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AMA Daytona SportBike New Jersey Race 2

Sunday, September 06, 2009

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Danny Eslick - Daytona SportBike Road America

Although Yamaha’s Josh Herrin won the race, Danny Eslick won the 2009 Daytona SportBike championship.

Yamaha’s Josh Herrin won the final Daytona SportBike race of the 2009 season today in New Jersey over Erion Honda’s Jake Zemke and Herrin’s teammate Tommy Aquino. But the real winner this weekend was the Geico/Rossmeyer-backed Buell 1125R piloted by Danny Eslick. Eslick's seventh place finish today gave American motorcycle manufacturer, Buell its first premier class championship.

At the start of the race it was Aprilia’s Chaz Davies out in front. Davies would eventually crash out of the lead handing the position to Herrin. Herrin remained out in front for the remainder of the race until Zemke came flying by in the closing stages of the race. Herrin would make a last lap pass for the win narrowly acing out Zemke by a margin of just .063 seconds.

Behind him would be Aquino, followed by the other Erion Honda piloted by Chris Peris. The Monster Energy Kawasakis of Jamie Hacking and Roger Lee Hayden finished in fifth and sixth position. Next up was the series' new champ, Eslick, followed by M4 Suzuki’s Jason DiSalvo and privateer Clinton Sellar. Ricky Parker would round out the top-10.

Noticeably absent out of the line-up was championship hopeful and M4 Suzuki rider Martin Cardenas who had to pull out of the race due to a lingering right hand injury suffered at Virginia International Raceway.

Daytona SportBike Race 2 Results:
1. Josh Herrin, Yamaha YZF-R6
2. Jake Zemke, Honda CBR600RR
3. Tommy Aquino, Yamaha YZF-R6
4. Chris Peris, Honda CBR600RR
5. Jamie Hacking, Kawasaki ZX-6R
6. Roger Hayden, Kawasaki ZX-6R
7. Danny Eslick, Buell 1125R
8. Jason DiSalvo, Suzuki GSX-R600
9. Clinton Seller, Yamaha YZF-R6
10. Ricky Parker, Yamaha YZF-R6
11. Leandro Mercado, Kawasaki ZX-6R
12. Taylor Knapp, Buell 1125R
13. Michael Beck, Yamaha YZF-R6
14. Kyle Wyman, Yamaha YZF-R6
15. Christian Cronin, Yamaha YZF-R6

2009 AMA Superbike Gallery

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Mat Mladin Bio

During the past decade, Mat Mladin has been the most dominant rider in the modern era of AMA Superbike racing.

Ben Bostrom

Ben Bostrom has truly rode his way to international stardom. After winning the hearts of American race fans, Ben took his show overseas.

Larry Pegram Bio

Larry Pegram was born in Columbus Ohio and has been racing as a professional since 1988.

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View all articles by Adam Waheed
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Comments

Question to - Killer Coastie September 11, 2009 10:20 PM
By your logic, we should reward Buell for making a 'Sportbike' that is so heavy and bloated that it requires an 88% displacement advantage to be competitive?

Speedjunkie - Buell-DMG September 10, 2009 07:35 PM
Seems like DMG rules were taylor made for Buell then !!! : ) LOL

Killer Coastie - reply September 9, 2009 03:08 PM
Hey, they made their decision on what bikes would be allowed on a HP/pound ratio. It all worked out in the end. Some tracks, the imports were faster, some tracks Eslick was faster (not all the Buells). The 1098 isn't allowed in DSB because it makes too much HP for the class. You get that out of an exotic bike twice the price. The RR isn't allowed in DSB for the same reason.

If the other riders think there is such an advantage to one make, then why wouldn't they switch and win a Championship? It happens all the time in every form of motorsports. You can't blame Eslick, he did what he was supposed to do and within DMG's rules.

Bill - Killer Coastie September 8, 2009 11:01 PM
"Why aren't any of you crybabies whamping about the Aprillia in DSB/??? It too has a 1000+ cc V-twin motor. Maybe because it didn't win"? First off that bike has 997cc not 1000cc+ second it does not belong either it's also ironic that both of those bikes engines were made by the same people, Rotax in Austria.

"Buell is getting their Superbike act together. A 5th and 7th place finish this past weekend shows promise". No Buell finished fifth this past weekend or all season for that matter in superbike.

"You guys just don't understnad the V-twin versus in line 4 comparison. It's not just about displacement. A 600 cc V-twin would never put out the power to compete with the 4's. The power bands are apples to oranges different". Really Killer Coastie, tell this to Ducati, you know the v-twin sport bike makers that have dominated WSB for about two decades now. They didn't need an 88% displacement advantage, only a 20% and for a few years they had the same displacement remember the 999 it raced against 1000cc I4. But Buell needs an 88% advantage against 600s and what's really crazy is the Ducati 1098, a bike with LESS displacement than the Buell, can't race in Daytona sport bike.

Now how is it possible the 1125RR is somewhat competitive with 1000cc bikes without having an 88% displacement advantage??? This in of its self proves how comically bogus the whole Buell issue is and for the people who don't see this or understand this you’re both clueless and helpless. Even when Honda and Suzuki built v-twin super bikes they were 996cc going against 750cc and the RC51 kicked butt in AMA and WSB. Heck a 10 yr. old Tl1000R or RC51 would cream a Buell 1125R.

Killer Coastie - 1125 Superbike September 8, 2009 08:12 PM
I do not believe that the two bikes are the same. The DSB 1125R is a modified street bike. All the parts are available to anybody from Buell for an extra 25K. The tires are DOT race tires. The Superbike is an 1125RR and is a full race version. I do not know as to the availability of parts. Cory West's best lap on the RR in SB was in the 1:21 range; whereas Eslicks' DSB best laps were a few seconds slower (1:24 I believe). Both times were on par with the top competition in both classes. I know the SB uses full slick tires, but I doubt that accounts for all the speed pick-up. This race was the RR's debut. Knapp ditched his Buell for a Yamaha in Super bike earlier in the year, until Buell got the RR out. Higbee ran Buell all year in Super bike, but was much slower than the rest of the class. I suspect it was a DSB 1125R with slicks. In this last race, Higbee was 5-7 seconds a lap slower than the leaders. Part of that is the rider, no doubt.

Also remeber - the Buell September 8, 2009 06:39 PM
is powered by an AUSTRIAN Rotax engine

That's the point - Killer Coastie September 8, 2009 06:37 PM
If as you say the Buell can enter the essentially same bike in 'Sportbike' as Superbike, can the Ducati enter the 1198 in the 'Sportbike' class? Also, I think all would content that the Aprilia RSV and the KTM Superdude (raced in Laguna) are in the wrong class.

Killer Coastie - What about the Aprillia RSV1000 September 8, 2009 05:37 PM
Why aren't any of you crybabies whamping about the Aprillia in DSB/??? It too has a 1000+ cc V-twin motor. Maybe because it didn't win?

You guys just don't understnad the V-twin versus in line 4 comparison. It's not just about displacement. A 600 cc V-twin would never put out the power to compete with the 4's. The power bands are apples to oranges different. Remember Formula Xtreme? All those bikes weren't evenly matched with displacemnt. DSB is the same thing with a different name.

Buell is getting their Superbike act together. A 5th and 7th place finish this past weekend shows promise. A tweaking of the engine and some top talent pilots might be enough to let this bike compete with the big boys.

Go Buell!

Bill - Rossi September 8, 2009 01:13 PM
“Nice going Eslick, incredible performance and you have a bright future.
This goes back to the classic "American Dream" hard work will always pay off”.

Eslick will have a very bright future as long as he stays on that cheater bike. This is not an American dream it is an American embarrassment. It doesn’t take too much hard work to pay someone else in Europe to build you a bike with nearly twice the displacement of your competition and not allow any other v-twin engine bikes of equal displacement to compete against you. Because I am such a proud and traditional American, this whole Buell 1125R thing makes disgusted.

An American dream is when you play fair and in most cases you are the underdog and you beat your opponent because you are smarter, stronger, and more determined. Not because you lobbied to have rules put grossly in your favor and having someone else build the bike.

“I think this has proven that Buell can build a bike that is capable to meet and exceed japanese performance.
wait until Buell is in WSB and then Ben spies won't have to ride a jap bike to win”. Ahh…Rossi, Ben Spies races with the big boys not little 599cc bikes. The Buell would not even qualify on the starting grid dead last in WSB.

Rossi - congrtas to Buell September 8, 2009 10:15 AM
Nice going Eslick, incredible performance and you have a bright future.
This goes back to the classic "American Dream" hard work will always pay off.

I think this has proven that Buell can build a bike that is capable to meet and exceed japanese performance.
wait until Buell is in WSB and then Ben spies won't have to ride a jap bike to win.

thewall - What a joke September 8, 2009 01:01 AM
Buell didn't "win" anything. It was handed to them. All I had to watch was Topeka to convince me not to watch another Daytona Superbike race again under the current rules. Eslick and the Buell would lose time everywhere on the track but when he got to the straight he'd make up three bike lengths just by twisting the throttle. Ridiculous.

ZX6R-rider - Buell Unfair and UnAmerican September 7, 2009 07:15 PM
Bill have to agree with you. A bike with almost double the displacement is unfair and unAmerican in the Daytona Sport Bike class. We Americans believe in fair play. We believe in competing against the best on a level playing field. The Buell 1125cc competing against bikes with only 600cc is not fair. Especially when bikes like the 1098 Ducati are not allowed. The Buell should be allowed to compete only in the Superbike.

Bill - Killer Coastie September 7, 2009 04:00 PM
“If Eslick was on a R6, he would've still been challenging for the championship”. Hardly, Eslick raced 600cc bikes for a number of seasons before going to Buell and was never a championship contender; Eslick was even given not one but two chances with a factory yosh Suzuki gsxr600 and finished outside of the top five both times.

Eslick is talented. But not as talented as Josh Herrin, Martin Cardenas, and many other riders that were beating Eslick on bikes that unarguably made less hp and torque.

As for Michael Barnes he is old and has won only one ama race in his entire career, get real.

The fact Eslick does not even have a contract yet tells you team owners know it was more of the bike with an unfair advantage that won the championship than the rider; otherwise he would already have a contracted ride for next year.

Only Buell has a bike that can race against 600s and 1000s. After all, Buell claims the 1125RR simply has a few modifications that most racers would do to the bikes anyways. No amount of modifications to a 600 would make it competitive with a 1000, but the Buell1125RR finished 7th in superbike at NJMP.

How can a bike (1125R) be considered “fair” to race against 600s but with only a few modifications, (according to Buell), suddenly become competitive with superbikes???

Killer Coastie - Let it start now... September 7, 2009 02:19 PM
The only unfair advantage the Buell had was rider Danny Eslick!!! No other Buell even came close to competing. If Eslick was on a R6, he would've still been challenging for the championship. He's a free agent going into the off season. Personally, I would like to see the RMR Buell go to Superbike with Eslick to develop that program further. It'll take a couple of years, but I believe they can close the gap. If Buell loses Eslick next year and doesn't replace him with a top talent, you'll see the 1125R drop off considerably. Just look at Michael Barnes identically prepared Geico RMR Buell. He was 2 seconds slower than Slick at all the tracks. I'm telling you, Eslick is for real. Maybe it's his dirt track racing background, but he'll be good next year too.

FearlessNSeattle - I second the Congrats to Buell September 7, 2009 12:15 PM
Amazing they have bike with huge unfair advantage in horsepower, torque, and displacement yet they only when the championship by only 5 points. Monumental Erik Monumental

Congrats - to Buell September 6, 2009 10:48 PM
They have proved they can build a 1000+ cc motorcycle that is competitve with their 600cc counterparts

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