two. After his third-place finish
in rce one, Danny Eslick's 15th-
place finish in race two likely cost
him any chance he had at win-
ning a third Daytona SportBike
title. Eslick left Mid-Ohio in third
- 32 points behind Gagne.
With Saturday rain hampering
the two-day weekend, everything
was compressed into a hectic
single-day. That made for a lot
While Gagne led most of the
way, what he later found out was
that Lewis was laying back, con-
tent to study his lines and find how
if there were any places on the
track where he might make a last-
lap move. He found that Gagne
had few, if any, weaknesses on
the circuit. Lewis would have to
use the time-tested method of
passing at Mid-Ohio - the classic
draft off the long back stretch.
On the final lap that's just what
he did, putting his MotoSport.
com/Meen Yamaha into the
lead. Gagne attacked back on
his RoadRace Factory/Red Bull
Yamaha, but Lewis is long and
has wide elbows. He protected
the only other passing lanes well
and held off Gagne by .125 of a
second at the checkered flag.
"I was just playing my strategy
for the end of the race," Lewis
explained. "I made a pretty good
pass on the brakes down there
and then pretty much blocked
the rest of the track, because
VOL. 51 ISSUE 29 JULY 22, 2014 P87
(Left) Jason DiSalvo (40) won his
first Daytona SportBike race in two
years when he held off Jake Gagne
(32) to win the second of two races
at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
(Above) Jake Lewis was able to hold
off Gagne to win the first race, giving
him two wins in a row.
of intensity in Sunday's pair of
races, which were held just three
hours apart.
Series Leaders Battle
to the Last Lap
Race one saw fast starting JD
Beach take the early lead on his
Yamaha Extended Service/Mon-
ster Energy Yamaha R6. Beach
led a six-rider breakaway with
Lewis, Gagne, Eslick, Garrett
Gerloff and Dane Westby. Lewis
surged and took the lead for
three laps before Gagne came
to the front. As the quick 14-lap
race entered the latter stages it
was the two championship lead-
ers getting away to make it a two-
rider battle for the win.
