Danny Eslick, one of the most successful American road racers during the last decade, has plans to go racing in 2019 but he currently does not have a ride in the 2019 MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American Road Racing Series.
Last week, Scheibe Racing announced that it planned to go racing in the 2019 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship with former World Superbike racer and former MotoAmerica Superstock 1000 Champion Jake Gagne.
In 2018, Scheibe Racing fielded Eslick on its BMW S1000RR, and the 32-year-old Oklahoma rider qualified and raced near the front of the MotoAmerica Superbike field at points of the season. Ultimately, Eslick finished ninth in the final point standings with four sixth-place finishes as his best race results.
Prior to that, Eslick took fourth in the 2016 and 2017 MotoAmerica Superstock 1000 Championships, winning one race and finishing on the podium at least six times in each season.
When Roadracingworld.com reached out to Eslick Monday to learn about his racing plans for 2019, Eslick responded with a text message that read: “Well up until last Tuesday [January 29], I was under the impression that I was going to ride for Scheibe again. The cards didn’t fall that way. I’m excited for Jake to be back in the states. He will enjoy working with Steve [Scheibe] and the rest of the team.”
In spite of this latest development, Eslick, a two-time AMA Pro Daytona Sportbike Champion and two-time AMA Pro Harley-Davidson XR1200 Champion, said he still intends to go racing in 2019. Eslick reported that in March he will go for his fifth Daytona 200 race win (which would tie him with Scott Russell and Miguel Duhamel for the most Daytona 200 wins all-time) at Daytona International Speedway and that he will ride a TOBC Racing Yamaha YZF-R6.
Eslick took his first Daytona 200 win on a Triumph Daytona 675R in 2014, and he has earned his last three Daytona 200 victories (and his two MotoAmerica Superstock 1000 race wins) with TOBC Racing. In 2015, Eslick won the Daytona 200 using a TOBC Racing Suzuki GSX-R600, and in 2017 and 2018 he won riding a TOBC Racing Yamaha YZF-R6.
“At this point I’m just focusing on the 200,” wrote Eslick, “and if something good comes up in MotoAmerica I’d love to be out there racing. I’ll be back out at some of the AFT races this year, as well.”