Josh Herrin (right) just misses opening race win
A somewhat disruptive 74th annual Daytona 200 ended with Danny Eslick edging out Josh Herrin by eight-hundredths of a second on Saturday to open the 2015 motorcycle racing season.
A restart was issued after several riders went down on the opening lap and once the race finally got underway it was Geoff May in front with Eslick in second and Jason Farrell in third. Joining the fight was Steve Rapp, Bostjan Skubic and Herrin who all exchanged leads for the opening 19 laps before the pit stops started and the second red flag came out.
The re-grid placed the riders based on their positions at the end of Lap 19 putting Eslick out front and Herrin in second. This time around a four-way battle ensued with Eslick, Herrin, May and Stefano Mesa and, shortly after, Rapp joined the pack. Herrin, a MotoSport rider with Meen Motorsports, almost bowed out of the race after running wide and nearly crashing. He managed to rejoin the group unscathed but was well behind the leaders now. Meanwhile, Eslick and May left everyone behind and traded leads for several laps.
On Lap 31 the third red flag dropped and by this time Herrin made it back to fourth-place where he re-started behind Rapp, May and Eslick out front. Riders swapped leads and with 24 laps to go, the fourth red flag came out. Rapp, who re-started in third on the last flag, was third again but a restart infraction put him in the back of the pack so it was left down to Herrin, Eslick and May who made it a three-rider fight the rest of the way.
On the final lap it was Eslick and Herrin battling for the checkers. They exchanged leads a final time before Eslick pulled slightly ahead and won the 57-lap race by .086 seconds for his second consecutive Daytona 200 win.
2015 Daytona 200 Results
- Danny Eslick
- Josh Herrin - MotoSport rider
- Geoff May
- Bostjan Skubic
- Darren James
- Sean Dwyer
- Bryce Prince
- Ryan Christian
- Kristofer Knopf
- George Letakis