Just when everything was falling into place, the entire apple cart was overturned today in AMA Pro Daytona SportBike presented by AMSOIL at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.  Last year's Daytona SportBike Champion Danny Eslick took a hard-fought victory today and with this year's championship points leader Josh Herrin suffering a dramatic fall on the last lap, Eslick and his GEICO Powersports team have pulled themselves right back into the thick of the championship battle.  Herrin and his Team Graves Yamaha team now lead Eslick by only two points, 249-247.

The 21-lap race at Mid-Ohio began somewhat like yesterday's event, with furious action at the front involving yesterday's main cast, Eslick, Herrin, Martin Cardenas, Bobby Fong, Herrin's teammate Tommy Aquino and Steve Rapp. These six riders once again made a break and dueled back and forth, exchanging the lead lap after lap, sometimes two or three times per lap.  Eslick would lead, Cardenas showed his speed with a nice outside pass into first at the end of the back straight, then Herrin would reassert himself back at the front. 

Under partly cloudy but hot and humid conditions, something had to give and it happened as the leaders were finishing the eleventh lap.  Coming through the Carousel corner, Cardenas went down and Herrin had to take evasive action, allowing Fong, Rapp and Aquino quickly by.  Eslick was in front and didn't really know what happened until after the race but this gave him the break he needed to consolidate his second win of the season and vault him right back into the chase for the championship.  In a great display of courage, Cardenas picked up his Suzuki and continued to the finish, and his persistence was rewarded as he ended up fifth at the flag. 

The AMA Pro Daytona SportBike riders will reassemble next weekend in California for the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix. The Daytona SportBikes will race on Sunday, prior to the MotoGP event.  Please visit www.mazdaraceway.com for schedule and ticket information.  Also check out SPEED TV's coverage of all of the weekend Daytona SportBike action.  Visit www.speedtv.comfor the broadcast times in your area.

Visit www.amaproracing.com for full results from today's races.