Race Results from Laguna Seca July 24/25 2010
CARDENAS AND M4 MONSTER ENERGY SUZUKI WIN AT LAGUNA SECA
Team M4 Monster Energy Suzuki's Martin Cardenas registered a
brilliant performance en route to his sixth victory of the
season at Laguna Seca today. The calculating ride saw him
make major headway in an increasingly intense 2010 AMA Pro
Daytona SportBike championship fight.
Cardenas orchestrated a remarkable come-from-behind effort
on Sunday, dropping down to seventh following a hectic
opening lap before steadily and patiently working his way
back into contention.
The Colombian settled into fifth place and waited for just
the right moment to strike. With the early leader more than
three seconds ahead of him at half-distance, Cardenas made
his move, deftly slicing up to second and then tracking down
first position with two blistering laps.
Cardenas showed a wheel of his GSX-R600 around the outside
of Turn 2 and his rival crashed out under pressure, opening
the door for Cardenas to run free to the checkered flag.
Cardenas now boasts 252 points, just 12 short of the
championship lead with three doubleheaders left to determine
the '10 SportBike king.
Cardenas was thrilled to have finally won at Laguna Seca. He
explained, "Since I came here the first time in '07, it's
been my favourite track so I wanted to win here very badly.
I've felt fast since I came here the first time but for some
reason it was never possible to win until today.
"The race was very tough. I didn't make a great start and
lost some positions. To pass here can be difficult. You have
to really plan your moves because there are not a lot of
places to pass. My bike was working really good. I was in
like sixth and worked my way up to second and saw the leader
was a couple seconds ahead of me. I put my head down, tried
to do some quick laps, and caught him. He lost the front and
from then on it was a lonely race for me. It was difficult
to maintain the pace and the concentration because the rear
tire was sliding.
"I really want to say big thanks to all our sponsors and my
crew who worked very, very well this weekend."
Team M4 Monster Energy Suzuki was a major contender in the
day's American Superbike contest as well with Jake Holden
backing up his stellar qualifying form by running up front
in the race. Starting from the third slot on the front row,
Holden immediately moved into second position and then took
over the lead aboard his GSX-R1000 on the race's second lap.
However, repeated struggles in Turn 11 prevented Jake from
running the pace he desired, relegating him to a still fine
fourth place finish in the end.
The ride was the last scheduled for the Washington
state-native with Team M4 Monster Energy Suzuki and he
showed constant improvement aboard the team's Superbike,
moving scoring two sevenths, a sixth, a pair of fifths, and
ultimately today's fourth-place ride during his time with
the squad.
"I'm not completely thrilled," Holden admitted. "I would
have rather been spraying some champagne with a podium
finish, but the team worked really hard and we made a big
improvement from the last three rounds. I got myself way
more comfortable with the motorcycle. We got in the lead
today and I kind of settled it in, but I had trouble with
the last corner. But fourth place is fourth place and I
matched my best finish in the Superbike class. It's good but
we would have liked to come home with a trophy."
Chris Ulrich was unable to capitalize on his strong Laguna
Seca form, crashing out on the third lap while running in
eighth position. The miscue put to a halt a ten-race streak
of top-ten finishes for the Californian who still sits
seventh in the championship race with 150 points.
Team M4 Monster Energy Suzuki will return to action at
Virginia International Raceway on August 13-15.
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