AMA Pro Daytona SportBike Race Two Report West Coast Moto Jam – Infineon Raceway SONOMA, CA – Danny Eslick finally attained his first AMA Pro Daytona SportBike presented by AMSOIL win of the 2010 season on Sunday afternoon in the final race of the West Coast Moto Jam at Infineon Raceway’s 2.32-mile natural road course. In a weekend that saw riders in each class take well deserved wins, no one was happier and more relieved than Eslick. The reigning Daytona SportBike champion showed that consistency is key, once again pushing his GEICO Powersports Richie Morris Racing Suzuki to the maximum to earn a hard-fought victory over the 31-bike field and take control of the point standings with his fifth podium finish in the season’s seven races. Over the course of the 22-lap sprint race, nine different riders occupied the top five spots. Eslick surged to the front almost immediately and had to battle intensely in a quest for his first 2010 race win. The lead freight train was rarely separated by more than a second and although Eslick led 19 laps, it was never truly clear who was poised to take the top spot. Josh Herrin on his Team Graves Yamaha, Steve Rapp with his Team Latus Motors Racing Ducati, Martin Cardenas on his Saturday race one winning M4 Monster Energy Suzuki and pole sitter Tommy Aquino on his Team Graves Yamaha all took the fight to Eslick with intentions to take the win. Cardenas suffered an early mishap in the turn nine left/right complex and wasn’t able to continue after coming together with another rider, but it was Rapp, who took the lead from Eslick on lap 17, that was poised to be the rider to once again deny Eslick of a 2010 win. In a cruel twist, Rapp unfortunately had the bike slide out from under him while leading lap 21. He was able to rejoin the fray to finish a brave 16th. A number of other riders also had falls today, one of which necessitated a red flag. Russ Wikle went down in turn five and Michael Beck unfortunately made inevitable contact with him. Wikle was airlifted to Santa Rosa Medical Center for further examination. He was awake and alert when he left the track and was undergoing further examination at the hospital. He had spoken to his parents but the full extent of his injuries was still being evaluated. When the race wound down, Daytona 200 winner Herrin took second and Dane Westby riding his Project 1 Atlanta Yamaha closed out the podium in third place, his third podium this season. Polesitter Tommy Aquino, who led three laps in Saturday’s race and never fell below seventh position this weekend, battled his way to a fourth place finish. Fifth was Cory West on his Vesrah Suzuki, followed by Bobby Fong in sixth, who ran as high as second position in the early stages of the race aboard his DNA Energy Drink CNR Motorsports Ducati. Seventh was the second Vesrah Suzuki of Chris Fillmore, eighth was P.J. Jacobson riding for Celtic Racing Suzuki. Eli Edwards took ninth with his Edwards Racing Yamaha and rounding out the top ten was Tyler Odom riding a Honda for Erion Racing. Eslick completed the day with a spectacular wheelie for the television cameras and also a loud, smokey burnout as he pulled into the Infineon Raceway victory lane. Sunday’s first place finish marked Eslick’s eighth career AMA Pro Daytona SportBike presented by AMSOIL win, but if his consistent finishes so far this year are any indication, expect to see him in victory lane at least once a weekend for the rest of the season. Next up for the series will be the classic four mile road course through the Kettle Moraine country of Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin’s Road America, June 4-6. Visit www.amaproracing.com for all the latest information and results. More, from a press release issued by MPH Racing: Melissa Paris Earns First AMA Pro Racing Points Finishes at Infineon MPH Racing’s Melissa Paris broke through to two points paying finishes this past weekend at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California, culminating in a hard earned fifteenth place during Sunday’s Daytona Sportbike final. Held under windy and cool conditions at the 2.32 mile Northern California circuit, Sunday’s event was a race-long battle with several local track experts. After a mid-race red flag, Melissa gridded her MPH/Royal Purple/Iron Man 2 Yamaha R6 eighteenth and fought her way through to pick up three positions before the checkered flag flew. Saturday’s race was also a positive result, Paris collecting her first-ever AMA points-paying finish as she raced aggressively up to the top twenty from a 28th place starting spot. The team had struggled at the previous round in Atlanta, but the 26-year-old Paris, who grew up in nearby Concord, steadily lowered her lap times and made the weekend a successful one as friends and family cheered her on. The team now heads to Miller Motorsports Park next for the FIM World Supersport Championship round being held there Memorial Day weekend. Melissa qualified for the event last year and hopes for a point scoring finish this year. “I’m happy to have made some progress this weekend,” Melissa said. “Rick and the crew made some good improvements to get me more comfortable with the bike. I feel like we finally have some momentum now, and I’m looking forward to the next round.” RM Racing’s Rick Matheny added, “Melissa impressed me this weekend with her work ethic and her commitment to improving the bike setup, and I think that showed in her best-ever AMA results. She’s still learning the tracks we’re still learning how to communicate with each other, but it is quickly coming together. I’m lucky to have a really good crew helping us at every round and we’re looking forward to the upcoming World Championship round at Miller.” MPH Racing is sponsored by Yamaha, GYTR, Royal Purple, RM Racing, Joe Rocket, Leo Vince, Motion Pro, Spiegler, Barbara Conner Jewelry, Factory BW, Millenium Technologies, Ballistic Batteries, Zero Gravity, GB Racing, Concept 5, Vesrah Brakes, XT Racing, Kurvey Girl, and Dynojet. More, from a press release issued by NOT ACCORDING TO PLAN! Sonoma, Calif.–Things definitely didn’t go according to plan for the Crozier Roberson/DNA Energy Drink Motorsports Team this past weekend at the West Coast Monster Jam at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif. “Wow, what a weekend,” said team manager and co-owner Mark Crozier. “We started out really strong with Joey Pascarella qualifying his DNA Energy Drink Ducati in second place in AMA Pro Supersport West. Bobby Fong grabbed a 4th place slot on AMA Pro Daytona SportBike and Michael Beck followed up with a 12th on the starting grid. But as things began to unfold, it became painfully clear that that was all the good fortune that Lady Luck had in store for us over the weekend.” Riding the DNA Energy Drink Ducati for the first time, Pascarella powered off the Supersport starting line determined to land on the podium. Running strong, he ran up front for some laps and then settled into second. All was looking good and then disaster struck. Holding down the number 2 slot, Pascarella high sided and brought out the red flag. “Due to the number of laps completed, the red, flag ended the race and Joey had to take an 18th place finish,” explains Crozier. “The crew immediately swung into action rebuilding Pascarell’s DNA Energy Drink Ducati for Sunday’s race.” Looking for a good day, Pascarella once again thundered off the start and was going full bore when he once again high sided coming out of the last corner. “Once again, the red flag came out,” continues Crozier. “But this time we were a little luckier. The crew managed to get the bike repaired just in time for the restart and Joey was able to make it from dead last to 8th place. He did an incredible job as did the crew and despite all our problems, Joey retained a 45 point lead.” For Bobby Fong, it really didn’t go much better. “On Saturday Bobby got a bad start,” says Crozier. “He managed to move up and was running in the lead pack until around lap 11 when he lost the front end and crashed giving him a DNF. Once again, the crew got to work rebuilding the bike. Things looked a little better on Sunday. Bobby got a great start and was once again running up with the leaders. Everyone had their fingers crossed, but it wasn’t our day. Excessive tire wear forced him to slow down and he came across the finish line in 6th place.” For Michael Beck Saturday went a little better. Running an extremely smooth and consistent race, Beck ended up taking an 11th place finish in his first race on the DNA Energy Ducati. “While Saturday was smooth, Sunday was a different story,” says Crozier. “While battling for 10th, a rider in front went down and Beck had nowhere to go but down. Once again, our crew wasn’t about to give up. Springing into action, they got Beck’s bike back into running order and he was able to restart. Putting his head down, Beck managed to move back up to 11th. Unfortunately, he high sided coming out of turn one and ended his day.” “If it could go wrong, it did,” sums up co-owner Robbie Roberson. “I definitely take my hat off to our crew. They did a phenomenal job. I know our riders are determined, but that is nothing compared to our crew. There wasn’t a single moment that they contemplated giving up. It was all systems go from start to finish.” “We have 16 days to get everything ready for the next round and there is no doubt that we will be ready,” says Crozier. “Hopefully Lady Luck will give us a smile next time out.” Crozier Roberson Motorsports is sponsored by: DNA Energy Drink, Quality Brands, Inc., FMF, Arai Helmets, Race Tech, Motion Pro, Pit Bull, EBC Brakes, EK, Melillimoto Ducati, Moto-Heaven.com, XES, Thrust Company, HEL, Woodcraft, Armour Bodies, Puma, Held Gloves, GP Tech, Active, Zero Gravity and Christopher Bean Coffee. More, from a press release issued by Vesrah Suzuki: VESRAH SUZUKI RIDERS FINISH 5TH AND 7TH IN DAYTONA SPORTBIKE RACE 2 AT THE WEST COAST MOTO JAM AT INFINEON RACEWAY IN SONOMA CA. Vesrah Suzuki finished up a difficult weekend with rider Cory West rebounding from a crash during morning warm up to finish 5th in Daytona Sportbike Race 2 at Infineon Raceway and Chris Fillmore continued with his string of strong top 10 finishes with 7th place. Cory now sits in 5th place in the season points and Chris is in 8th. The team is now looking forward to the next round at Road America in Elkhart Lake WI, which is the team’s home race with the race shop located a little over an hour from the track. Mark Junge Team Owner Vesrah Suzuki “I have to thank my team for the effort put forth this weekend facing difficulties finding set-ups that would work at this track was trying but they never gave up and made great progress. The team put their heads together and never stopped trying to work out a successful plan of attack.” Cory West Vesrah Suzuki #57 “So we had a lot of new settings to try this morning to try and help get me closer to the front but I did not make the most of the session. I had a big highside in turn 1 on my 2nd lap out and it rang my bell pretty good. I did manage to get back out on my spare bike and it felt way better than Saturday’s race bike.” “The race was pretty wild but I was definitely closer to the front than yesterday. I ran as high as 4th and was close to a podium at the end but did not have the tires under me to be in contention. I’m happy that we improved our set-up and got ourselves back in the top 5. This was a very humbling weekend but we worked hard and never gave up and came out with good points. I have to thank Tony and Bruce for fixing my A bike after this morning’s crash and for working so hard to get us where we needed to be in the results. Thanks again to the whole Vesrah crew and we’ll see you at Road America.” Chris Fillmore Vesrah Suzuki #55 “Without ideal conditions in the morning, the different set-up variations we tried were not working out so I ended up racing with the same set-up as yesterday. During the race I ran off on the first lap in the chicane and had worked my way back up to 14th when the red flag was shown. We restarted with 16 laps to go and I had the front group in sight but was not comfortable with my set-up and ran wide in turn 9. I was able to salvage a 7th place finish and I’m looking forward to Road America.” Vesrah Suzuki wants to thank all of their sponsors for their support for the 2010 season Vesrah, American Suzuki, Rockstar Energy Drink, Nielsen Enterprises Suzuki, Traxxion Dynamics Fork Components, Dainese Leathers, Boots and Gloves, AGV Helmets, Graves Motorsports, Hotbodies Racing Bodywork, Sudco Int., Bazzaz, Factory Pro, Maxima Racing Oils, Vortex, DID Chain, Penske Racing Shocks, GPR Stabilizers, Trek Bicycles, GP Tech, Active & Road Rage Designs