By Tony Solorzano
Jake Zemcke rockets to a second place finish in Fontana
(Fontana) – Larry Pegram, Martin Cardenas and Joey Pascarella earned victories Saturday at the Auto Club Speedway as part of the second round of the 2010 AMA Pro Road Racing season during the Suzuki Superbike Challenge.
Activity at the track was delayed for over five hours after a morning high-wind advisory forced the series officials to put the track under red flag conditions. Despite winds gusting as much as 50 miles an hour, the winds died down enough around 2:00 pm allowing all three races to get underway, although the wind did play a factor in all three main events.
In the American Superbike race, Pegram, who started on the front row, spent the majority of the race behind the Michael Jordan Suzuki Racing team of pole sitter Aaron Yates and Jake Zemke, who opened the season by sweeping the two races at Daytona, as well as Josh Hayes, who all led at one point or another in the first 19 laps.
However, during lap 19, Pegram made a risky outside move on Hayes and Zemke, who were first and second at the time, and used his momentum to sling shot his Ducato 1098R into the lead going into the interior portion of the 2.3 mile circuit. While Pegram made his move, Yates, who led two of the first 10 laps, slipped into third past Hayes and managed to hold off Hayes’ Yamaha YZF-R1.
In the 21-lap Daytona SportBike race, Eslick, who not only swept last year’s races, but also held the pole for the race, held off early challenges from Cory West before Dane Westby managed to grab the lead on lap 7. However, Westby nearly crashed during lap 8, getting airborne off his bike but managed to hold on and not lose control, however, the momentary hiccup allowed Eslick to regain the lead.
Cardenas, who started on the second row, had been making his way up towards the front and on Westby’s mishap, jumped into second behind Eslick and then took over the lead as the two crossed the start-finish line on lap 12. Cardenas then held onto the lead for the remaining nine laps while Eslick had to hold off a rapidly charging Westby for second place.
The 17-lap SuperSport race hit a snag as the race got off as Eslick’s Robbie Morris Racing teammate, Elena Myers, crashed right at the start of the race, totaling her Suzuki GSX-1000 and forcing the race to be restarted. Although she was taken to the infield care center, her team expected her to be back in the second race on Sunday.
On the restart, Pascarella pulled away from the field, leaving his closest competitors, Huntley Nash and Scott Gilbert more than 13 seconds behind him. Nash and Gilbert, however, made a race of it, battling each other for second position. But in the end, it was Gilbert who took control of second place and held off Nash for second.
Racing continues Sunday afternoon for the second set of races to conclude the Suzuki Superbike Challenge. Racing is scheduled to begin at 1 pm.
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