Maybe all that cold-weather driving in Ontario finally payed off for Scottish/Canadian AMA racer Ben Young.
Florida was hit by unusually low temperatures at the 72nd running of the Daytona 200; during Friday’s qualifying, it was 4 degrees Celsius at the track. But Young didn’t hunker down in the pits in a parka and whine; the 19-year-old qualified tenth in the first session.
The second session ended early due to a red flag, while Young was in the pits for some fresh rubber. As a result, he ended up starting in 17th in the AMA Pro GoPro Daytona Sportbike class.
Young battled his way all the way up to eighth place on his R6 during the race, his best-ever finish in that event. He says he was hoping for a better finish, but that starting from 17th made that goal unrealistic.
Cameron Beubier won the race, Garrett Gerloff got second and Bobby Fong got third. Young was just ahead of two women – Elena Myers and Melissa Paris finished ninth and tenth, respectively.
Congrats to Ben, looked like he rode a smart consistent race. Would have been nice to see him on TV a little more though.
I know you guys don’t really cover SX but Canadian Cole Thompson scored a respectable 9th in 250 SX.
DMG might not have liked what Roger Edmonston and company did to U.S. roadracing, but since they gave him the boot they haven’t done anything to improve things. Its just plain sad…
Apparently tattoos, T-shirts and vests are more interesting than races these days. After all, the market doesn’t lie, right? But all over the place people are lamenting the lack of interest in racing. So make it interesting.
I was in South Carolina last week as well as in Georgia and I hve never seen so many Harleys’ on teir way to Bikeweek. I don’t know if any attended the races but the few guys talked to all seemd eager to get to Dayotna. Yes I too remember th days of Duhamel and all the other racers
“I don’t know if any attended the races…”
No, they did not. But a lot got new tattoos, t-shirts, and black leather vests.
Jerry Baljeu · Sarnia, Ontario
A couple of questions from a stayed at home, tried to watch it on TV:
1. Why is the Daytoma 200 billed as America’s Most Prestigious Motorcycle Race? It’s BORING! This event should be for the SuperBike class who are turning 13/14 seconds FASTER than than those kiddy toys.
2. That means that over 57 laps, race time will be around 1 hour less and what to do with that extra time?
Run the Harley bikes and maybe, just maybe, get some of the Harley fans back to the track!
3. Does anyone besides family, friends and mechanics pay to see this race? No one, just about NO ONE in the grand stands. You may not like NASCAR but they do get somewhat bigger crowds.
4. As a commentator, Scott Russell bores me to do death and I turn the TV sound DOWN when he just goes on and on about very little. My wife even appreciates that!
Okay, I better get back to my coffee so I’ll calm down a bit..
Too bad no one was there to witness it… 😉
But seriously, it’s so sad to see the empty stands (at least during the Superbike race on TV). During my brief time watching the 200, I didn’t see the stands much, but I have to assume they were near empty too.
I consider myself a knowledgeable fan, but since DMG took over much of AMA road racing, I have lost interest.
DMG screwed with the schedule, and the 200 lost it’s stature by running 600’s. And I don’t know what’s the difference between Daytona Sportbike and Super Sport. Worse, I don’t really care to learn.
And today SuperbikePlanet.com reports that DMG has Purchased all AMA road racing properties. Couldn’t get any worse, could it??
Edit – i just read the date of the press release – from 2008 (red faced).
So much for knowledgeable… Shows how little I cared about it over the last 5 years.
But unfortunately, maybe it can get worse.
I remember when that business went down. I haven’t followed it closely enough to see how it’s all worked out, but I know many were unhappy at the time.
So you’ve got nothing good to say about a sport you no longer follow. Might take you’re mom’s advice and say nothing at all.