Graves Motorsports racer Josh Herrin came within a half second of posting another Yamaha win in the newly formed AMA Daytona SportBike class at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Ga. on Sunday, April 5. The second-place podium finish represented another second place spot on the podium for the 18-year-old Yamaha racer in the new class, which pits four-cylinder middleweight sportbikes like the R6 against large-displacement V-twins. Just 16 and in his first year of pro racing, Graves teammate Tommy Aquino was also fast, running as high as third in Sunday’s race before crashing – fortunately without injury – in the closing laps. Herrin’s podium finish positions him solidly third in the standings behind race winner Danny Eslick and Jamie Hacking, while Aquino currently lies in 12th.
Sportbike... Sunday’s near win for Herrin came in the second race of a doubleheader weekend for the Daytona SportBikes. After Saturday’s Race 1, in which Herrin finished sixth and Aquino finished eighth, both riders were perfectly attuned to the Road Atlanta circuit – and to their R6s. The young stars charged hard at the drop of the green flag, running with the front-runners throughout the 20-lap event. The race win literally came down to a last-lap shootout between Herrin and Eslick, the latter aboard a bike with nearly twice the engine displacement as the Yamaha. With the edge in corner speed and braking, Herrin took it to the limit, even touching fairings with Eslick in a terrific last-lap surge. At the checkered flag the blue-and-white R6 was just 0.483 sec. behind – the closest to a win for Herrin since finishing second to Yamaha’s Ben Bostrom in the Daytona 200.
“The R6 was working great!” Herrin grinned later. “The Graves Yamaha crew has been working hard all weekend and I couldn't ask for anything better." Yamaha road racing team manager Tom Halverson added, “When you’re racing against a bike with almost double the engine capacity it’s really difficult, but team owner Chuck Graves is seeing some good progress, both with the R6 and with a couple of younger riders. Josh Herrin has to step into the role as the lead rider, and it’s pretty heavy for someone to do that without a role model. It is a lot of pressure for a kid that age, but he is showing he has the maturity and the talent to take on the task. And he is right there in the championship.”
Daytona SportBike
April 5, 2009, Road Atlanta
Race 2 Results
1. Danny Eslick (Buell 1125R)
2. Josh Herrin (Yam YZF-R6), -0.483s
3. Chris Peris (Hon CBR600RR), -5.700s
4. Taylor Knapp (Buell 1125R), -5.765s
5. Jamie Hacking (Kaw ZX-6R), -6.274s
6. Chaz Davies (Apr RSV1000R), -12.978s
7. Jason DiSalvo (Suz GSX-R600), -14.996s
8. Michael Barnes (Buell 1125R), -28.958s
9. Steve Rapp (Yam YZF-R6), -29.251s
10. Michael Beck (Yam YZF-R6), -29.429s
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