Photography by Larry Lawrence
MILLVILLE, NJ (Sept. 14, 2014) – Kyle Wyman used lapped traffic to his advantage and made a move late in the race that enabled him to score his second Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson XR1200 win of the season, beating Steve Rapp to the line by 1.667 seconds. Tyler O’Hara finished third.
Danny Eslick clinched the championship in spite of riding with an injured shoulder and thumb from a crash in qualifying this morning. Eslick rode a conservative race to sixth place, beating Carlson by 16 points for the title. It marked his second championship in the series, having previously won the 2010 title.
Eslick’s closest competitor Ben Carlson was penalized for jumping the start and was third on the track, but fifth in the final results.
Eslick missed the parade lap and waited until the last minute to come out to the grid, creating some drama. He said he was icing down his shoulder right up to the warm-up lap, still hurting from a crash in qualifying this morning. In spite of being pretty beat up, Eslick said he was going to do everything he could to race.
Wyman led the pack into turn one. Eslick started from the back of the grid. Rapp led the first lap over Wyman and Narbonne. Eslick was up to eighth.
Three laps in and there was a five rider breakaway. Rapp was leading Narbonne, Carlson, Wyman.
About then AMA Pro Racing made an announcement that changed the face of the championship. Carlson was assessed a 10-second penalty for jumping the start. That pretty much eliminated any hopes of winning the championship.
Carlson took over the lead on the track on lap seven, trying to do whatever he could to make up for his penalty deficit. But he couldn’t break the draft and Rapp was back in front the next lap. On lap 10 the leading trio swapped the lead back and forth with Carlson leading into turn one, Rapp and Narbonne quickly getting back by him. A few turns later it was Narbonne tank-slapping himself off the track and out of the lead pack.
On lap 11 Wyman pulled the pin, taking advantage in lapped traffic to put a gap on Rapp and O’Hara. And that was the break he needed to hold on to the end.
“Sometimes lapped traffic works for you and sometimes it works against you,” Wyman said. “This time it worked in my favor. I’m so happy to end the season with a win. It was a long, tough season and it was tough not being in the points.”
Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson results from New Jersey Motorsports Park – Sept. 14, 2014
1 33 Kyle Wyman
2 1 Steve Rapp
3 29 Tyler O’Hara
4 64 Shane Narbonne
5 45 Ben Carlson 6 69 Danny Eslick
7 123 David Estok
8 229 Darren James
9 10 Josh Chisum
10 97 Nick Hansen
