Martin Cardenas’ victory in the Daytona SportBike race at Topeka was a true classic. The crash he suffered in

 Saturday’s race was completely out of his mind on Sunday. That’s a sign of a true champion. The way he waited patiently and made his move late in the race shows Cardenas’ racecraft is improving at a high rate.

Cardenas is starting to get some notice from the world championship teams. Don’t be surprised to see him make the jump soon.

The show Cardenas, Danny Eslick and Josh Herrin put on Sunday at Topeka was one of the best races I’ve seen. Daytona SportBike continues to show the formula was well thought out. The bikes are well matched leaving it up to the riders and they are all riding the wheels off their bikes. The series is tied up going into VIR. You can’t ask for more than that.

The save Herrin made riding through the ditch outside one was stunning. To come back and finish second after that was, like Scott Russell said on the SPEED TV broadcast, the ride of the weekend.

Heartland Park Topeka needs some work for sure, but the track provided some great racing action. Hopefully it will be back on the schedule next year with some of the additional work riders requested.