Riders Discount Racing Makes History Becoming First Triumph To Win Daytona From Pole Position

Daytona-200-winner-Danny-EslickDAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (March 15, 2014) – Danny Eslick and the #69 Riders Discount Racing team made history by becoming the first Triumph team to win the Daytona 200 from the pole position. Eslick is the first Triumph rider to win the race since Gary Nixon in 1967 and the pole position since Paul Smart in 1971.

“Gary Nixon was the last to win this race on a Triumph so this is pretty special. It doesn’t get much better than that,” said Eslick. “Whether I led out of the chicane or if I was fourth out of the chicane I knew I could lead at the stripe. Hats off to the Riders Discount crew for an awesome motorcycle.”

Eslick, of Broken Arrow, Okla., led 44 of the 200-mile race’s 57 laps. His margin of victory was an incredible 10.975 seconds.

“Pit stops for the Daytona 200 are the most important thing,” said the two-time AMA Pro Daytona SportBike champion. “You can’t have bad stops and we had great pit stops.”

“Danny and the Riders Discount team ran an incredible race. It was absolutely amazing to watch them make history,” said Greg Heichelbech, CEO of Triumph North America. “In addition to becoming the first Triumph to win the Daytona 200 from the pole, four of the top ten are Triumphs. Congratulations to all of the Triumph riders and teams for a great race at Daytona.”

A Triumph previously won the Daytona 200 three times. Don Burnett won in 1962, Buddy Elmore won in 1966, and Gary Nixon won in 1967. The first Triumph Daytona production motorcycle appeared in 1967, the Tiger T100R Daytona, as a tribute to Elmore’s victory.

This is the third time that a Triumph won the pole for the Daytona 200. Gene Romero was fast qualifier in 1970 with his 750cc Triumph Trident, and Paul Smart backed it up in 1971.

Four of the top ten finishers rode the Triumph Daytona 675. They include:

#69 Danny Eslick, Riders Discount Triumph

4. #50 Bobby Fong, Latus Motors/Castrol/Triumph

7. # 68 Luke Stapleford, Profile Racing

10. #15 Steve Rapp, D&D Cycles/Castrol/Triumph

15. #42 Kenny Riedmann, RRM/Castrol/Triumph

24. #71 Lee Farmer, Apex Race Services

29. #21 Elena Myers, Apex Manufacturing/Castrol/Triumph

31. #40 Jason DiSalvo, Sportbike Track Time/Castrol/Triumph

The post Riders Discount Racing Makes History Becoming First Triumph To Win Daytona From Pole Position appeared first on USRiderNews.

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