DiSalvo to Start From Front of Grid [Video]

A dark and rainy Sunday morning caused slow lap times during the final Daytona Sportbike Qualifying session. All the Daytona Sportike riders dropped about 10 seconds during Q2, so the grid was decided by the provisional qualifying session, which was led by Jason DiSalvo.  

DiSalvo was quick around the circuit in the wet as well, but he wasn’t the fastest rider on the track. That honor went to Cameron Beaubier, who beat DiSalvo by nearly a full second. Paul Allison, Dane Westby, and Tyler O’Hara also crossed the line ahead of DiSalvo on the wet track.

“The rain is a bit of an equalizer,” said DiSalvo, who has been having a dominating season so far. “It will be tough. Everyone’s riding hard... It will be a good race.”

DiSalvo will be joined on the front row by PJ Jacobson, Josh Herrin, and Cameron Beaubier. Beaubier’s performance in the wet, and his qualifying position from Q1, gives him a solid advantage going into today’s race.

“I love riding in this class,” said Beaubier, who moved up from the Supersport class this year. “It’s really fun. There’s a lot of competition this year.”

Here are the starting positions for today’s Daytona Sportbike race.

Row 1: DiSalvo / Jacobsem / Herrin / Beaubier
Row 2: Allison / Knapp / Eslick / West
Row 3: Holden / Aquino / Dimick / Westby

Here's a video of the press conference.

[Video by Todd Kappelt with All About Bikes Magazine]