Eslick Leads Daytona SportBike Field Heading into Road America Round

NEWS June 1, 2010

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (June 1, 2010) - After literally dominating the early season races but with very little to show for it, reigning AMA Pro Daytona SportBike presented by AMSOIL Champion Danny Eslick finally brought home the bacon with his first victory of the 2010 season at the last race at Infineon Raceway. And with that win, Eslick now finds himself in a familiar position, at the top of the points standings, heading into the Suzuki SuperBike Doubleheader, to be held at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin's Road America from June 4 - 6.

Just because Eslick has assembled an impressive series of results, one win, three second places, one third and two fourth place finishes in the first seven races, don't make the mistake of thinking that this class has been a runaway for him. In fact, this series has produced some of the most compelling racing with any number of at least ten riders vying for victory at every race.

The amazing Martin Cardenas has four wins on his M4 Monster Energy Suzuki including one at Infineon Raceway. But in the two races he didn't win, he didn't score any points and with this group of riders, any dropped points are critical. The points leader going into the last race and the winner of the prestigious Daytona 200 on his Team Graves Yamaha was Josh Herrin, who kept up the pressure by taking second to Eslick in race two at Infineon and, combined with his other series win at Auto Club Speedway earlier this year, is now right behind Eslick in the points.

Project 1 Atlanta rider Dane Westby has put together a strong season and he is currently fourth in points. Cory West is riding for the Vesrah Suzuki team and he has a series of top ten finishes that have him only ten points behind Westby.

The rider that has featured every weekend is Team Latus Motors Racing Ducati rider Steve Rapp. Rapp has been on the podium twice this year and has qualified up front at virtually every race and as the second race at the last round wound down, it looked like Rapp was finally going to take his first victory since he won the 2007 Daytona 200. He took the lead with four laps to go and even the eventual winner Eslick said to himself that Rapp looked pretty strong up front but it wasn't to be and with two laps left, Rapp had an unfortunate fall, ending his chance for the win. But like his team, Rapp never gives up and he heads into Road America with the confidence of having won there in 2003.

Melissa Paris had her best result in AMA Pro Daytona SportBike competition with a 15th place finish at Infineon Raceway earlier this month. Riding her own MPH Racing Inc. Yamaha, Paris is recapturing the form she showed at Daytona and she should be competitive again at Road America.

Practice and qualifying for the Suzuki SuperBike Doubleheader weekend at Road America begin on Friday, June 4. Final qualifying and race one of two are on Saturday, June 5th with a host of other activities on offer at Road America all weekend including the AMA Pro Racing Fan Walk and autograph sessions.

Please visit www.roadamerica.com for ticket and schedule information of the Suzuki SuperBike Doubleheader Weekend. Visit www.amaproracing.com for series information. SPEED TV will be showing flag-to-flag coverage of both AMA Pro Daytona SportBike presented by AMSOIL races in same weekend broadcasts, visit www.SPEEDTV.com for broadcast times.