Eslick Gets His First Pole

Henny Ray Abrams | July 18, 2009

Bruce Rossmeyers Daytona Racing’s Danny Eslick (Bue) didn’t even know he’d taken his first pole position when he rolled back to his pit at the end of Daytona SportBike qualifying on the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.Eslick had ridden hard for the twenty minute session, which was red-flagged at the very end. And when he returned, with a lap of 1:28.508, he was on the pole.Asked about the hot lap, he said, “I don’t even really know when I did it. Didn’t even know it was qualifying. Wasn’t even paying attention. Come in and they’re like, ‘Good job.’ I looked over and seen I was fastest, but had no clue. Wasn’t paying attention it was qualifying. So it was just a big bonus for me. Now I just got to figure out how to do the start from pole.”Equally surprising was the second fastest qualifier. Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Jamie Hacking has spent the season struggling to adapt the ZX-6R to the control Dunlop tires, and it’s shown in his results. This weekend the team seems to have a handle on it, though he cautioned it could be ephemeral.”Just really happy with the bike this weekend,” he said. “Pulled it right off the truck and we’ve been competitive. So we’ve changed a few things with our settings on the bike to try to get it to work with the tires.”I think that’s our biggest struggle right now, just trying to figure out how these tires and work for me. And I think we’ve got a little handle on it now. It’s a little late, but hopefully we can start moving in the right direction.”M4 Suzuki’s Martin Cardenas shares row two with Erion Honda’s Jake Zemke. Cardenas, like Eslick, put part of his success to a test here at Mid-Ohio in the past month.Graves Motorsports Yamaha’s Josh Herrin qualified fifth next to Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Roger Lee Hayden.His teammate Tommy Aquino will share the fourth row with Bazzaz Racing’s Steve Rapp.Factory Aprilia Millennium Technologies Chaz Davies will start ninth after losing time when his Aprilia quit and he had to push it up the pit lane late in the session. Next to him will be Erion Honda’s Chris Peris.

Daytona SportBike Qualifying:

1. Danny Eslick (Buell) 1:28.508

2. Jamie Hacking (Kawasaki) 1:28.647

3. Martin Cardenas (Suzuki) 1:28.691

4. Jake Zemke (Honda) 1:28.748

5. Josh Herrin (Yamaha) 1:28.770

6. Roger Hayden (Kawasaki) 1:28.839

7. Tommy Aquino (Yamaha) 1:29.077

8. Steve Rapp (Yamaha) 1:29.276

9. Chaz Davies (Aprilia) 1:29.376

10. Chris Peris (Honda) 1:29.380