Cycle News

P46 the racing line. The front wheel of Gerloff's Yamaha was torn off in the crash and he was lying off to the side in the grass not moving. Lewis was up and okay, but Ger- loff received medical attention at the scene. The initial diagno- sis was that he had sustained a concussion. He was taken to St. Agnes Hospital in nearby Fond du Lac for a CAT scan, and the results were negative so Gerloff was permitted to travel home on Monday. What was shaping up to be a solid weekend and an almost certain close second in the standings for Gerloff, ended up in injury, no points on Sunday and a drop to fourth in the stand- ings - 34 points behind Gagne. Lewis' crew did a remark- able job hastily getting his bike patched back, allowing him to re- enter the race to finish 14th and salvage a few points. "Huge thanks to my team and everyone who helped get my bike back together," Lewis said. "They did a ton of work and luck- ily I got out there and got a few points. Tough weekend but I'm walking away okay and looking forward to the next one." Gagne Won Saturday's Race Twice Gagne had every reason to be upset during Saturday's Daytona SportBike final. He'd worked his butt off to build over a seven-sec- ond lead when a crash by Joe Roberts in turn five brought out the red flag. The race was then turned into a three-lap dash. Credit Gagne, though, he had the perfect attitude approaching the restart. He said he was con- fident he could get in front again. "I was a little bummed with the red flag, obviously," said Gagne, who won at Road America last AMA PRO GOPRO DAYTONA SPORTBIKE SERIES DAYTONA SPORTBIKE ROUNDS 2-3/MAY 31-JUNE 1, 2014 ROAD AMERICA/ELKHART LAKE, WISCONSIN WHAT'S EATING JOE? Joe Roberts was the toast of the town last year in AMA Pro Road Racing. The 16-year-old Californian swept into the U.S. series part-time while racing Red Bull Rookies at the GPs and won all five AMA Super- Sport races he contested. The big discussion was whether Roberts would stay in the U.S. or begin racing in Moto2 or Moto3. Many felt Roberts would immediately be competitive in Daytona SportBike when he signed with the M4 Honda squad, but short of Josh Herrin, Roberts may be having one of the worst starts to a season ever. He's racked up numerous crashes so far this season. He crashed three times at Road America, including when his weekend ended early with a crash out of Saturday's Daytona SportBike race in turn five on the 10th lap while running 13th. Roberts ended up with a broken bone in his left hand so he was unable to race Sunday. Roberts seems shell-shocked at this point and is grasping for answers. "The whole race I was having problems downshifting," Roberts said. "It wouldn't engage; I would have to grab like six or seven downshifts. I went into turn five and the thing just wouldn't go in [to gear]. I was running in fourth gear and went in too fast and just ran wide and got to the really bumpy stuff and it just flicked me off. "It's a bummer. I broke my hand, the [fourth] metacarpal. It's not too big of an injury. It should take maybe two weeks to heal. I broke it last year at Sil- verstone when I was in the [Red Bull] Rookies and I was riding within two weeks. I wanted to try to ride today [Sunday], but with a broken hand I don't think they would let me." This was Roberts' first time at Road America, a track not easy to learn. He's hoping for better results at some of the tracks he's raced at before on the schedule, such as Barber, where he made his brilliant AMA debut last year. Another possible issue is the Honda that Roberts is racing. He admits it's a tad behind the Yamahas in terms of power. After dyno data revealed the Hondas considerably down on horsepower, AMA Pro Racing allowed the M4 team to run high-compression pistons to make up the dif- ference, but team owner John Ulrich says it turns out the spec gas used in AMA Pro Racing doesn't work that well with the high-compression pistons. So the team contin- ues to seek answers for the bikes horsepower issues, and Roberts hopes to get healthy and return to form. Joe Roberts has had a tough start to his 2014 season.

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