AMA GO PRO DAYTONA SPORTBIKE SERIES
DAYTONA SPORTBIKE
BY LARRY LAWRENCE
PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRIAN J. NELSON
D
anny Eslick must have
channeled the late-great
Gary Nixon to win this one.
The similarities between the two
are remarkable. Both Eslick and
Nixon hail from Oklahoma, both
cut their teeth racing flat track,
Eslick has that same hard-charg-
ing riding style Nixon was famous
for and finally both put a Triumph
motorcycle atop the winner's ros-
trum in the Daytona 200.
Eslick, a high-spirited Okie
seemingly a throwback from an
earlier era of motorcycle racing,
ran a brilliant race for 200 miles.
His underdog Riders Discount
Triumph squad turned in very
respectable pit stops, keeping
Eslick on par with the well-oiled
Yamaha monolith. And develop-
ment on the Triumph Daytona
675 looks to have turned the
corner and, at Daytona at least,
it had the power, speed and reli-
ability to match the Yamaha R6,
the dominant force in Daytona
SportBike racing.
"I knew I had the motorcycle
to win seven or eight laps in," Es-
lick said. "Maybe a little further
in than that. It didn't matter if I
led out of the chicane or if I was
fourth out of the chicane, I could
lead across the stripe. That bike
ran really, really well. That Tri-
umph was amazing. I had a lot of
little issues, but it was awesome."
Eslick said he was on edge the
entire race.
"This one was pretty nerve-
wracking," he admitted. "This is
one of the biggest races in the
world. Obviously, the biggest
one that I've ever won. The one at
ROUND 1/MARCH 15, 2014
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY/DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA
P58
The Daytona 200 was all about Danny
Eslick, the Oklahoman giving Triumph
its first win in the race since 1967.
TRIUMPHANT
RETURN
Danny Eslick gives Triumph its
first Daytona 200 win in 47 years
