Robinson takes first career win

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Brandon Robinson (Kawasaki KX450F/TJ Burnett Farms) tasted victory for the first time in his young career Friday night during the second round of action at the DAYTONA Flat Track. The Pennsylvanian acquired the lead on the second lap of the AMA Pro Flat Track presented by J&P Cycles main event and never let up on the throttle from then on.  

“My entire team just worked extremely hard to make this happen for me and I can’t be more thankful for their support,” said Robinson. “We got the setup as close to perfect as possible and everything went as smooth as we could have asked for all night. I got out front early in the main event, put in a hard 25 laps and it all paid off. My team and I have had an awesome week in general and it feels incredible to win here.”

After recording an impressive fifth place finish Thursday night, complacency obviously wasn’t an issue for Robinson Friday night as he was hungry for better results and he certainly delivered. After taking the early lead from Kenny Coolbeth Jr. (Chaplin Kawasaki/Kawasaki KX450F) on the very first lap, Robinson’s main competitor of the night was Brad Baker (Honda CRF450R/Specialty Fabrication Incorporation).

After fending off Baker’s valiant attempts late in the race to overtake the lead, Robinson managed to get loose on the final lap and take the checkered flag by 1.262 seconds.

Baker, who finished in second-place Thursday night, turned in another second-place effort Friday night before an issue in post-race technical inspection resulted in the loss of points for the night’s main event.

Robinson now sits atop the AMA Pro Grand National Expert Championship point standings and will carry that momentum into Stockton, Calif. when the stars of the series head out west for their next event.

After getting knocked out of Thursday night’s main and finishing in 17th to start the season, Bryan Smith (Honda CRF450R/Crosley Radios) rebounded quite nicely on this go-around. The Michigan native beat out 2011 Grand National Champion Jake Johnson (Honda CRF450R) to close out the podium with a third-place finish.

Jake Constantine’s (Honda CRF450R/Allphase Masony & Chimney) lead was in constant expansion throughout the duration of Thursday night’s AMA Pro J&P Cycles Pro Singles main event. The New York product captured the lead early on and never looked back. Constantine, who won the race by over a full two seconds, had never won a professional race before.

“I can’t even explain how I feel right now,” said an ecstatic Constantine. “To come down here and win it all is the best feeling in the world. It feels great to be on this podium, let alone be at the top of it! This win was huge for me and my team because of how bad we struggled last night in the opener. I can’t thank everyone enough for helping me out; this feeling is so surreal right now.”

Ryan Wells (Honda CRF450R/Waters Auto Body), who was on the pole for the main event, ran a solid race that landed him in second place.

GNC Race Results

–From AMA Pro Racing

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