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AMA Pro Superbike
AMA DSB: Can Anyone Beat The Maestro?
Martin Cardenas has looked unstoppable in his return to SportBike competition. What can his opposition do to slow his tear through the class?
GEICO Suzuki's Martin Cardenas (Photo: Evan Williams)
The short history of AMA Pro Daytona SportBike racing has been defined by close racing but GEICO Suzuki’s Martin Cardenas is running away with this year's championship. He’s got a huge points lead (47) and has won six of eight races so far. In one of the two races he did not win, he crashed out of second while pushing to close a gap on first and in the other, he finished a close fourth in a Daytona draft-fest.
Cardenas is the all-time winningest Daytona SportBike racer and his record is up there with the AMA Pro greats in the previous middleweight class (the old 600 Supersport) as well, where names like Miguel Duhamel and Jamie Hacking come to mind. Cardenas already had a good learning year in AMA Pro Superbike, in which he won a race. The Colombian could just as easily still be there or maybe even in World Superbike. He’s that good.
Cardenas has quickly built a legend due to his brilliant late-race tactics. His last two laps are usually blazers. When you know he’s coming, you’re more likely to make mistakes, too.
Cardenas’ two three race win streaks aren’t a result of a Superbike-style pace thing where he’s a second a lap faster than everyone else and can gap the field when he gets clear. No, it’s him pushing hard when he has to. Martin is on a very good bike and has faith that it will stay upright when he has to push.
Maybe he has more faith than the laws of physics suggest he should at times, as evidenced by the Sonoma crash. Martin almost crashed a couple of times at Road Atlanta, too. From time to time, Cardenas will put it on the ground because he pushes so hard. It’s simply a consequence of the way he competes. It’s not really a criticism, either. Some guys race as fast as the bike tells them it can go. If that’s fifth place, so be it. Cardenas mostly goes for the pace it takes to win and does what he can to make that happen.
So what’s it going to take for his rivals to beat him?
Cardenas is the all-time winningest Daytona SportBike racer and his record is up there with the AMA Pro greats in the previous middleweight class (the old 600 Supersport) as well, where names like Miguel Duhamel and Jamie Hacking come to mind. Cardenas already had a good learning year in AMA Pro Superbike, in which he won a race. The Colombian could just as easily still be there or maybe even in World Superbike. He’s that good.
Cardenas has quickly built a legend due to his brilliant late-race tactics. His last two laps are usually blazers. When you know he’s coming, you’re more likely to make mistakes, too.
Cardenas’ two three race win streaks aren’t a result of a Superbike-style pace thing where he’s a second a lap faster than everyone else and can gap the field when he gets clear. No, it’s him pushing hard when he has to. Martin is on a very good bike and has faith that it will stay upright when he has to push.
Maybe he has more faith than the laws of physics suggest he should at times, as evidenced by the Sonoma crash. Martin almost crashed a couple of times at Road Atlanta, too. From time to time, Cardenas will put it on the ground because he pushes so hard. It’s simply a consequence of the way he competes. It’s not really a criticism, either. Some guys race as fast as the bike tells them it can go. If that’s fifth place, so be it. Cardenas mostly goes for the pace it takes to win and does what he can to make that happen.
So what’s it going to take for his rivals to beat him?
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