It seemed so perfect didn’t it? Erik Buell, the man whose single-minded pursuit of the great American sportbike has lasted over 25 years, was poised to see his latest incarnation, the Buell 1125R, win the coveted Daytona 200.

It was the perfect combination of events during the 2009 running of America’s most prestigious motorcycle road race. First there is Danny Eslick, one of the most promising young talents in AMA’s road racing series campaigning the Bruce Rossmeyer’s Daytona Racing Buell 1125R. Second is the advantageous inclusion of the large-displacement Buell Superbike Twin in the new Daytona SportBike class, which features a hodgepodge of rides against the 600cc Japanese Inline Fours. Add in historical tidbits like it being the first ever running of the 200 under the lights and the fact that no American bike had claimed victory since the back-to-back victories in 1968 and 1969 by the legendary Cal Rayborn for Harley-Davidson.

It seemed like the stars were aligning… And for the first 10 laps Eslick was up front with the factory rides, dicing for the lead!

Then the 1125R totally Buell’ed it.

Eslick pulled into the pits with his 1125’s bodywork falling apart. The scene was hard to watch, a frustrated Eslick sitting atop the bike in pit row, with Buell technicians frantically using zip-ties to perform mechanical triage. It’s easy to visualize Erik Buell shooting his television Elvis-style once Eslick began personally applying the duct tape to his 1125R bodywork.

Rejoining the race the Buell ace would later be disqualified for passing on a yellow flag during what was a messy and confusing race. Yamaha’s Ben Bostrom would be the eventual winner. But it seems the results of the Daytona 200 on the night it finishes are never the actual results of the race… (Remember last year’s disqualification of Josh Hayes).

On a positive note for Buell: 1125R rider Shawn Higbee scored a top-five finish in the endurance race and it looks like Eslick will be a legitimate threat during the remaining SportBike season.

That said, it’s impossible not to look at Buell’s Daytona 200 as anything but a missed opportunity.

2009 Daytona 200 Results