was torn off in the crash. He was unable to restart.

Jake Lewis was right behind when Gerloff’s bike blew. “It was just a big smoke cloud,” Lewis said. “I tried to stay off the line of oil, but my rear tire spun up and I high sided, fortunately I came out OK.”

On the restart it was all Gagne. He never put a wheel wrong, except on the cool down where he hit wet grass while celebrating and fell.

“I got off to another good start and tried to put my head down,” Gagne said. “I kind of inched away, but on those last couple of laps it started sprinkling a little bit so I backed it down.”

With the win Gagne pushed his points lead to 22 points over Danny Eslick, who finished fourth.

AMA Daytona SportBike Race 2 Results from Road America – June 1, 2014
1 Jake Gagne (Yam)
2 JD Beach (Yam) +12.209
3 Dane Westby (Yam)
4 Danny Eslick (Tri)
5 Tomas Puerta (Yam)
6 Benny Solis (Yam)
7 Steve Rapp (Tri)
8 Kyle Wyman (Yam)
9 Jake Zemke (Hon)
10 Blake Young (Yam)