AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike

Martin Cardenas of the GEICO Suzuki squad got a measure of revenge on Cameron Beaubier (Y.E.S./Graves/Yamaha) in Sunday's AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike race at NOLA Motorsports Park as the two class titans put on a memorable show during the final race of the 2012 season. Cardenas crashed out of Saturday's race won by Beaubier and the Yamaha pilot tied the series champion for victories this year with seven heading into today's race.

Cardenas won Sunday's nail-biter after a thrilling ending, one that saw both riders giving it all they had on the final lap. The Colombian was able to answer each of Beaubier's tries at a pass and held off his younger rival for a 0.208 second win. For Cardenas, it was his eighth victory in his championship season.

Cardenas pulled away from the field early and Beaubier managed to catch up to make it a two-man fight. Both riders had slight bobbles that set up the last-lap showdown.

"For sure I wanted to beat Cameron," said Cardenas. "Lately, he was winning a lot. I was prepared to give everything. If it worked out? Fine. If not? The ground was also okay. I gave everything I had."

"Going into the last lap, I was pushing as hard as I could," said Beaubier.

Tommy Aquino (Kneedragers.com Yamaha) beat Dane Westby (M4 Suzuki) to the line after that duo traded paint on the final lap.

J.D. Beach (RoadRace Factory/Red Bull) finished fifth after a podium on Saturday. He topped Jason DiSalvo (Latus Motors Racing Triumph) by less than half a second. Tommy Hayden, still recovering from an injury sustained at New Jersey in the fall, was next. Michael Beck of Team Beck Racing recovered from a crash on Saturday to finish eighth.