Twins Cup Daytona Race 2 – Yamaha BLU CRU Estenson Racing’s Sam Drane Drafts To A Photo Finish Over M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Matthew Chapin And Robem Engineering Aprilia’s Hank Vossberg

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.

TAB Performance’s Kyle Ohnsorg was ninth aboard his Suzuki. Hoban Brothers Racing/Darkhorse Motor Co. Suzuki GSX-8R rider Seth Dahmer, who was involved in the incident that brought out the red flag at the beginning of the race, was able to re-mount and make it back for the restart to finish tenth.

Below is a quote from race winner, Yamaha BLU CRU Estenson’s Sam Drane:

“Yeah, the Estenson bike is definitely a rocket ship, and I felt it here. I had some work to do on the infield and finally figured that out by the end of the weekend and had some good pace in that last race and I’m looking forward to Atlanta.”

Mission Super Hooligan National Championship – Saddlemen Race Development Harley-Davidson Team Sweeps The Podium At Daytona Internation Speedway

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 brought 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.

Rounding out the Top 10 for Race 2 were the COATZYMOTO-LATIN WE Yamaha XSR900 of Robertino Pietri and Trackhouse/Hawk Mazzotta Moto Camp/BLU CRU Racing’s Hawk Mazzotta on a Yamaha MT-09 SP.

The competition in the class throughout the first two races has been phenomenal with more lead changes than one can track, and it carries the requirement for a high-resolution camera at the finish line to determine the winner.

The following quote is from Race 2 winner Jake Lewis:

“Today’s race was unbelievable, and this is the best Daytona round I’ve had on the hooligan, you know, to go 3-1, but especially today, it’s always better to win the second race, to leave the weekend on a high confidence wise, but the hooligan racing, you never know, it’s so unpredictable, so crazy and wild, and you just got to play your cards right and play the draft right. The Saddlemen race team, you know, locking out the podium both days, it shows how hard they’ve worked and with the rule changes of hooligan too, I mean all nine of us or however many it was in the pack today, it just shows how competitive it’s going to be this year.”

Mission King Of The Baggers – Herfoss Holds Off The Field For First Daytona Win

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. 

Saddlemen Race Development teammates Jake Lewis and Cory West were seventh and eighth, with Hayden Gillim’s J&P Cycles/Motul/Vance & Hines Factory Indian Challenger in ninth. Gillim, who won Race 1 by over eight seconds, was leading by over two seconds again. The Kentuckian would suffer a mechanical “gremlin” with two laps to go. Exiting the first part of the international horseshoe, Gillim threw his hand up and fell off the pace.  There were no visible signs of damage to the motorcycle and, after a few turns, he was back up to speed, but he had dropped all the way to ninth, which is where he finished.

Rounding out the field in 10th was M3/Tobacco Road Harley-Davidson’s Max Flinders on his Harley-Davidson Road Glide. The next Mission King Of The Baggers round takes place at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta on April 17-19. 

The following quote is from Mission King Of The Baggers Winner Troy Herfoss:

It’s a big honor to get a race win at Daytona. It’s definitely a special feeling crossing that stripe, in that stadium sort of atmosphere. Big, big props to Hayden, like, he was just riding incredible today and this weekend, and I feel heartbroken for him to go out like that, cause he had broken us, he had the race sewn up. But, it’s a credit to the Vance & Hines racing team, like, the Indian Challenger is just working better than I’ve ever seen, I can’t believe the amount of power it’s got. The way I was coming down, I got off that banking, it was almost scaring me sometimes. So yeah, I’m looking forward to heading into COTA for a test first and then over to Road Atlanta and get onto a sort of more traditional track and see if I can make a push at Hayden, speed wise.

Full Results for each class are below:

Twins Cup Race 2

Mission Super Hooligan National Championship Race 2

Mission King Of The Baggers Race 2