The 2014 AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike series crowns a champion this weekend at the New Jersey Motorsports Park and it very well could be MotoSport.com Meen Motorsports rider Jake Lewis.
Lewis is just seven points back from Jake Gagne and winning out guarantees him the championship since five points separate first and second in a race. Considering he's won two of the last three races it's a doable feat.
Lewis, at just 18, not only brings the talent but experience considering his young age. He won the AMA Pro SuperSport East title in 2012 and last year took home SportBike Rookie of the Year honors. He's familiar with the New Jersey track and took third in 2012 racing in the SuperSport series.
"I love New Jersey," he said. "It's a really fun track and I've had a lot of success there in the past. My team and I feel like we have nothing to lose right now being seven points back. We recently tested at Buttonwillow in California and everything felt great."
However, Gagne has led in points for much of the season thanks to a sweep in Wisconsin and he knows championship battles well after a second place finish last year. This year, Gagne placed no worse than fourth in all but one race. He has two wins as does Lewis.
Lewis added that after the first race on Saturday he and his team would obviously have a better idea of who can take the championship and if he wins Race 1 it's all or nothing for Race 2.
"We've had a two month break to think about it and I've been training really hard. I have to treat it like any another race and not worry about it," he said.
Race 1 starts at 3 p.m. (EST) Saturday and Race 2 starts at 2 p.m. (EST) Sunday at New Jersey Motosports Park in Millville, NJ. Both are 21 lap races. Fanschoice.tv live streams the event.
2014 AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike Rider Standings
- Jake Gagne (189)
- Jake Lewis (182) - MotoSport rider
- Danny Eslick (157)
- JD Beach (154)
- Dane Westby (142)
- Garrett Gerloff (120)
- Jason DiSalvo (111)
- Kyle Wyman (98)
- Blake Young (93)
- Jake Zemke (91)