AMA Pro Motorcycle Superstore.com SuperSport

Tomas Puerta won Saturday’s AMA Pro Motorcycle Superstore.com SuperSport race at Daytona. Puerta was strong all ten laps and was able to earn a gap on the final time around the famed circuit, putting his stamp on a race that saw as many as ten riders take part in the draft battles at the front. The RoadRace Factory pilot topped CJ Weaver on the Napa Auto-sponsored machine. Corey Alexander on the National Guard/Celtic Racing team took third.

Polesitter Puerta was disappointed with how his race ended on Friday. After running near the front, the Colombian found himself shuffled back in the field when the last lap ended and took fifth. On Saturday, he seemed more determined to lead and for his efforts earned his second career AMA Pro MotorcycleSuperstore.com SuperSport victory. He put his head down in the final laps and earned a one-second gap as he turned his fastest lap the final time around.

“I made a mistake on the last lap yesterday,” said Puerta. “I went the wrong way on the banking on the last lap and couldn’t get back to the front. Today, the bike ran great and I can’t thank my team enough. This race was much better. Today, I wanted to be in the lead as much as I could. I tried to put in a perfect lap and push to the finish line.”

After a red flag on lap one, the race shaped up as the typical Daytona draft-fest. The top 12 finished within three seconds of Puerta.

Many riders, including Stefano Mesa, Jeffrey Tigert, and Hayden Gillim, took a turn at the front. One of the impressive riders was Sebastiao Ferreira from Brazil on his BP Racing machine that chased Puerta late.

20 year-old Weaver climbed from 13th starting position to second place (and his first top-ten finish in the class.) “I crashed in the warm-up, but I kept moving forward in the race, “ said Weaver.

The battle for the other spots on the podium required AMA Pro to utilize their photo finish equipment to determine which riders would stand on the podium.

Tigert was fourth on his CM Motorsports machine. Harv’s H-D pilot Travis Wyman was fifth, followed by David Sadowski, Jr on his Yamaha. Friday winner Stefano Mesa was seventh on the MotoSport.com Yamaha.