Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/381430
DAYTONA SPORTBIKE AMA GO PRO DAYTONA SPORTBIKE SERIES FINAL ROUND/SEPTEMBER 13-14, 2014 NEW JERSEY MOTORSPORTS PARK/MILLVILLE, NEW JERSEY P70 always say rain is a great equal- izer. The conditions were pretty treacherous at times. At the be- ginning of the race, the track was fairly wet, then it started to dry through the middle and ev- erybody's times started coming down and everybody was going faster and faster. Then right there at the end in the last four or five laps, it just started down pouring and the track got really slippery. Even in a straight line, straight up and down, you could get on the gas and the tires would just spin. They weren't getting any traction at all. So it was a bit of being very patient trying to get around those last four or five laps to the finish." Garrett Gerloff finished a lonely fourth on the Yamaha Ex- tended Service/Monster Energy entry, followed by Danny Eslick rounding out the top five on the Riders Discount Racing Triumph. Only nine riders were running at the end. With the championship decid- ed Gagne said he was going to let it all hang out in Sunday's sun- drenched race and he did just that. Gagne took control early and gradually pulled away to a healthy BRIDESMAID NO MORE Hayden Gillim was just plain tired of being runner-up. The 19-year-old Kentuckian seemed stuck there, hav- ing finished second in the Supersport Championship for three years. Add to that a runner-up finish in the 2008 U.S. Red Bull Rookies Cup and you could see why Gillim was more than ready to take that one last step up the podium. He finally accomplished the goal of winning the 2014 AMA Pro Supersport Championship in an intense battle with Dustin Dominguez that came down to the final race. Gillim led the first lap on his TOBC Racing Suzuki ahead of a massive 48-rider field under an on and off mist in Saturday's race one, but Mark Miller, Jr. made the draft pass on the front straight to start lap two. With Miller not a threat in the championship, Gillim let him go without much of a fight. The two got away from the rest of the large field early. But six laps in and Gillim closed and then took back the lead from Miller. The reason for the sudden surge? Se- ries rival Dominguez was on the charge in third and chasing down the leaders. A couple of laps later Dominguez made his way around Miller and by the time he broke through he was five seconds behind Gillim. A red flag came out when multiple riders fell in separate incidents on lap 10 (including three-time race winner Corey Alexander) caused by heavier rain. That ended the race prematurely and Gillim pushed his series lead over Dominguez from two to seven. He'd still have to turn in a solid ride Sunday to win the championship, but some of the pressure was off. Houston Superbikes' Dustin Dominguez did what he needed to do and won a tight race on Sunday, but he wasn't able to goad Gillim into a mistake – something he tried to do early in the race. "This is probably the most depress- ing win I've ever had, but it's a win and that's good," said Dominguez. "Hayden got a good start and I chased him down and tried to pressure him. I thought if we went at it, someone