Newly crowned MOPAR Canadian National Superbike Champion Jodi Christie had a strong outing at the final round of the 2014 AMA Pro American National road racing Championship, the Kawasaki Devil’s Showdown, at New Jersey Motorsport Park. Aboard his regular Accelerated Technologies built and sponsored Honda CBR1000RR, Christie battled with a large pack of top Americans to wind up an aggressive sixth at the end of the 23 lap Feature.
Bouncing back from a fall in Saturday’s wet penultimate SBK National race while running third, Christie started sixth but gave up several positions in the early going. As his race progressed, Christie moved up to the front of a busy mob of riders fighting for that sixth spot, eventually out-dueling the Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 of Chris Clarke to score sixth on the final lap.
“It was a bit of a struggle out there,” said a jubilant Christie as he was congratulated by several top AMA teams. “I had new gloves, and I developed a blister on my right hand, and I lost my right knee slider early in the race.”
“When Chris Ulrich got by me on his Honda, I knew I had to pass him back as soon as possible. Our set-up wasn’t there, we didn’t get much dry practice, and I was skating around on the corner entry. But I really wanted a finish, I wanted to redeem myself.”
British Columbia’s Marcel Irnie had a slow start on his BMW S1000RR, but also moved through the pack to out-dice his rivals, netting a good 13th. Irnie was in his third career American Superbike event, while Christie’s debut in the Feature class was actually yesterday!
Winner on the day was Josh Hayes, who made up for the frustration of yesterday’s Superbike event to walk away with the final race of this era of Superbike competition. Hayes won on the road Saturday but was penalized for passing under a caution flag, ending up second behind the Suzuki of Roger Lee Hayden. Even so, he won the AMA’s top Championship for the fourth time in his career.
Hayes was challenged early by his Monster Energy-Graves Yamaha YZF-R1 team-mate Cameron Beaubier. However Beaubier fell mid-race when he lost the front end, and Hayes was clear for the win.
“It was a really cool race, but I was struggling near the end, trying hard to maintain my pace, and I thought I was losing ground,” explained Hayes post-race, saying that he figured that he had abused his Dunlop slick in the early going. “I ran off track in turn one, I wasn’t paying enough attention, and Martin was coming.”
“I decided I wanted to go down swinging, and I kept charging. I was gutted for Cameron when he slipped off, I wanted a Yamaha one-two, and then I struggled to maintain my pace and get it home for my team.”
After running off track early, Hayden got into a wild battle for second with his Yoshimura Suzuki team-mate Martin Cardenas. Hayden, riding with an injured shoulder, made a pass work on the last lap to take second, Cardenas third.
Spanish ace Bernat Martinez ran with the leaders early on his Yamaha, then struggled to hold onto fourth on the last lap, challenged by the Suzuki of David Anthony. Martinez got the spot, ending a strong debut season in the U.S. Top privateer Anthony was fifth.
Next up was Christie, making some bold moves late in the running to grab sixth followed by Clarke, the Buell twin of hard charging, long time pack leader of Larry Pegram, Chris Ulrich on a Honda and Taylor Knapp’s Suzuki in tenth.
Jake Gagne confirmed his title in Daytona Sportbike, clearing off for the win aboard his Red Bull Yamaha. Garrett Gerloff was 2.5 seconds back for second, out-duelling Dane Westby, both on Yamahas.
British Team WD-40 rider Ben Young of Thornbury, ON, returned from the U.K. to work his way up to a very respectable 13th overall in Daytona Sportbike.
In the Vance and Hines Harley-Davidson Racing Series class for XR1200 machines, Kyle Wyman won the race from outgoing Champ Steve Rapp and Tyler O’Hara, but Danny Eslick limped through the 12 lap race to earn sixth, good enough to clinch the crown. Eslick crashed in the Sunday morning warm-up, and his crew struggled to get the twin repaired in time for the final.
B.C.-based, American series regular Darren James diced with Eslick and Davie Estok, netting eight in what is expected to be his final race in the USA. James has announced his retirement, but is considering an offer to compete “on the roads” in Ireland next spring.
In the Rising Star Supersport class, Dustin Dominguez took the win for Houston Superbikes with a Yamaha YZF-R6, out dicing new Champ Hayden Gillim on his TOBC Racing Suzuki GX-R600.
After a lousy day in slippery conditions Saturday, Mitch Card had a good ride in Supersport, the Canuk rookie Pro working all the way through from the back of the grid to net 16th on his Trackside Cuts Honda CB600RR. Starting right at the back after a troubled debut in the U.S., an enthusiastic Stacey Nesbitt worked her way up to 36th in the 50 plus bike field with the OCT Racing/FTR Honda CBR600RR.
“I finished! It was good,” started Nesbitt after her U.S. debut. “I was confused by the blue flags, the process is different here, you have to get out of the way. I missed a shift into turn one, lost a little time, but I learned a lot and it was a very positive experience.”
