2014 Indy AMA Harley-Davidson Race Results & Recap

2014 Indy AMA Harley-Davidson Race Results

In two thrilling races set on the brick-paved stage of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, veteran riders Jeremy McWilliams and Steve Rapp split the AMA Pro Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson series double-header during the Red Bull Indianapolis GP round of the FIM MotoGP World Championship.

In Saturday’s Race 1, Northern Ireland’s McWilliams (H-D of Bloomington Indiana/Warr’s H-D), who also won the first race of the Indy doubleheader in 2013, qualified on pole and took a hard-fought victory in the first of the weekend’s races by a narrow 0.083-second margin over Suburban Motors H-D’s Benny Carlson.

McWilliams had his hands full throughout the 10-lap contest, fighting off a determined effort by Carlson, who was trying to earn his first series victory, and hard-charger Kyle Wyman (KWR/Millennium Technologies), who came from seventh on the grid to finish a close third.

Defending series champion Steve Rapp (Aerostar Global/Suburban Motors H-D) had to settle for fifth place behind series newcomer Ramden Rosli (PETRONAS/KWR) who made an impressive charge to the front from his ninth place starting position and ran as high as second mid-race. Series points leader Danny Eslick (Ruthless Racing/Trev Deeley Motorcycles) was unable to hold the draft of the five-rider lead pack and finished seventh.

“You put a bit of pressure on yourself when you start from pole because I suppose you’ve done all that work and you don’t want to give it away on the first lap,” McWilliams said.

“So I got the hammer down and stupidly thought I could break away. I gave it everything. I tried to maintain the tire a little bit, but to be honest that didn’t really work. Benny caught me, so I had to keep working hard to get back on him on the last sector because once the draft’s broken, it’s gone. That’s a big weight off my shoulder to get a win here. I just wanted one again because it’s such a special place to do it.”

Sunday’s Race 2 quickly developed into another multi-rider drafting battle, with McWilliams, Rapp and Carlson joined at the front by Eslick, while O’Hara, Kyle Wyman and Rosli circulated in a second pack about one second behind them. Eslick and Rapp traded turns at the front throughout the first half of the race until a multi-rider incident involving O’Hara brought out a red flag.

After the restart, Rapp, McWilliams, Eslick and Carlson were joined by Wyman and the drama continued until the final lap, with each rider trying to figure out where to be for the final run to the checkered flag. Eslick positioned himself for a run at Carlson, but was nipped at the line by Rapp, who took the victory by 0.011 second over Eslick, with Carlson just 0.074 second back in third.

“I could tell going down the back [that] Danny sat up but I didn’t want anything to do with it either, so I sat up,” Rapp said. “Ben went by and I was like, ‘Cool, that works.’ We got back in line and I wasn’t sure if I was going to pass them but it worked out pretty good. They got next to each other and built a little draft there. It went great. To win at Indy finally – I wanted to check that off my list. I’m running out of time and I finally got it, so that’s cool.”

With his second and fifth place finishes at Indy, Eslick takes a 16-point lead over Carlson into the series’ final race at New Jersey Motorsports Park in Millville, NJ on Sept. 13-14.

2014 Indianapolis MA Pro Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson Race Results:

Indianapolis Race 1 (August 9) Result:

1. Jeremy McWilliams (H-D of Bloomington Indiana), 10 laps

2. Benjamin Carlson (Suburban Motors H-D), +0.083 second

3. Kyle Wyman (KWR/Millennium Technologies), +0.428 second

4. Ramden Rosli (PETRONAS/KWR), +0.856 second

5. Steve Rapp (Aerostar/Global/Suburban Motors H-D), +1.758 seconds

6. Travis Wyman (Harv’s H-D), +18.577 seconds

7. Danny Eslick (Ruthless Racing/Trev Deeley Motorcycles), +18.580 seconds

8. Tyler O’Hara (Josh Chisum Racing/Bartels’ H-D), +20.323 seconds

9. Hayden Schultz (Chili Pepper Racing), +20.351 seconds

10. David Estok (Thrashed Bike Racing), +28.203 seconds

11. Josh Chisum (Josh Chisum Racing/Bartels’ H-D), +34.911 seconds

12. Darren James (Trev Deeley Motorcycles), +35.440 seconds

13. Nicholas Hansen (Aerostar Global/Suburban Motors H-D), +46.921 seconds

14. Brice Cooper (Bell Helmets/Suburban Motors H-D), +47.081 seconds

15. Ryan Christian (Trackside Suspension & Engineering), +1:04.020

16. Joe Rozynski (Sirius XM/Sound Waves), +1:12.216

17. Rob McClendon III (Suburban Motors/ D&D Cycles), +1:12.315

18. Brian Mullins (National Cylinder Heads), +1:20.701

19. Paul James (Hoban Cycle/Spectro Oils), +1:23.283

20. Sam Rozynski (Sound-Waves.com/Sirius XM), +1:25.178

21. Shelina Moreda (Chili Pepper Racing), +1:34.875

22. Jerrett Martin (CPL Systems/Aggressive Insurance), 9 laps

23. Aaron Borello (Air Ground Xpress), +15.491 seconds

24. Jon Foy (Jupiter Cycle Racing), +35.365

25. Gage McAllister (Folsom H-D), 4 laps

Indianapolis Race 2 (August 10) Result:

1. Steve Rapp (Aerostar/Global/Suburban Motors H-D), 10 laps

2. Danny Eslick (Ruthless Racing/Trev Deeley Motorcycles), +0.011 second

3. Benjamin Carlson (Suburban Motors H-D), +0.074 second

4. Kyle Wyman (KWR/Millennium Technologies), +0.194 second

5. Jeremy McWilliams (H-D of Bloomington Indiana), +0.466 second

6. Hayden Schultz (Chili Pepper Racing), +7.091 seconds

7. Nicholas Hansen (Aerostar Global/Suburban Motors H-D), +7.697 seconds

8. David Estok (Thrashed Bike Racing), +9.207 seconds

9. Josh Chisum (Josh Chisum Racing/Bartels’ H-D), +10.728 seconds

10. Brice Cooper (Bell Helmets/Suburban Motors H-D), +10.796 seconds

11. Rob McClendon III (Suburban Motors/ D&D Cycles), +12.286 seconds

12. Darren James (Trev Deeley Motorcycles), +13.670 seconds

13. Joe Rozynski (Sirius XM/Sound Waves), +28.360 seconds

14. Jerrett Martin (CPL Systems/Aggressive Insurance), +28.450 seconds

15. Shelina Moreda (Chili Pepper Racing), +36.688 seconds

16. Sam Rozynski (Sound-Waves.com/Sirius XM), +40.745 seconds

17. Ryan Christian (Trackside Suspension & Engineering), +58.388 seconds

18. Jon Foy (Jupiter Cycle Racing), +1:02.825

19. Aaron Borello (Air Ground Xpress), 9 laps

20. Brian Mullins (National Cylinder Heads), 8 laps

21. Travis Wyman (Harv’s H-D), 5 laps

22. Tyler O’Hara (Josh Chisum Racing/Bartels’ H-D), 5 laps

23. Ramden Rosli (PETRONAS/KWR), 4 laps

24. Gage McAllister (Folsom H-D), 3 laps

25. Paul James (Hoban Cycle/Spectro Oils), DNF

AMA Pro Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson Series Points Standings (After 8 of 9 Races)

1. Eslick, 159

2. Carlson, 143

3. O’Hara, 127

4. Rapp, 119

5. K. Wyman, 108

6. McAllister, 84

7. Hansen, 82

8. Schultz, 80

9. Chisum, 72

10. D. James, 67

Photography by Brian J. Nelson