Geico Powersports/RMR Suzuki's...
Geico Powersports/RMR Suzuki's Danny Eslick came out on top of yet another thrilling Daytona SportBike race at NJMP.
MILLVILLE, NJ, SEPT 5 – Geico Powersports/RMR Suzuki’s Danny Eslick barged his way past Team Graves Yamaha’s Josh Herrin on the final lap to win a thrill-filled Daytona SportBike race at New Jersey Motorsports Park. The race was one of the best of the year, with the lead pack of ten covered by a little over a second for most of the race and constant lead changes.
Eslick was among the leaders from the start and resolute in trying to lead as many laps to get the extra point. Lap leaders included Eslick, Team Graves Yamaha’s Herrin and Tommy Aquino, Vesrah Suzuki’s Cory West, DNA Energy CNA Motorsports’ Ducati’s Bobby Fong, Project 1 Atlanta’s Dane Westby, Celtic Racing’s P.J. Jacobsen (Suzuki) and M4 Monster Energy Suzuki’s Martin Cardenas, who was something of a slow starter.
Eslick had started well, getting the holeshot from Aquino, West, Westby, Fong, Rapp, Cardenas, Fillmore and Herrin. On lap three West took the lead into turn one until Aquino made his first pass for the lead. Aquino would end the third lap out front of Fong, who’d passed Eslick for second. The next lap Aquino kept the lead, but barely and not for long. Eslick drafted from third to first into one with Aquino holding second, West third, and Fong fourth.
Ending the seventh Aquino was back in front of Eslick, with West third and Fong fourth—there were now eight riders on the lead second. Eslick was back in front with a draft pass into turn one, West also passing Aquino, while Rapp now held fourth. Herrin was on the move in fifth, with Fong in front of Cardenas and Westby the final rider on the lead second. Eslick and West crossed the line side by side ending the tenth lap, as Aquino held third from Rapp, Herrin, Westby and Cardenas. Fong was now a second back of Eslick in eighth.
The halfway point was marked with Eslick leading from West, Aquino, Herrin now in fourth, Rapp, Westby Cardenas and Fong. Rapp was out on the 13th lap in turn ten while in fifth.
Eslick continued to rack up the laps led, making sure he earned the point that goes to the laps led leader. He led again on the 14th from West, Aquino, Herrin, and Cardenas, with Westby running off the track and out of sixth place; he’d drop down to eighth at the end of the 15th. West’s race ended in turn one starting the 17th lap; the Vesrah Suzuki rider ran straight in turn one and parked his front wheel in the gravel trap, the bike remaining upright as he walked away.
Eslick drafted pass leader Aquino into turn one on the 19th lap as the pack of eight stuck together, covered by 1.288 seconds. Vesrah Suzuki’s Chris Fillmore, the last rider in the lead pack in eighth, crashed early on lap 21; that put the pack now at seven, Eslick, Herrin and Fong at the front, Cardenas coming through to join the lead trio. Cardenas made a banzai move into turn one, going from fourth to first starting lap 22, but ran wide and slid the rear tire sideways as the leaders—Herrin, Eslick, and Fong—went back past.
The overwhelming majority of the passes came into the turn one right at the end of the front straight, and the last lap was no exception. Eslick led across the stripe from Herrin, Fong, Cardenas and Dane Westby with Herrin making the turn one pass and bringing Fong with him, though just briefly. Eslick quick reassumed second while Cardenas moved into third.
It wasn’t long before two of the lead pack took each other out. Westby and Fong both went down but both remounted. Westby finished sixth and Fong seventh. But the real action was at the front.
Herrin was leading when Eslick barged through in turn nine, clearly carrying too much corner speed, pushing Herrin wide, and killing his momentum. There was no way Herrin could catch back up in the final few corners. Eslick sped to victory by a deceptive .506 seconds from Herrin and Cardenas. Jacobsen equaled his career best finish of fourth. Then came Aquino.
“I thought that I could pull it off, but I went a little bit too deep and it wasn’t possible,” admitted Cardenas about his banzai move. “So I think I lost there the chance to try to win the race with that move, because in the next lap I think Westby passed me again, so I was kind of fourth or fifth going into the last lap. Fortunately for me and unfortunately for them, Bobby Fong crash into Westby so I could finish third. Is OK result. Was better to win, but wasn’t possible this time and we try next time.”
“The race went really good,” said Herrin. “It was a lot of picking off to do but I was trying to be patient and work my way through the field. It ended up being pretty good. We got up to the front with about five laps, six laps to go, so I was pretty happy with that that I had some time to think about what I had to do. The last lap was pretty good. I thought I was able to pulle a little bit of a gap, but I guess I wasn’t and Danny got us. He outsmarted us. We’ll come back to Barber fighting strong and I look forward to it.”
“My plan was totally not what I did today…the outcome was,” admitted a happy Eslick. “The plan for the race [was to] sit back, try to be like Martin and come in strong in the last five laps. From the green flag that was out the window. I knew it was going to be a bunch of guys, like it always is. I didn’t know there were 10; I’m glad I didn’t know that. I knew something exciting was going to happen for sure. Coming down to these last two races of the championship, it doesn’t get any better or cleaner than that.”
Five points separated the top three coming into the race and now the gap was wider, with only the two races at the final round at Barber Motorsports Park to run. Eslick, who won his third race of the season, has 356 to 348 for Herrin and 341 for Cardenas.
Daytona SportBike race results:
1. Danny Eslick (Suzuki)
2. Josh Herrin (Yamaha)
3. Martin Cardenas (Suzuki)
4. P.J. Jacobsen (Suzuki)
5. Tommy Aquino (Yamaha)
6. Dane Westby (Yamaha)
7. Bobby Fong (Ducati)
8. Paul Allison (Yamaha)
9. Michael Beck (Ducati)
10. Russ Wikle (Suzuki)