DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Yamaha BLU CRU Estenson Racing’s Sam Drane took the win in a photo finish during an abbreviated Twins Cup Race 2 at Daytona. The race was halted on lap one after a crash in the infield brought out a red flag making it a six-lap sprint to the finish.
After the restart, the 15-year-old Australian finished atop a four-way drafting battle to the finish line in the tri-oval. The top four crossed the finish line close enough to cover them all with a blanket. Just 0.01 of a second separated Drane from M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Matthew Chapin in second.
Robem Engineering Aprilia’s Hank Vossberg finished third (0.058 of a second behind Drane), and another M4 ECSTAR Suzuki GSX-8R ridden by Bodie Paige was a mere 0.376 of a second behind race winner Drane.
M4 ECSTAR Suzuki rider Michel Agazzi started strong behind his teammate Bodie Paige in second and hung with the lead group until lap three when the frontrunners built a gap of 1.3 seconds, separating the lead group from the pack for the rest of the race. Agazzi would finish fifth in his wild-card appearance, which was awarded to him for winning the GSX-8R Cup in Europe.
Karns/TST Industries Suzuki rider Kevin Olmedo finished sixth followed by the Weyh Racing Aprilia tandem of Eli Block and Andrew Weyh, who finished seventh and eighth, respectively.
The Saddlemen Race Development Harley-Davidson team was part of another photo finish today in their sweep of the podium at Daytona, and all three riders were separated by just 0.06 of a second at the line. The running order was an exact inversion of the Race 1 finishing order with Jake Lewis in first, Cory West repeating his second-place finish, and James Rispoli dropping back to the third step of the podium.
The lead group developed into a pack of five riders towards the end of the race and came across the line just 0.296 of a second apart as a squad. Andy DiBrino brought his BPR Racing Yamaha across the line in fourth just one-tenth of a second behind the Saddlemen Race Development team. DiBrino looked solid in Race 2 and stayed attached to the lead group for the entire race, even leading a lap early on. Behind him, Rodio Racing’s Gus Rodio capped off the lead group. Rodio brough his Ducati Streetfighter V2 across the line in fifth.
Slightly behind the lead group of five was Travis Wyman in sixth on his Saddlemen Race Development Harley-Davidson FXR. Wyman was followed by BPR Racing Yamaha’s Bryce Kornbau on a Yamaha MT-09 SP in seventh and TopPro Motorsports/Edge Racing’s Jason Waters on a Ducati Streetfighter V2 in eighth.
J&P Cycles/Motul/Vance & Hines Factory Indian rider Troy Herfoss took the win at Daytona aboard his Indian Challenger in Race 2. The Australian Superbike Champion held a slight lead over teammate Rocco Landers, to take his first victory at the “World Center of Racing.” Landers, who suffered a mechanical in Race 1, bounced back for his first podium of the season and made it a J&P Cycles/Motul/Vance & Hines Factory Indian one-two punch.
Landers was part of a three-rider group to cross the line just 1/10th of a second apart with the Harley-Davidson x Dynojet Factory Racing Road Glides of Kyle Wyman and Bradley Smith in third and fourth, respectively.
The lead group was in a race of their own as the remainder of the field was, at minimum, 14 seconds behind. Big Diehl x Harley-Davidson Factory Racing ‘s James Rispoli finished in fifth followed by SDI Racing’s Tyler O’Hara on an Indian Challenger in sixth.
