Danny Eslick, aboard the No. 1 GEICO Powersports Suzuki for Richie Morris Racing, captured the pole on Thursday night for the 69th Daytona 200 Daytona SportBike AMA Pro Racing event.
Eslick, the defending Daytona SportBike champion, turned a fast lap of 1 minute, 50.085 seconds, 116.092 mph, on Daytona International Speedway’s 3.51-mile road course to edge M4 Monster Energy Suzuki rider Martin Cardenas by two thousandths of a second.
Danny Eslick Speaks…
"I thought I had it in my hands (last year) and that one slipped away," Eslick said. "To get it this year, means a lot. It hasn’t sunk in yet, I don’t think. Maybe tomorrow when I see that Rolex it will be a little different. It’s great. It’s good momentum to get the season started off on the right foot."
Rounding out the front row will be Team Graves Yamaha riders Tommy Aquino and Josh Herrin.
Other notable qualifying efforts include 2007 Daytona 200 champion Steve Rapp (fifth), Michael Barnes (12th), MPH Racing’s Melissa Paris (28th) and 1989 Daytona 200 champion John Ashmead 38th.
The Daytona 200 will go green under the lights on Friday night at 8 p.m.
Benda motorcycles are beginning to make a ripple on US shores with four intriguing and competitive models, courtesy of its partnership with Keeway Group. We were impressed with the Napoleonbob 500 and have now gotten our gloves on the persuasive, entry-level 2026 Benda Chinchilla 300, with its modest MSRP of $4999. It would be difficult to design a more welcoming entry-level cruiser than this easy-handling, visually appealing boulevard bobber. Editor Don Williams and Associate Editor Kelly Callan discuss the Benda Chinchilla 300 and how it actually rode for them.
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Our guest this episode is Jesse Merriman, Chief Technician for Jeremy McWilliams at the Arch Motorcycle racing project. Arch Racing was founded by Gard Hollinger and Keanu Reevs to compete in the Moto America Super Hooligan race series. Teejay Adams chats with Jesse about the Arch motorcycle and the challenges of extracting the absolute most from an air-cooled V-Twin racing engine and custom chassis.
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Here’s quick reminder to check out our monthly digital magazine. It’s filled with everything you want to read on motorcycling, including some things you’ve probably not seen elsewhere. It’s absolutely free and you will find it on the Apple App Store and of course on Google Play as well.
Don’t forget to leave us your comments on our social media—we’re on all the usual platforms at Ultimate Motorcycling. We love hearing your feedback… so good or bad, please let us know what you think. If there’s something you’d like us to cover, we’d love to hear those ideas too!
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