Eslick takes fifth SportBike win

From AMA Pro Racing

LEXINGTON, OH - Danny Eslick's No. 9 GEICO Powersports RMR Buell 1125R came out victorious in a battle that went down to the wire with the eventual second-place No. 88 Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R of Jamie Hacking in the second of two AMA Pro Daytona SportBike races at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Sunday.

Six official lead changes came between the riders that claimed the top two spots over the course of the 21-lap sprint race that opened Sunday's races at the Honda Super Cycle Weekend.

The excitement began on the sighting lap, with Jake Zemke's No. 1X Erion Honda CBR600RR losing power in Turn 4. Last season's Formula Xtreme champion was forced to run back to the pits and start from the rear of the grid on his backup bike.

A clean start followed and Eslick led the field through the first set of turns before being passed by Hacking in Turn 6. Eslick regained the top spot in Turn 1 on the following lap. That set of passes would set the tone for the two riders, occurring in the same fashion on Laps 14 and 15. Hacking recaptured the lead in Turn 6 on Lap 16 and was able to hold off a rushing Eslick for four more laps.

On the final lap, Eslick took a page from the Kawasaki rider's book and looked to the inside in Turn 6, but was unable to complete the pass. This set him up for an inside line through the Esses and the pair leaned on each other as they made their way through. The No. 9 Buell emerged as the leader and led the field to the finish.

"Jamie was real strong out of the keyhole," said Eslick. "He was strong out of it and strong into it, and I was good through the middle. We went back and forth a couple times. (The last lap pass) was the cleanest pass I could definitely make. There was some contact, but it was good. Jamie would have stuck it in there just as hard as I would have."

Josh Herrin's No. 8 Graves Yamaha YZF-R6 also presented a challenge, passing Hacking on Lap 3 and taking the lead from Eslick on Lap 7. Herrin officially led two laps, although he and Eslick traded the lead twice on Lap 8 before Eslick was able to take the lead from the Yamaha for the final time on Lap 9. Herrin finished 12th after an off-course excursion on Lap 13 allowed Hacking to challenge Eslick for the final portion of the race. In all, Hacking led for seven laps and earned his sixth podium and fifth second-place finish of the Daytona SportBike season.

"The race today was great," said Hacking. "We were pushing hard the entire race. I was stronger on this side of the race track and Danny was stronger back there in the back and it just made out for a really good race, close racing. I put everything I had into the last couple laps there and I thought I had the door closed enough. He muscled his way in there and made a clean pass. I had made that pass before and there were no hard feelings. He rode a great race, and we pulled away from everybody else this weekend."

Martin Cardenas recovered from a crash in Saturday's Daytona SportBike race to run clean and consistent, claiming the final spot on the podium aboard the No. 36 Team M4 Suzuki GSX-R600. The Colombian now leads the Daytona SportBike standings by 10 points over Eslick, 285-275. Hacking is close behind in third with 241 points.

"It was a hard race for me because my confidence wasn't very good after two races, two crashes," said Cardenas. "So today that was the best I could do. These guys were a little bit faster than me, and I tried to stay with them, but five laps from the end I made a mistake and almost crashed and so I decided that third place was good enough for today."

Fourth place went to the No. 54 Latus Motors Racing Buell 1125R of Taylor Knapp, who pulled double-duty this weekend racing, where he also earned a top-10 finish on the No. 44 Taylor Knapp Racing Buell 1125RR in the final American Superbike race of the weekend.

Roger Hayden encountered electrical problems in Saturday's race, but had a strong showing Sunday to complete the top five on the No. 95 Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R.

Zemke climbed 11 positions on the first lap and powered through the field to salvage a 10th place finish. 

Next up for AMA Pro Daytona SportBike is a doubleheader at the Tornado Nationals at Heartland Park Topeka on the weekend of July 31-Aug. 2.

Josh Day marched away from the field on the No. 4 Team E.S.P. Yamaha YZF-R6 to claim his first career AMA Pro SuperSport victory Sunday at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Day started from second position and led all but the first of the contest's 17 laps, passing Ricky Parker's No. 96 Graves Yamaha YZF-R6 on the second lap and leading the rookie to the stripe by 8.895 seconds at the end of the race.

"It was definitely a good race for us today," said Day. "The Evan Steele Performance guys have been working hard all weekend trying to get the setup really good. I couldn't believe it when I was watching the board, that I was pulling a gap on Ricky Parker with how fast he is and how fast everyone else is out there. I just kept my head down the whole race and just ended up with the win."  

The battle for the final two podium spots were more difficult to secure, with Parker holding off a hard-charging Garrett Carter. Carter started from 11th position and took second briefly with a tight pass in Turn 4 on the final lap of the race, but was unable to hold the spot. Parker powered back past Carter's No. 31 Ridersdiscount.com/Woodcraft Yamaha YZF-R6 as the two rounded Turn 6 and held the position to claim his fourth podium in four attempts.

Day now leads the AMA Pro SuperSport East standings by 13 points over Leandro Mercado (No. 92 Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R), 94-81.

The next round for AMA Pro SuperSport will be held at Tornado Nationals at Heartland Park Topeka on the weekend of July 31-Aug. 2.

Daytona SportBike Race Results (Top 20)
1. Daniel Eslick (Rossmeyer Geico Powersports RMR Buell) Buell 1125R 21 Laps
2. Jamie Hacking (Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki) Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R +2.048
3. Martin Cardenas (M4 Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R600 +7.395
4. Taylor Knapp (Latus Motors Racing) Buell 1125R +9.861
5. Roger Hayden (Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki) Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R +10.555
6. Steve Rapp (Bazzaz) Yamaha YZF-R6 +10.639
7. Chaz Davies (Factory Aprilia Millennium Technologies Team) Aprilia RSV1000R +10.746
8. Josh Herrin (Team Graves Yamaha) Yamaha YZF-R6 +17.162
9. Tommy Aquino (Team Graves Yamaha) Yamaha YZF-R6 +21.044
10. Jake Zemke (Erion Racing) Honda CBR600RR +22.078
11. Jason DiSalvo (M4 Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R600 +22.492
12. Chris Peris (Erion Racing) Honda CBR600RR +29.211
13. Michael Barnes (GEICO Powersports · RMR · Buell Racing) Buell 1125R +41.295
14. Damian Cudlin (Paradigm Racing) Yamaha YZF-R6 +43.497
15. Ricky Parker (RPR Racing) Yamaha YZF-R6 +43.543
16. Michael Beck (Team Beck Racing) Yamaha YZF-R6 +43.826
17. Matt Lynn (Four Feathers Racing) Yamaha YZ-R6 +43.996
18. Garrett Carter (Garrett Carter Racing) Yamaha YZF-R6 +44.737
19. Robertino Pietri (Team E.S.P. Yamaha) Yamaha YZF-R6 +47.033
20. Shawn Higbee (Higbee-Racing.com) Buell 1125R +56.581
Race Time: 31:00.436
Margin of Victory: 2.048
Best Race Lap: Daniel Eslick (1:27.853)

Daytona SportBike Point Standings (Top 20)
1. Martin Cardenas 285
2. Danny Eslick 275
3. Jamie Hacking 241
4. Josh Herrin 211
5. Jason DiSalvo 201
6. Chris Peris 177
7. Chaz Davies 176
8. Jake Zemke 157
9. Steve Rapp 157
10. Tommy Aquino 155
11. Taylor Knapp 124
12. Michael Barnes 108
13. Roger Hayden 95
14. Damian Cudlin 92
15. Michael Beck 71
16. Chris Fillmore 64
17. Ben Bostrom 62
18. Shawn Higbee 62
19. Robertino Pietri 60
20. Barrett Long 45
38. Miguel Duhamel 5