Danny Eslick and Triumph win 73rd Daytona 200

Majority of race is a four-rider battle for the lead

The 73rd Daytona 200 is in the books and was dominated almost entirely by Danny Eslick aboard his Riders Discount Racing Triumph Daytona 675R. RoadRace Factory/Red Bull's Jake Gagne and MotoSport.com/Meen Motorsports' Jake Lewis, both aboard Yamaha R6s, finished second and third, respectively.

The 57-lap race wasn't a complete walk in the park for Eslick. A four-rider battle for the lead between him, Dane Westby, Jason DiSalvo, and Jake Gagne went on for a large part of the race. Westby made a mistake in turn one and crashed, however, and then in an attempt to avoid Westby's bike, Jason DiSalvo went down as well. Both riders walked away from the crash, though incredibly disappointed. Yamaha Extended Service/Monster Energy rider Garrett Gerloff ran up front for the first part of the race but went down as well. He would remount and make his way back up to 5th place.

Eslick maintained his gap over Gagne during the closing stages of the race and would acknowledge his fans on nearly every lap with some sort of wave or head nod. His post-race celebration was nothing short of entertaining, either.

Prior to today's race, it'd been 47 years since Triumph had won a Daytona 200. This is also the last year that the Daytona 200 will be contended by the GoPro SportBike class, as next year it'll be run with the SuperBike class.

Full race results follow:

Pos. Rider Machine Interval
1 Danny Eslick Triumph Daytona 675R 57 laps
2 Jake Gagne Yamaha YZF-R6 +10.975
3 Jake Lewis Yamaha YZF-R6 +37.230
4 Bobby Fong Triumph Daytona 675R +48.659
5 Garrett Gerloff Yamaha YZF-R6 +1:11.456
6 Kyle Wyman Yamaha YZF-R6 +1:42.617
7 Luke Stapleford Triumph Daytona 675R 56 laps
8 Jake Zemke Honda CBR600RR +16.594
9 Bostjan Skubic Yamaha YZF-R6 +42.608
10 Steve Rapp Triumph Daytona 675R +49.280
11 Joe Roberts Honda CBR600RR +49.378
12 Joey Pascarella Yamaha YZF-R6 +50.701
13 Luke Mossey Yamaha YZF-R6 +1:15.378
14 Fernando Amantini Yamaha YZF-R6 55 laps
15 Kenny Riedmann Triumph Daytona 675R +12.417
16 Benny Solis Honda CBR600RR +35.903
17 Bryce Prince Yamaha YZF-R6 +1:06.405
18 Eric Pinson Yamaha YZF-R6 54 laps
19 Frank Babuska Suzuki GSX-R600 +00.028
20 Chad Lewin Yamaha YZF-R6 +42.744
21 Dustin Apgar Yamaha YZF-R6 +1:04.073
22 Ricky Orlando Kawasaki ZX-6R 53 laps
23 John Ashmead Kawasaki ZX-6R +1:07.433
24 Lee Farmer Triumph Daytona 675R 52 laps
25 Donny Wright Suzuki GSX-R600 +38.316
26 Roi Holster Yamaha YZF-R6 +1:11.610
27 Melissa Paris Honda CBR600RR 48 laps
28 JD Beach Yamaha YZF-R6 46 laps
29 Elena Myers Triumph Daytona 675R 40 laps
30 Dane Westby Yamaha YZF-R6 37 laps
31 Jason Disalvo Triumph Daytona 675R +00.007
32 Blake Young Yamaha YZF-R6 +2:07.183
33 Shane Narbonne Yamaha YZF-R6 23 laps
34 Garrett Willis Kawasaki ZX-6R 18 laps
35 Tomas Puerta Yamaha YZF-R6 16 laps
36 Roberto Vargas Yamaha YZF-R6 13 laps
37 Tucker Lancaster Yamaha YZF-R6 8 laps
38 Barrett Long Ducati 848 2 laps
39 Anthony Fania Yamaha YZF-R6 DNS
Brian J Nelson