There has only ever been one Daytona Sportbike Champion in the history of the Universe, and Danny Eslick aims to keep it that way. He took another win at Mid-Ohio in his quest to retain the DSB crown. Many fantastic parts used by Mr. Eslick on his GSX-R600 are available for your bike at SportbikeWrench.com
You guys are really biased towards Danny!
He’s clearly not the best rider in the class
and half of the time he finishes behind the top 3
now that he’s not on the Buell.
He has only won one race this year so why does the title read he wins again?
We arrive at each round with a target list of riders to interview. We leave some margin so we can call audibles depending on how the action takes shape. Our target that weekend was Herrin who’d been winning lately. Boom, he crashed, and we don’t pack rubbing salts.
Audible.
Eslick won again, and resurrected the points chase. He went from also-ran right back to defending champ in one fell swoop (pun).
Hence…
Biased is right! The title should have read ‘Eslick takes the win as Herrin, Aquino, Cardenas, Rapp, Fong, and West crash out.’ Duh.
If I was racing them and they crashed. . Ohh well .. LOL ! !
More points for Danny now . .
Good point Steady T!
5 wins for Mr. Cardenas, 3 Wins for Mr. Herrin
and some people are still trying to say that Danny
is proving he’s a champ.
Doesn’t 5 wins against 1 prove something?
Because this year they are both on a Suzuki.
Wow, Eslick is a lightning rod lately. A championship is never about who is the best rider. Often the best rider does win the championship which creates the fallacy that championship winners are the best riders. There are plenty of Champions who were not the best riders. Don’t make me name names.
Okay, here’s one name, Mladin. Won the most races 3 years in a row and lost the championship each time. In 1999 he won one race and won the championship. In 2007 he won 13 races and lost the championship.
There have been 12 races so far and only 3 winners, Cardenas with 6, Herrin with 4, and Eslick with 2.
In the first 7 races of the year Cardenas either crashed or won, 3 crashes to 4 wins. One of those crashes he picked up the bike and finished 10th. He’s been fighting to recover from the other 2 non scoring races. He crashed again at Mid-Ohio, picked up the bike and finished 5th.
Here are the numbers after 12 races
Eslick won the DSB championship last year despite the Buell, not because of it. I’m not an Eslick apologist. I simply witnessed the insanity the team endured, like front brake rotors. They went through more than the rest of the paddock combined.
And now the Bueller’s will rain hellfire and damnation upon my pin head for what I’ve just written.
There is only one clear “what if” revealed by the numbers above. If Cardenas had not crashed 4 times he would be leading the championship by a substantial margin, likely a full race worth of points.
You make a great point by asking, “Doesn’t 5 wins against 1 prove something because this year they are both on a Suzuki?”
Last year after 12 races it was Cardenas 6 to Eslick 3 with Cardenas on the Suzuki and Eslick the Buell. This year after 12 races it is Cardenas 6 to Eslick 2, both on Suzuki’s. That comparo proves many things, but It does not prove that Eslick was tearing everybody a new arse hole with the Buell.
After 12 races last year Eslick had 223 points aboard the Buell. After 12 races this year Eslick has 263 points aboard the Suzuki. On which bike is Eslick doing better? On which bike is Eslick going faster?
I guess the last word would be that Eslick isn’t doing as well as last year when he was on the Buell.
Does anyone know why he switched to Suzuki?
Last Words are tough to pull off, unless you actually expire.
Here’s Eslick’s stats from last year, total and after 12 races which is where we are this year so far.
Note that after 12 races he’d only won 3. Notice also his finishes outside the top 4; not good. After 12 races Eslick had 223 points in 09. This year he has 263 points after 12 races. (my last two sentences form a chiasmus, go figure)
Cardenas has 6 wins and 252 points right now and had 6 wins and 255 points after 12 races last year. What’s more, he finished out of the points twice in the first 12 races of last year, and he’s finished out of the points twice in the first 12 races this year. How cosmic is that?!!
After 12 races in 2009 Herrin hadn’t won a race. Chris Peris won once in the rain at Road America. Ben Bostrom one twice, Daytona and Laguna, the only two DSB races he entered. Cardenas won the other 6.
Does Eslick 09 vs Eslick 10 after 12 races support the statement, “Eslick isn’t doing as well…”? He’s down a race, but up 40 points. Cardenas is smack on par; same number of race wins and only .01% fewer points (100th of one percent).
The real championship (game) changer is Herrin who has 4 wins already when last year he had none. In fact it took him 80% of the 09 season to get his first win, but that wasn’t really Herrin’s fault. It took his team that long to figure out how to make the R6 work with the Dunlop spec tires. M4 Suzuki never had a problem with the tires.
Herrin went on to win 4 straight and finished only 5 points behind Eslick for the championship, 382 to 387. Does 5 points, or .01% margin of victory constitute an arse whipping?
In summary, statistically comparing 09 to 10 after 12 races, Herrin is way better, Eslick is a mixed bag, and Cardenas is exactly the same. Statistically speaking, Eslick is not worse, however, individual feelings may vary. Check you local listings.
Eslick is riding a Suzuki because Buell went out of business. The gig with May riding a Buell in Superbike this year is an after thought. Took Eric Buell until Infineon to put the deal together.