Emotional SportBike win for Eslick

From AMA Pro Racing

TOPEKA, KS - Danny Eslick (No. 9 GEICO Powersports/RMR Buell 1125R) took the AMA Pro Daytona SportBike points lead with an emotional sixth win of the year Saturday in the Tornado Nationals presented by BriggsAuto.com at Heartland Park Topeka.

Eslick charged from 10th on the grid straight to a strong victory he and the Richie Morris Racing team dedicated to the late Bruce Rossmeyer, who died in a motorcycle accident earlier this week. Eslick has now won six Daytona SportBike races this year and has regained the points lead for the first time since Road Atlanta, currently 18 points ahead of nearest rival Martin Cardenas (No. 36 Team M4 Suzuki GSX-R600).

"It was really unfortunate about the passing of Bruce Rossmeyer and we dedicate this win to him," Eslick said. "He was a great guy and our teammate. The family said 'go win a championship for us,' so this is the first step."

After a complete restart following an opening race incident, Eslick immediately began to charge through the field. He took the lead for the first time with a power move past Superpole winner Jason DiSalvo (No. 40 Team M4 Suzuki GSX-R600) in the fast run out of the front straight on Lap 8.

Eslick stayed up front through the race's halfway point but was soon challenged by Cardenas. Eslick and Cardenas, who has held the points lead for the majority of the season, swapped the lead several times in the final laps only to see Cardenas slide off course in second on Lap 18. From there Eslick was never again seriously challenged as he charged to his third straight victory.

"I glanced back and Martin was all over me and that was pretty close to the end," Eslick said. "I did a couple of really good motocross block passes, and I think I was going slow enough I could have put my foot down. It was 100 per cent clean, he raced me clean and we never touched once. That's the race I've been looking for all year, to be the points leader and all that. Martin's a heck of a guy, a great rider and I wish it wouldn't have ended that way because that would have been a heck of a battle to the checkered flag."

Eslick crossed the finish line 1.810 seconds ahead of Josh Herrin (No. 8 Team Graves Yamaha YZF-R6) who was closely followed by his teammate Tommy Aquino (No. 6 Team Graves Yamaha YZF-R6).

"I thought I was going to be able to catch him," Herrin said. "I found out a real strong point coming on to the front straightaway that I'll be able to use tomorrow. At the end of the race I wasn't riding defensive, I just rode my race. I've had a few races recently where I rode defensive and it didn't pay off, so I just rode my line and took it to the finish line. We started reeling in Danny a little bit but it wasn't enough for the end of the race. I have to congratulate Tommy, and the Buell guys for another win. We'll come back strong tomorrow."

Aquino, who led the first two laps, finished third for the second consecutive race, his best finish of the season.

"That was the first time I've led a race," Aquino said. "Jason seemed to be going a little slow in the beginning so I made a pass really quick. It was just, like, riding by myself, which is really what I like to do - to go out there with nobody ahead of me and put down some laps. I just made a little mistake and let Jason by and after that a couple more people passed me. I settled in, got with the pace, passed who I needed to pass and it was good. I'm really enjoying where I'm at right now. I really have to thank all my guys."

Chaz Davies (No. 57 Factory Aprilia /Millennium Technologies Team Aprilia RSV1000R) finished fourth for his sixth top-five result of the year while Bobby Fong (No. 51 Paradigm Racing Yamaha YZF-R6) finished fifth. It was the best result of the year for Fong and the Paradigm team that also finished sixth in the Daytona 200 with Barrett Long.

DiSalvo also went off course while running second to Eslick on Lap 10 but recovered to finish sixth.

A post-race protest was filed against the winning Daytona SportBike and it was determined in a review by AMA Pro Racing officials that Eslick passed for the lead in Turn 6 under a waving yellow flag. The area of the incident was also covered by a standing yellow flag at the corner workers' stations that Eslick failed to obey. He has been fined half of this weekend's final race purse and will be docked 10 championship points.

Eslick currently leads the Daytona SportBike standings 296 - 288 over Cardenas.

Sunday's Daytona SportBike final goes off at 2 p.m. local time.

A last-lap flyer gave Josh Day (No. 4 Kerker Racing Yamaha YZF-R6) the pole for Sunday's AMA Pro SuperSport race and continued the East division championship leader's great weekend at Heartland Park. Day capitalized on a drying race track after light morning showers and clocked in at 1:48.536 (82.921 mph), nearly two seconds quicker than the competition on his seventh and final lap of the session.

The SuperSport pole followed Friday's strong performance by Day when he paced both SuperSport practices and won the pole for the AMA Pro SunTrust Moto-GT race.

"It was pretty dry for the last lap out there," said Day, who took the East championship lead with his first SuperSport victory one race ago at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. "There were a few spots that were still pretty sketchy but other than that it really dried up a lot faster than what it was at the beginning of the session. It was a pretty good lap that we put in at the end there."

Day will share the four-rider front row with second-fastest qualifier Garrett Carter (No. 31 Ridersdiscount.com/Woodcraft Yamaha YZF-R6), Tomas Puerta (No. 12 LTD Racing Yamaha YZF-R6) and Dustin Dominguez (No. 44 House of Kawasaki/Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R).

Day is 13 points ahead of nearest challenger Leandro Mercado (No. 92 Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R), 94 - 81. In a major boost for Day's East division title hopes, Mercado's team announced Saturday that he will miss this weekend's Tornado Nationals.

The SuperSport final is Sunday at 3 p.m. for 16 laps/40 miles.

Repeat race winners with a twist were victorious in Saturday morning's AMA Pro SunTrust Moto-GT race.  Dane Westby and Dustin Meador (No. 13 Westby Racing Yamaha YZF-R6) took the overall and GT1 class victory while Corey Rech and Huntley Nash (No. 77 Touring Sport Ducshop Ducati PS1000LE) scored the GT2 class win. 

It was the second consecutive victory for both rider duos after each team first won at Mid-Ohio two weeks ago. The only difference at Topeka was that Rech and Nash stepped up to the championship-leading No. 77 Ducati "A" bike at Topeka after winning on the team's No. 38 Ducati at Mid-Ohio, but the headline story Saturday at Heartland Park was the top duo of Westby and Meador. 

The teammates and the No. 13 Yamaha are now a perfect two for two after Westby Racing ran its very first race as a team at Mid-Ohio. Saturday Westby battled with pole sitter Josh Day (No. 27 Four Feathers Racing Yamaha YZF-R6) in the first half of the race before he and Meador eventually built up a nearly 90-second margin of victory at the finish.

Mark Crozier and Dave Estock (No. 14 Crozier Motorsports Triumph Daytona 675) finished second and Rodolfo Ramirez and Santiago Villa (No. 69 HurtbyAccident.com Suzuki GSX-R600) were one lap down in third.

The No. 14 Crozier Motorsports team now leads the Moto-GT1 points championship over Saturday's fourth-place finishing No. 41 Buell 1125R of Liberty Waves Racing, 109-104. In Moto-GT2, the No. 77 Touring Sport Ducati leads the No. 9 Pair-A-Nines team, 171-140.

Daytona SportBike Race Results -- Top 20
1. Danny Eslick (Rossmeyer Geico Powersports RMR Buell) Buell 1125R 20 Laps*
2. Josh Herrin (Team Graves Yamaha) Yamaha YZF-R6 +1.810
3. Tommy Aquino (Team Graves Yamaha) Yamaha YZF-R6 +1.998
4. Chaz Davies (Factory Aprilia Millennium Technologies Team) Aprilia RSV1000R +5.292
5. Bobby Fong (Paradigm Racing) Yamaha YZF-R6 +9.604
6. Jason DiSalvo (M4 Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R600 +12.228
7. Jake Zemke (Erion Racing) Honda CBR600RR +15.355
8. Chris Fillmore (Chris Fillmore Racing) Yamaha YZF-R6 +16.157
9. Roger Hayden (Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki) Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R +27.262
10. Chris Peris (Erion Racing) Honda CBR600RR +27.507
11. Dane Westby (Westby Racing · Kneedraggers.com) Yamaha YZF-R6 +28.036
12. Taylor Knapp (Latus Motors Racing) Buell 1125R +30.543
13. Ricky Parker (RPR Racing) Yamaha YZF-R6 +32.713
14. Aaron Gobert (Factory Aprilia Millennium Technologies Team) Aprilia RSV1000R +33.163
15. Josh Day (Four Feathers Racing) Yamaha YZF-R6 +39.554
16. Garrett Carter (Garrett Carter Racing) Yamaha YZF-R6 +48.136
17. Michael Beck (Team Beck Racing) Yamaha YZF-R6 +48.279
18. Martin Cardenas (M4 Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R600 +1:00.044
19. Matt Hall (TWC Racing) Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R +1:02.176
20. Michael Barnes (GEICO Powersports · RMR · Buell Racing) Buell 1125R +1:05.404
* - Penalized 10 points for passing under a waving yellow flag

Daytona SportBike Standings -- Top 20
1. Danny Eslick 296
2. Martin Cardenas 288
3. Jamie Hacking 241
4. Josh Herrin 236
5. Jason DiSalvo 217
6. Chaz Davies 194
7. Chris Peris 188
8. Tommy Aquino 176
9. Jake Zemke 171
10. Steve Rapp 157
11. Taylor Knapp 133
12. Michael Barnes 109
13. Roger Hayden 107
14. Damian Cudlin 92
15. Chris Fillmore 77
16. Michael Beck 75
17. Ben Bostrom 62
18. Shawn Higbee 62
19. Robertino Pietri
20. Bobby Fong 59
39. Miguel Duhamel 5