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Daytona Superbike Results
Jake Zemke wins in his Suzuki debut
DAYTONA BEACH, FL, MAR. 4 - National
Guard Suzuki's Jake Zemke ended an almost four-year winless drought in
AMA Superbike racing today at Daytona International Speedway, the
Californian starting his first season in the Michael Jordan
Motorsports fold with a narrow victory in an ultra-competitive
American Superbike final.
With the top five riders finishing
within .307 of a second of each other, the post-Mat Mladin era in AMA
Superbike got started with the opening round of the 2010 series
turning into a thriller - even with three of the expected front
runners hitting trouble early in the race.
Still, the five who were there in the
beginning were there at the end with Zemke beating Rockstar/Makita
Suzuki's Tommy Hayden by just .238 of a second. Then came Foremost
Insurance Ducati's Larry Pegram .259 of a second behind Zemke with
Michael Jordan Motorsports' Aaron Yates, the pole sitter, and Rockstar/Makita
Suzuki's Blake Young crossing the line in quick succession. All five
took turns at the front of the pack, and when they crossed the line
for the final time they was just .307 of a second from Zemke in first
to Young in fifth.
Zemke actually led into the chicane
on the final lap and got a good enough drive out of it to hold off the
pack of drafters behind him. The win was Zemke's first since he won on
a factory Honda CBR1000RR at Miller Motorsports Park in June of 2006
and it was the fourth AMA
Superbike victory of his career.
The Suzuki is brand new to me and I
didn't really know what feel I was looking for and I still don't; I'm
still looking for it," Zemke said. "In the beginning I just
wanted to get out there and not let the leaders get away. I've been to
Daytona before and you can not let the lead group get away. The
number-one job for me was ‘Okay, the bike doesn't feel too bad. I
just want to hang with this lead pack and make sure I don't get
separated from them.' I was there for awhile and about halfway I
thought, ‘I think I can get to the front of this thing.' The bike
was working good and it was really fast and that always helps. The
guys have done their homework over the off-season and they build a
great motorcycle and the team came together and gave me a bike I could
ride in the race. Luckily, it worked out."
Three of the other stars of the
series ran into problems early on. M4 Monster Suzuki's John Hopkins
pulled his GSX-R1000 behind pit wall on the opening lap and both
Graves Motorsports Yamaha's Josh Hayes and Pat Clark Motorsports' Ben
Bostrom ran into issues early on. Those two were able to persevere,
however, with Hayes finishing 13th with Bostrom 18th.
That left the others to fill the void
with M4 Monster Suzuki's Chris Ulrich having his best-ever AMA
Superbike effort to finish sixth, the Californian holding off
Ridersdiscount.com's Taylor Knapp by .1 of a second at the finish
line. Those two were some 27 seconds behind the leading quintet.
Buell-mounted Shawn Higbee ended up
eight with Shane Narbone ninth and Barrett Long 10th.
Superbike Race One
1. Jake Zemke (Suzuki)
2. Tommy Hayden (Suzuki)
3. Larry Pegram (Ducati)
4. Aaron Yates (Suzuki)
5. Blake Young (Suzuki)
6. Chris Ulrich (Suzuki)
7. Taylor Knapp (Suzuki)
8. Shawn Higbee (Buell)
9. Shane Narbone (Suzuki)
10. Barrett Long (Suzuki)
...from Cycle News
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