Eslick wins Daytona SportBike; Peris third

From AMA Pro Racing

BRASELTON, GA - Danny Eslick (No. 9 Bruce Rossmeyer's Daytona Racing/RMR Buell 1125R) took the AMA Pro Daytona SportBike points lead with his third win of the season Sunday in the 20-lap Daytona SportBike final of the Suzuki Superbike Showdown weekend at Road Atlanta.

Eslick took the lead from polesitter Jason DiSalvo (No. 40 Team M4 Suzuki GSX-R600) on lap 12 and withstood an intense battle with Josh Herrin (No. 8 Team Graves Yamaha YZF-R6) to take his third win in the last four races. Eslick led Herrin across the finish line by .484 of a second while Canadian rider Chris Peris (No. 10 Erion Racing Honda CBR600RR) improved from 14th on the grid to finish third for his first podium finish of the season.

The race came down to a final lap tussle between Eslick and Herrin as some lapped traffic set up a side-by-side battle to the finish. Herrin tucked up behind Eslick on the uphill run out of turn one and the leaders couldn't have been closer - including some contact - for most of the last lap.

"When we first got in the lappers, I don't think they knew we were there," said Eslick. "When we were coming around for the white flag, those guys definitely moved out of the way and let us race. I took a peek over and there he (Herrin) was. Out of turn 10, driving up out of the right-hander, I got a good drive and we were both on the gas. It was a great race. He tried as hard he could and it was great. It was an awesome race for Bruce Rossmeyer and RMR Buell."

Herrin finished second to match his career-best result in the season-opening Daytona 200 by Honda but nearly came up with the win Sunday.

"I saw that group of lappers on the last lap and I knew he (Eslick) was going to get stuck in the chicane or something, and he did," Herrin said. "He didn't get a great drive off of (turn) seven, so I just tried as hard as I could and I got up next to his back tire. I knew I'd been catching him good into (turn) 10 on the brakes. I got in there pretty good and got by him. When we squared it up to come over the hill, we just had a little contact and I fell off the side of the bike.  I wasn't even going to try and get him in the last corner, because I knew I'd tuck the front or run off trying."

Peris improved three spots on the first lap, quickly joined the lead pack and steered clear of trouble that hit several other top riders.

"I was just trying to get past everybody for the first few laps," said the Calgary rider, who swapped third place with the Buell of Taylor Knapp on the final lap. "I was trying to get past everybody where I could actually put my head down and run my own kind of pace.

"A couple of the guys, I think, chose the soft rear tire and they were all fading with about five laps to go. My bike seemed to hold in there pretty good. The Erion Honda was just working awesome. We made a few changes last night to get the bike to steer a little bit quicker and it all paid off today."

DiSalvo led the opening lap and later laps eight through 11 but ultimately finished seventh after his tires faded in the late going.

The only other rider to lead the race was Jake Zemke (No. 1x Erion Racing Honda CBR600RR) who passed DiSalvo on lap two but crashed while running up front five laps later. 

Zemke wasn't injured and joined fellow frontrunners Roger Hayden (No. 95 Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R) and Tommy Aquino (No. 6 Team Graves Yamaha YZF-R6) in walking away after lowside incidents during the race.

Taylor Knapp impressed in his first start on the No. 54 Latus Motors Racing Buell 1125R and finished a close fourth behind Peris. Jamie Hacking (No. 88 Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R) continued his string of strong finishes to round out the top five while Chaz Davies (No. 57 Factory Aprilia Millennium Technologies Team Aprilia RSV1000R) also kept his competitive streak of consistent results alive with a solid sixth-place showing.

Eslick now leads the Daytona SportBike championship with 109 points, Hacking is second with 99 markers and Herrin is third in the standings with 96 points.

Saturday's Race 1 winner Martin Cardenas (No. 36 Team M4 Suzuki GSX-R600) retired after 13 laps with mechanical issues.

Seventeen-year-old Argentinean rider Leandro Mercado (No. 92 Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R) capped a wild race and weekend with a victory in Sunday's AMA Pro SuperSport race.

Mercado - who shook off several accidents, early-race rain and a red-flag delay for an oiled track in the SuperSport final - took the lead on lap eight and held off polesitter Josh Day (No. 4 Kerker Racing Yamaha YZF-R6) and Joey Pascarella (No. 25 LTD Racing Yamaha YZF-R6).

Mercado led Day across the finish line by 2.893 seconds while Pascarella took the SuperSport East points lead with his third-place finish.

Next up for AMA Pro Daytona SportBike and SuperSport is the Honda Superbike Classic at Barber Motorsports Park, May 1-3.

All of the races from the Road Atlanta AMA Pro Suzuki Superbike Showdown will be featured on AMA Pro Primetime on SPEED over the course of the next four episodes. AMA Pro Prime Time airs every Saturday night at 10 p.m. ET (7 p.m. ET) with the next scheduled show set for next Saturday, April 11.

Daytona SportBike Results (Top 20)
1. Daniel Eslick, Bruce Rossmeyers Daytona Racing/RMR Buell Buell 1125R 20 Laps
2. Josh Herrin, Team Graves Yamaha Yamaha YZF-R6 +0.483
3. Chris Peris Erion Racing Honda CBR600RR +5.700
4. Taylor Knapp, Latus Motors Racing Buell 1125R +5.765
5. Jamie Hacking, Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R +6.274
6. Chaz Davies, Factory Aprilia Millennium Technologies Team Aprilia RSV1000R +12.978
7. Jason DiSalvo, M4 Suzuki Suzuki GSX-R600 +14.996
8. Michael Barnes, GEICO Powersports/RMR/Buell Racing Buell 1125R +28.958
9. Steve Rapp, Bazzaz/Pat Clark Motorsports Yamaha R6 +29.251
10. Michael Beck, Team Beck Racing Yamaha YZF-R6 +29.429
11. Ben Thompson, Factory Aprilia Millennium Technologies Team Aprilia RSV1000R +38.921
12. Marcos Reichert, RockwallPerformance.com Yamaha YZF-R6 +46.086
13. Leandro Mercado, Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R +47.127
14. Ricky Parker, RPR Racing Yamaha YZF-R6 +50.569
15. Garrett Carter, Garrett Carter Racing Yamaha YZF-R6 +50.823
16. Barrett Long, Paradigm Racing Yamaha YZF-R6 +54.430
17. Bobby Fong, R & B Motorsports Triumph Daytona 675 +56.038
18. Russ Wikle, Roadracingworld.com/Suzuki Suzuki GSX-R600 +56.151
19. Tyler Odom, Don Odom Racing Honda CBR600RR +1:21.838
20. Santiago Villa, Roadracingworld.com/Suzuki Suzuki GSX-R600 +1:24.249