Danny Eslick had no troubles with his Buell 1125R at Fontana, with the rising star delivering the American marque its first-ever Daytona SportBike victory.
Danny Eslick swept the AMA Daytona SportBike double-header at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, March 20-21, winning both rounds of the weekend aboard his Bruce Rossmeyer’s Daytona Racing/RMR Buell 1125R in dramatically different fashion to achieve his first career AMA Pro Racing wins. The victories were also the first in AMA Pro Racing competition for the Buell 1125R.
In Saturday’s Race 1, Eslick jumped out to the lead on the first lap, and as Team M4 Suzuki’s Martin Cardenas, Monster Energy/Attack Kawasaki’s Jamie Hacking, Team M4 Suzuki’s Jason DiSalvo and Erion Honda’s Jake Zemke engaged in a dogfight for the second and third steps on the podium behind him, he broke away for a commanding wire-to-wire victory.
The 22-year-old Broken Arrow, Okla., rider lead by more than seven seconds at one point before backing down on the final lap to take a celebratory wheelie across the start-finish stripe. His victory margin was 2.5 seconds over second place Hacking. Eslick also recorded the fast lap of the race, a 1:27.832.
“I got a good start and broke away from those guys,” said Eslick. “They were battling each other back there and I had sort of a lonely race up front. I just kept my head down and kept watching my lap timer. The Buell 1125R was awesome.”
Jamie Hacking follows Danny Eslick during Race 2 of AMA Daytona SportBike's double heade at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California.
Eslick again charged to the front and lead every lap of Sunday’s Race 2, but had a much tougher fight on his hands from Hacking. After an early three-lap caution period, Eslick reassumed the lead on the restart and built a small gap, and by the time Hacking worked his way up from fourth past Erion Honda’s Jake Zemke and Graves Yamaha’s Josh Herrin into second on Lap 13, Eslick had jumped out to a 2-second lead. But Hacking clawed his way back into contention, closing the gap to just 0.151 second by Lap 19 and setting up a battle to the checkered flag as the pair broke away from the rest of the field. At the stripe, Eslick bested the veteran factory rider by less than a tenth of a second. Team M4 Suzuki’s Jason DiSalvo made a late-race charge to nip teammate Martin Cardenas by a photo-finish margin of 0.031 second for third place. The gap from Hacking to DiSalvo was eight seconds.
“I got the holeshot and I built a little bit of a gap, but then Jamie was all over me. He never really showed me a wheel, and I kept waiting for a big move from him but it never happened,” Eslick said. “It was an awesome weekend and it was just spectacular to get my first two [AMA Pro Racing] wins.”
Eslick celebrating his two-race winning streak in Daytona SportBike after his Fontana win.
“We are so honored to have this great Bruce Rossmeyer/RMR/GEICO team and a rider like Danny Eslick,” said Erik Buell, Chairman and Chief Technical Officer of Buell Motorcycle Company. “Danny is exploring all the differences of the Buell, like ZTL brakes and fuel in the frame, and he likes what he’s finding. AMA Pro Racing’s new Daytona SportBike class is great competition, with six brands finishing in the top ten. It’s going to be an incredible season to watch motorcycle racing in America, and best of all to watch an American sportbike finally battling for wins.”
