AMA Daytona Sportbike News
Danny Eslick didn’t take a podium spot at Race 1 in Mid-Ohio for Round 6 of the 2010 AMA Daytona Sportbike Championship, but he piloted his GEICO Powersports RMR Suzuki GSX-R 600 to a first-place finish at Race 2 on Sunday.
Eslick was joined by Team Graves Yamaha rider Josh Herrin and Team Latus Motors Racing Ducati rider Steve Rapp.
AMA Pro Racing Release
Just when everything was falling into place, the entire apple cart was overturned today in AMA Pro Daytona SportBike presented by AMSOIL at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Last year’s Daytona SportBike Champion Danny Eslick took a hard-fought victory today and with this year’s championship points leader Josh Herrin suffering a dramatic fall on the last lap, Eslick and his GEICO Powersports team have pulled themselves right back into the thick of the championship battle. Herrin and his Team Graves Yamaha team now lead Eslick by only two points, 249-247.
The 21-lap race at Mid-Ohio began somewhat like yesterday’s event, with furious action at the front involving yesterday’s main cast, Eslick, Herrin, Martin Cardenas (M4 Monster Energy Suzuki), Bobby Fong (DNA Energy Drink Ducati), Herrin’s Team Graves Yamaha teammate Tommy Aquino and Team Latus Motors Ducati rider Steve Rapp. These six riders once again made a break and dueled back and forth, exchanging the lead lap after lap, sometimes two or three times per lap. Eslick would lead, Cardenas showed his speed with a nice outside pass into first at the end of the back straight, then Herrin would reassert himself back at the front.
Under partly cloudy but hot and humid conditions, something had to give and it happened as the leaders were finishing the eleventh lap. Coming through the Carousel corner, Cardenas went down and Herrin had to take evasive action, allowing Fong, Rapp and Aquino quickly by. Eslick was in front and didn’t really know what happened until after the race but this gave him the break he needed to consolidate his second win of the season and vault him right back into the chase for the championship. In a great display of courage, Cardenas picked up his Suzuki and continued to the finish, and his persistence was rewarded as he ended up fifth at the flag.
Another rider who stayed the course all day was Aquino, who raced hard with Fong, Rapp and Herrin as well and took home a solid fourth place finish. Gathering his second consecutive podium finish was Fong. He has been showing good speed so far this season but this weekend at Mid-Ohio he really showed his great potential with another strong run up front all day. It was only the hard riding of another Ducati rider, Rapp that prevented Fong from another second place. Rapp, who started strong yesterday but ran into some mechanical issues, came back today and contended all the way and took a well deserved second place for his close knit Team Latus Motors team.
In a cruel twist of fate, as Herrin headed into turn six at the end of the long Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course backstraight for the last time, his motorcycle seemed to twitch and the next thing you knew, he was down. Rapp and Fong were quickly by as Herrin struggled to pick up and restart his Yamaha. He did so and to cheers from the appreciative crowd, he slowly rode back around on the damaged bike to post a 19th place finish, thereby scoring two valuable points. P.J. Jacobsen ran well again but was passed on the last lap by Cardenas; Jacobsen still had a solid weekend on his Celtic Racing Suzuki.
Cory West took seventh on his Vesrah Suzuki, Josh Day, the 2009 SuperSport Young Gun East Division Champion ran well again on his Four Feathers Racing Yamaha, finishing eighth. After making a change in his Dunlop tire choice, Fernando Amantini took a nice ninth place finish aboard his Kawasaki followed by Kris Turner in tenth on his Turner Cycle Racing Suzuki.
Crozier Roberson Motorsports Press Release
Sunday was a dramatic but ultimately positive day for Team M4 Monster Energy Suzuki at Mid-Ohio as Martin Cardenas made a heroic recovery to beat the odds and make up ground in the 2010 AMA Pro Daytona SportBike title fight.
Cardenas was again firmly in the mix at the front of Sunday’s 21-lap SportBike contest, swapping positions at the front of a six-man dogfight. However, apparent disaster struck on lap 11 as the Colombian crashed out of second place while negotiating the Carousel.
Undaunted, Cardenas quickly picked his GSX-R600 up off the ground and re-entered the battle. He raced back up to sixth position with just one lap to go. Unexpectedly, the championship leader crashed on the final lap, elevating Martin to fifth at the stripe while re-energizing his championship hopes.
Cardenas now stands third with 222 points, 27 out of first.
Martin Cardenas says: “I started well and the race was much the same as yesterday with the same riders up front. In the first few laps I got a warning from the front tire. I wasn’t ready for that but I saved that one. A few laps after that in the Carousel, I don’t know what happened. Maybe I hit the curb a little bit or maybe was a little too tight with my line and I lost the front tire. I picked the bike up as fast as I could.”
“I did what I could to gain as many positions as I could and I finished fifth in the end. It’s bad that I crashed but I think it’s an okay result for crashing. I’m going to continue to try to close the gap and try to beat them in every race.”
2010 AMA Daytona Sportbike Results, Race 2:
1. Danny Eslick (Suz)
2. Steve Rapp (Duc) +4.481
3. Bobby Fong (Duc)
4. Tommy Aquino (Yam)
5. Martin Cardenas (Suz)
6. P.J. Jacobsen (Suz)
7. Cory West (Suz)
8. Josh Day (Yam)
9. Fernando Amantini (Kaw)
10. Kris Turner (Suz)
2010 AMA Daytona Sportbike Point Standings
1. Josh Herrin, 249
2. Danny Eslick, 247
3. Martin Cardenas, 222
4. Steve Rapp, 190
5. Cory West, 164
6. Dane Westby, 157
7. Tommy Aquino, 137
8. Bobby Fong, 122
9. Chris Fillmore, 115
10. Clinton Seller, 113