AMA Road Racing
GEICO Powersports RMR Suzuki’s Danny Eslick registered his third podium finish of the 2010 AMA Pro Daytona SportBike season at Road Atlanta, edging closer to the points lead with yet another weekend in which he factored heavily at the front in both contests.
The reigning Daytona SportBike champ proved again his ability to elevate his game when the races began, twice out-performing his second row, sixth-position grid slotting (1:29.688) to fight for the win in a pair of tremendous, multi-rider battles.
The scrappy Oklahoman found himself right at home in the dogfight as the overtaking maneuvers came early and often. Drafting passes, courage-testing braking contests, and even the occasional contact were on the menu on Saturday and Sunday. The champ mounted on the GEICO Powersports RMR Suzuki GSX-R600 typically gave better than he got during repeated showdowns as a fleet of riders raced to the checkered flag.
On Saturday, Eslick led 11 of the race’s 20-laps, picking up a bonus point for his championship efforts en route to a third-consecutive podium finish, coming home a close third at the checkered flag just 0.878 seconds off the win.
Sunday’s race featured an even bigger pack of riders in contention, and the former dirt tracker picked his way up from near the tail end of the nine-rider fight to score fourth at the stripe aboard his GSX-R600, continuing his run of finishes no worse than fourth place this season.
Danny Eslick says: "I just wanted to get through Turn 1 and that little chicane at the top of the hill safely at the start — that was a little bit hairball — but after that I got settled in. There were so many passes I don’t even remember which was which. It was just good, clean racing. Every race it seems like I’m saying that was one of the most fun races ever but this was definitely awesome. It’s nice to have that competitiveness and good camaraderie with each other."
"I thought I had a shot at second and I tried getting around the outside coming up the hill by the bridge on the final lap. I just had to get off the gas a little bit so I didn’t run off the track and get back in line. I just about snuck in for second and I thought I was going to get the position, but it was awesome. Good, clean racing."
The 2009 AMA Pro Daytona SportBike Champion now boasts 111 points to rank second in the ’10 standings, just six points removed from the lead. Eslick will attempt to make further inroads on his repeat championship bid when the series resumes for Round 4 on May 14-16 at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, CA.
