The opening round of the 2010 AMA Pro American Superbike Series Thursday took place on the high banks and infield of Daytona International Speedway on Thursday afternoon and wound up being by a dazzling, multi-bike shootout won by National Guard Jordan Suzuki's Jake Zemke.

The opening laps saw major players such as Josh Hayes on the Graves Yamaha (who fought his way back up to 13th), Pat Clark Motorsports' Ben Bostrom (who soldiered onto 18th), and Team M4 Monster Energy Suzuki's John Hopkins (who retired following one lap) missing from the front of the field, five riders stepped it up to wage a wild battle for the entire 15-lap race.

California’s Zemke crossed swords throughout the entire race with Rockstar Makita Yoshimura teammates Tommy Hayden and Blake Young, Jordan Suzuki's Aaron Yates and Foremost Insurance Ducati’s Larry Pegram.

No rider was successful in making any sort of break whatsoever until Zemke made a final-lap charge, eking out just a couple of tenths of breathing space over second place after the previous fourteen laps saw the front five separated by about that much in total. The Californian later admitted his move to first just prior to the white flag was actually a miscalculation, not knowing exactly what lap it was, but his GSX-R proved to have the steam to make good from the front. The #54 machine held on to claim the checkered flag as Hayden, Yates, Pegram, and Young swayed up and down the banking to establish the final order of the podium. At the line Hayden took yet another runner-up finish in what earlier seemed to be lining up to be that long-awaited first career win, and Pegram powered his way to third. Yates and Young finished off the box despite crossing the stripe just three tenths off a season-opening Superbike victory.

Zemke's win gives the Jordan effort their first-ever Superbike victory just hours after Yates handed the team their first-ever premier class pole position.

Roadracingworld.com Suzuki's Chris Ulrich put in a strong ride, picking up sixth after narrowly fending off Taylor Knapp on the ex-Mladin GSX-R by a scant 0.031 margin. Ducati-mounted Shawn Higbee, DASPerformance.com's Shane Narbonne, and Longevity Racing's Barrett Long finished off the top ten.

The Superbike contingent will be back to race again tomorrow afternoon.