Daytona SportBike Mid Ohio Race 2 2011

RMR Suzuki's Danny Eslick secured a close DSB victory on Sunday at Mid Ohio. In a race that went down to the wire Eslick fought a bitter battle with Graves Yamaha’s Josh Herrin, who in the end couldn’t match Eslick’s consistency. Yamaha Extended Service’s Tommy Aquino claimed second in Race 2, taking his first podium of the season ahead of Jake Holden Racing’s Cameron Beaubier.
 
Team Graves Yamaha’s Josh Herrin had the holeshot to start the race with Latus Motors Racing’s Jason DiSalvo and Eslick right alongside him. After exiting the first few turns Eslick had moved into the lead as DiSalvo encountered pressure from Herrin for second. A few turns later Herrin snaked his way to the inside for the pass on DiSalvo as Yamaha Extended Service’s Tommy Aquino and Vesrah Suzuki’s Cory West trailed in fourth and fifth, respectively. Eager to pounce on Eslick quickly this time, Herrin set the fastest lap as he searched for a way around. Meanwhile, Jake Holden suffered more mechanical trouble with his bike as he was forced to return to the pits with a second DNF. Behind the front pack West became replaced by Jake Holden Racing’s Cameron Beaubier, who was making his way to the front with another pass on Aquino for fourth. It was extremely tense during the first half as the top-five riders were within a second of each other and shuffling for position.
 
Beaubier started pressuring DiSalvo for third when Herrin shot by Eslick for the lead at Turn 2. Herrin’s moment of glory was taken back, however, when Eslick completed a late breaking maneuver to reclaim the lead as Beaubier made it ahead of DiSalvo for third. DiSalvo’s race went from good to bad in an instant after he ran wide through Turn 7 and dropped to the back. As tension continued to mount up front, Race 1 winner Westby was watching the action from sixth as he started closing in on the top-five. After many attempts Herrin finally broke past Eslick’s defense as the two were neck and neck in the final half of the race.
 
Westby continued to advance through the field by passing West for fifth. The order was Eslick, Herrin, Beaubier, Aquino and Westby with six laps to go. Aquino blasted by Beaubier for third as the top-five all stood a chance of winning the race at this point. On the final lap Westby was up to fourth ahead of Beaubier with Eslick still leading the pack. Herrin and Eslick continued to fight side by side, but Eslick repeatedly closed all doors in Herrin’s face. On his final attempt to the inside Herrin missed his mark and ran wide, dropping back to fourth behind Eslick, Aquino and Beaubier.

"Josh [Herrin] got up there next to me a few times and even led a lap, but I knew where he was going to make his move at the end, and I wasn’t going to make that mistake again," said Eslick. "It was an awesome race: hot, greasy, sliding around … it was a lot of fun.”

Eslick went on to take the checkers 0.210 seconds ahead of Aquino, who posted his first podium of the season in second. Beaubier nabbed third across the line more than half a second behind Aquino, with Westby and Herrin rounding out the top-five.

“If I could have passed somebody earlier, I would have done it, but Danny was setting an incredible pace and Josh was following, so I just had to do what I had to do," said Aquino.

Daytona SportBike Mid Ohio Race 2 Results:
1. Danny Eslick (Suzuki)
2. Tommy Aquino (Yamaha)
3. Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha)
4. Dane Westby (Suzuki)
5. Josh Herrin (Yamaha)
6. Cory West (Suzuki)
7. Jason DiSalvo (Ducati)
8. Paul Allsion (Yamaha)
9. Taylor Knapp (Suzuki)
10. Tyler OHara (Yamaha)
11. Kyle Wyman (Yamaha)
12. Emerson Connor (Ducati)
13. Huntley Nash (Yamaha)
14. Christian Cronin (Yamaha)
15. Fernando Amantini (Kawasaki)

2011 Daytona SportBike Championship Points:
1. Danny Eslick, 214
2. Josh Herrin, 199
3. Jason DiSalvo, 173
4. Tommy Aquino, 167
5. Cory West, 166
6. Cameron Beaubier, 149
7. Dane Westby, 144
8. Taylor Knapp, 107
9. PJ Jacobsen, 95
10. Tyler OHara, 94