AMA PRO GOPRO DAYTONA SPORTBIKE SERIES
ROUNDS 2-3/MAY 31-JUNE 1, 2014
ROAD AMERICA/ELKHART LAKE, WISCONSIN
P44
DAYTONA SPORTBIKE
BY LARRY LAWRENCE
PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRIAN J. NELSON
T
his is what everyone
thought would happen.
Jake Gagne was the sec-
ond best rider in Daytona Sport-
Bike last season and when
Cameron Beaubier graduated to
Superbike, it was thought Gagne
would assume his rightful place
atop the class. The only problem
was Danny Elslick and Triumph
had a standout Daytona 200 and
even though Gagne finished sec-
ond in Florida, because of Day-
tona's qualifying bonus points,
or lack thereof in Gagne's case
since he only qualified sixth for
the 200, coming into Road Amer-
ica he found himself fourth in the
series standings and 20 points
behind Eslick.
Two things happened that
put Gagne back in what many
consider his rightful place at
the head of the class. First and
foremost, Gagne had a masterful
weekend, winning both races on
his RoadRace Factory/Red Bull
Yamaha R6 (Saturday's race he
had to win twice, but more on
that shortly) and putting an ex-
clamation point on the race meet
with a runaway win on Sunday.
Secondly, Eslick suffered
through a trying weekend to say
the least. His Riders Discount
Racing Triumph Daytona 675R
was suffering gremlins all week-
end. In practice and qualifying
the bike would alternately rev un-
controllably, and at other times it
would cutout at full throttle. Then
in Saturday's race he felt the en-
Jake Gagne (32) had
a perfect weekend at
Road America, the Red
Bull-backed Yamaha
rider winning both Day-
tona SportBike races in
varying conditions.
WISCONSIN
SPRINGBOARD
JAKE GAGNE'S
SWEEP LEAPFROGS
HIM TO SERIES LEAD
