Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/279052
AMA GO PRO DAYTONA SPORTBIKE SERIES VOL. 51 ISSUE 11 MARCH 18, 2014 P65 ed school bus with a big viewing plat- form on top. They went crazy when he stopped and joined them. "I've watched many a race up there and those guys know how to have a good time," Eslick said. "If it wasn't for people like that, our sport wouldn't be where it's at. We need a whole lot more of them. During the week, during the weekend. They're from all over." Eslick claimed that after the press conference he was headed back to the bus. CN Daytona 200 1. Danny Eslick (Triumph) 2. Jake Gagne (Yamaha) 3. Jake Lewis (Yamaha) 4. Bobby Fong (Triumph) 5. Garrett Gerloff (Yamaha) 6. Kyle Wyman (Yamaha) 7. Luke Stapleford (Triumph) 8. Jake Zemke (Honda) 9. Bostjan Skubic (Yamaha) 10. Steve Rapp (Triumph) Briefly... As homologated or a brand/mod- el specific KIT system approved by AMA Pro Racing." It was not a good day for the two women in the Daytona 200. Elena Myers dropped out after mechanical problems with her Castrol Triumph and finished 29th. Melissa Paris was run- ning a solid race inside the top 20 when she crashed with less than 10 laps to go and was credited with 27th. "I'm just going to see if anyone has some fuel left and burn the place down," Paris joked after the race. "It's just been re- ally frustrating. I'm not a crasher, but if you watched me race this weekend you'd think otherwise." Paris crashed three times during the weekend on her MPH Racing Honda, twice on Friday in the chi- cane and "One grand finale at the end of that race," she said of her final crash in the 200 in turn one. "When you're not sure what's put- ting you on the ground, it's kind of hard to stop what's putting you on the ground. " Paris hurt her left shoulder in Saturday's crash. She had an ice pack on the shoulder after the race. "I can't figure out how to put ice on my ego," she quipped. Winner Danny Eslick led the most laps of the Daytona 200 at 44. Dane Westby led nine, Garett Gerloff three and Tomas Puerta led one lap. RoadRace Factory Yamaha team owner Danny Walker had a change of strategy for his team in this year's Daytona 200. "In the past I just wanted to survive this race," Walker said. "I'd tell my guys to just get through it. No- body likes that attitude. This year, with the shorter series, I sent out a team-wide email and told every- body that we were going to go for it this year." His rider Jake Gagne was runner up and last year's Su- persport champ Tomas Puerta ran in the lead pack before his bike experienced a transmission issue. "The team has really been busy in the off season. We jumped on board with Penske suspension with their new gas cartridge front forks and they've done a great job for us getting those things dialed in. It wasn't 100 percent, but hey, we just started. We're going to go for wins this year." When he talked about beating his former racing rival Chuck Graves' team in this race, Walker smiled and said, "It's a friendly rivalry, but we always want to beat Chuck." Points are structured differently this year in AMA Pro Road Rac- ing. Gone are the pole and lap leader points. At Daytona for the DSB race, since it's just one race, the Daytona 200, points were also awarded for qualifying posi- tions. That especially helped rid- ers like Jason DiSalvo and Dane Westby, who qualified well, but crashed out of the race. As an example, DiSalvo finished 31st in the race. Under the old system he wouldn't have scored any points, but since he qualified fourth he left Daytona fifth in the standings. Westby is sixth in the standings and JD Beach, who crashed and finished 28th in the race, leaves seventh in the standings.