Eslick Holds 16-Point Lead over Carlson with One Race Remaining
- AMA_XRIndyR1_McWill_creditBrianJNelson.jpg (80.1 KiB) Viewed 1183 times
In Saturday’s Race 1, Northern Ireland’s McWilliams (H-D of Bloomington Indiana/Warr’s H-D), who also won the first race of the Indy doubleheader in 2013, qualified on pole and took a hard-fought victory in the first of the weekend’s races by a narrow 0.083-second margin over Suburban Motors H-D’s Benny Carlson.
McWilliams had his hands full throughout the 10-lap contest, fighting off a determined effort by Carlson, who was trying to earn his first series victory, and hard-charger Kyle Wyman (KWR/Millennium Technologies), who came from seventh on the grid to finish a close third. Defending series champion Steve Rapp (Aerostar Global/Suburban Motors H-D) had to settle for fifth place behind series newcomer Ramden Rosli (PETRONAS/KWR) who made an impressive charge to the front from his ninth place starting position and ran as high as second mid-race. Series points leader Danny Eslick (Ruthless Racing/Trev Deeley Motorcycles) was unable to hold the draft of the five-rider lead pack and finished seventh.
“You put a bit of pressure on yourself when you start from pole because I suppose you’ve done all that work and you don’t want to give it away on the first lap,” McWilliams said. “So I got the hammer down and stupidly thought I could break away. I gave it everything. I tried to maintain the tire a little bit, but to be honest that didn't really work. Benny caught me, so I had to keep working hard to get back on him on the last sector because once the draft’s broken, it’s gone. That’s a big weight off my shoulder to get a win here. I just wanted one again because it’s such a special place to do it."
Sunday’s Race 2 quickly developed into another multi-rider drafting battle, with McWilliams, Rapp and Carlson joined at the front by Eslick, while O’Hara, Kyle Wyman and Rosli circulated in a second pack about one second behind them. Eslick and Rapp traded turns at the front throughout the first half of the race until a multi-rider incident involving O’Hara brought out a red flag.
After the restart, Rapp, McWilliams, Eslick and Carlson were joined by Wyman and the drama continued until the final lap, with each rider trying to figure out where to be for the final run to the checkered flag. Eslick positioned himself for a run at Carlson, but was nipped at the line by Rapp, who took the victory by 0.011 second over Eslick, with Carlson just 0.074 second back in third.
“I could tell going down the back [that] Danny sat up but I didn’t want anything to do with it either, so I sat up,” Rapp said. “Ben went by and I was like, ‘Cool, that works.’ We got back in line and I wasn’t sure if I was going to pass them but it worked out pretty good. They got next to each other and built a little draft there. It went great. To win at Indy finally - I wanted to check that off my list. I’m running out of time and I finally got it, so that’s cool.”
With his second and fifth place finishes at Indy, Eslick takes a 16-point lead over Carlson into the series’ final race at New Jersey Motorsports Park in Millville, NJ on Sept. 13-14.
Indianapolis Race 1 August 9 Result:
1. Jeremy McWilliams (H-D of Bloomington Indiana), 10 laps
2. Benjamin Carlson (Suburban Motors H-D), +0.083 second
3. Kyle Wyman (KWR/Millennium Technologies), +0.428 second
4. Ramden Rosli (PETRONAS/KWR), +0.856 second
5. Steve Rapp (Aerostar/Global/Suburban Motors H-D), +1.758 seconds
6. Travis Wyman (Harv’s H-D), +18.577 seconds
7. Danny Eslick (Ruthless Racing/Trev Deeley Motorcycles), +18.580 seconds
8. Tyler O’Hara (Josh Chisum Racing/Bartels’ H-D), +20.323 seconds
9. Hayden Schultz (Chili Pepper Racing), +20.351 seconds
10. David Estok (Thrashed Bike Racing), +28.203 seconds
11. Josh Chisum (Josh Chisum Racing/Bartels’ H-D), +34.911 seconds
12. Darren James (Trev Deeley Motorcycles), +35.440 seconds
13. Nicholas Hansen (Aerostar Global/Suburban Motors H-D), +46.921 seconds
14. Brice Cooper (Bell Helmets/Suburban Motors H-D), +47.081 seconds
15. Ryan Christian (Trackside Suspension & Engineering), +1:04.020
16. Joe Rozynski (Sirius XM/Sound Waves), +1:12.216
17. Rob McClendon III (Suburban Motors/ D&D Cycles), +1:12.315
18. Brian Mullins (National Cylinder Heads), +1:20.701
19. Paul James (Hoban Cycle/Spectro Oils), +1:23.283
20. Sam Rozynski (Sound-Waves.com/Sirius XM), +1:25.178
21. Shelina Moreda (Chili Pepper Racing), +1:34.875
22. Jerrett Martin (CPL Systems/Aggressive Insurance), 9 laps
23. Aaron Borello (Air Ground Xpress), +15.491 seconds
24. Jon Foy (Jupiter Cycle Racing), +35.365
25. Gage McAllister (Folsom H-D), 4 laps
Indianapolis Race 2 August 10 Result:
1. Steve Rapp (Aerostar/Global/Suburban Motors H-D), 10 laps
2. Danny Eslick (Ruthless Racing/Trev Deeley Motorcycles), +0.011 second
3. Benjamin Carlson (Suburban Motors H-D), +0.074 second
4. Kyle Wyman (KWR/Millennium Technologies), +0.194 second
5. Jeremy McWilliams (H-D of Bloomington Indiana), +0.466 second
6. Hayden Schultz (Chili Pepper Racing), +7.091 seconds
7. Nicholas Hansen (Aerostar Global/Suburban Motors H-D), +7.697 seconds
8. David Estok (Thrashed Bike Racing), +9.207 seconds
9. Josh Chisum (Josh Chisum Racing/Bartels’ H-D), +10.728 seconds
10. Brice Cooper (Bell Helmets/Suburban Motors H-D), +10.796 seconds
11. Rob McClendon III (Suburban Motors/ D&D Cycles), +12.286 seconds
12. Darren James (Trev Deeley Motorcycles), +13.670 seconds
13. Joe Rozynski (Sirius XM/Sound Waves), +28.360 seconds
14. Jerrett Martin (CPL Systems/Aggressive Insurance), +28.450 seconds
15. Shelina Moreda (Chili Pepper Racing), +36.688 seconds
16. Sam Rozynski (Sound-Waves.com/Sirius XM), +40.745 seconds
17. Ryan Christian (Trackside Suspension & Engineering), +58.388 seconds
18. Jon Foy (Jupiter Cycle Racing), +1:02.825
19. Aaron Borello (Air Ground Xpress), 9 laps
20. Brian Mullins (National Cylinder Heads), 8 laps
21. Travis Wyman (Harv’s H-D), 5 laps
22. Tyler O’Hara (Josh Chisum Racing/Bartels’ H-D), 5 laps
23. Ramden Rosli (PETRONAS/KWR), 4 laps
24. Gage McAllister (Folsom H-D), 3 laps
25. Paul James (Hoban Cycle/Spectro Oils), DNF
AMA Pro Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson Series Points Standings (After 8 of 9 Races)
1. Eslick, 159
2. Carlson, 143
3. O’Hara, 127
4. Rapp, 119
5. K. Wyman, 108
6. McAllister, 84
7. Hansen, 82
8. Schultz, 80
9. Chisum, 72
10. D. James, 67
