Winner of the Daytona 200

On pole for the Daytona 200 is Cameron Beaubier.  He didn't compete in the Daytona 200 last year, after crashing and being injured for a good part of the season.  31 bikes will start the race.  The distance will be 57 laps, 200 miles on the combined Nascar tri-oval and infield road course at Daytona International Speedway.

Riders must run flat out, have perfect pit stops, and take major chances, in order to be a Daytona 200 champion.  It was once an endurance event.  But, it is now, a sprint.  Who will the winner be?  This is is the 72nd running of the Daytona 200.  It used to have more international flavor.  But it is still important.  This will be a two pit stop race, and at least the rear tire will need to be changed.  In last year's race, it was i ntense.  Joey Pascarella is the defeending champion.  Pit stops will determine the winner, more than likely.  It is the only race with pit stops.  The rider gets off the bike, while the bike is refueled and has the tires changed.

Dane Westby had a bad stop last year.  Things might not go right on pit stops, even if the crews practice.  It should be a 15 second pit stop.  The corners on the road course are very difficult.  There are a lot of fast sweepers.  Triangulate and double apex the corners.  Turn six, coming up to the banking is a big deal.  The rider's can slingshot down the back straight, through the chicane, coming through Nascar turn four.  The chicane was a big deal with a new tire compound and cool temperatures.  A lot of riders fell down.

The temperatures today are warmer.  The bikes are on their warmup lap.  We're ready to race.   But first, we'll meet the riders.  Cameron Beaubier won seven races last year.  This will be his third Daytona 200, and he's on pole position.  Beaubier's pole time was a 1:49.612.  Garrett Gerloff broke his leg in qualifying before the Daytona 200.  But this year, he's back, ready to race in his first time in this great race.  Bobby Fong starts third, with a new team, and a new bike (a Yamaha YZF R6).

Jake Zemke is back on a Ducati.  He is a former Daytona 200 winner.  Zemke fills in for another rider.  Dane Westby is hurt, and will not start.  In his place, on the Geico Honda, is motorcycle road racing veteran Steve Rapp.  Dane Westby was doing well on the bike, crashing, and injuring himself.  Dane Westby is here, watching the race.  Joey Pascarella is the defending champion of this race.  Can he win two in a row on his Triumph Daytona?

Rookie rider Elena Myers is riding a Triumph Daytona 675 in her first Daytona 200.  She was successful in Supersport last year.  Jason DiSalvo won the 2010 Daytona 200, and finished second in last year's Daytona 200 on his Triumph.  He could come to the front.  We are ready to get the Daytona 200 underway.  Some former winners will race. John Ashmead, Joey Pascarella and Jason DiSalvo, just to name a few.  Ashmead, won the Daytona 200 back in 1989, aboard a Honda Superbike.

At the start, Garrett Gerloff got a good start, but here comes Jake Zemke.  Cameron Beaubier looks to be in the lead.  The bikes get through the first corners cleanly.  The bikes go up on the banking.  The new tire is going to be a factor.  Steve Rapp is doing real well in Dane Westby's place.  The tires are coming in, hopefully.  The bikes fly through the tri oval.  Cameron Beaubier and Bobby Fong pass Jake Zemke.  Huntley Nash runs wid and continues.  Through the international horseshoe they come.  Oops.  Pit stop early.  It's Joey pascarella, the defending champion of the Daytona 200.  He's got a mechanical issue, in the shift linkage.

He might get back out there.  But he won't be in contention to win this year.  Four bikes battle into Nascar turns three and four.  The draft starts as some are four wide!  James Rispoli is moving up, last year's Super Sport champion.  J.D. Beach is also back there, with Jake Lewis.  Rispoli and Lewis are racing the Daytona 200 for the first time, after being in Super Sport last year.  Cameron Beaubier runs fast lap.  Not sure what the time was.  This is frantic action so far.  Three laps complete of 57 scheduled.  The plan is to stay in touch with the lead group before pit stops.

The lap times are in the 1:51 bracket as Jake Zemke tries to pass Bobby Fong, but thinks better of it.  Garrett Gerloff is coming back up, with Jake Gagne and James Rispoli, just behind.  Jason DiSalvo is now into the top ten.  Fong tries to draft past, but he won't get by.  Zemke is still pushing.  But, for Joey Pascarella, the defending champ, it might be game over.  Beaubier still leads.  Bobby Fong runs second.  Benny Solis runs with Huntley Nash and Jason DiSalvo.  Jake Lewis falls behind the loead pack just a shade.  

J.D. Beach passes Rispoli.  Jake Gagne makes a move, too.  Zemke picks up the lead.  Fong is second followed by the Yamaha's of Beaubier and Gerloff.  Zemke runs a 1:51.470.  Beaubier isn't pushing just yet.  Gerloff drafts by the other riders running four wide.  Beach and Rispoli are cleanly racing each other.  Jason DiSalvo pits.  He's got an issue.  This is too early for stops.  The bike wasn't running.  For  DiSalvo, it could be game over.  The bike re-fires.  Maybe he could come back, just like last  year.  DiSalvo must get back into the race if he wants to be a contender.

Jake Zemke retakes the lead from Bobby Fong.  Cameron Beaubier is third.  J.D. Beach loses the train.  DiSalvo is back out, but he's a lap down.  He'll need a miracle to win.  Something went wrong in the shift linkage.  Kenny Riedmann on a sister Triumph is out, with clutch issues.  The tall transmission gears affect the clutch, and burns it out.  Rispoli almost crashed into someone at top speed on the banking!  Yikes!  James Rispoli goes back to fourth, being passed by Zemke.  Beaubier has good pace, and could be the fastest bike right now.  Benny Solis pits.

Solis might have annissue.  No one knows what is wrong with the Honda CBR600.  He could be a retirement.  Beaubier opens a gap over Bobby Fong and Jake Zemke.  Beaubier opens his lead, eleven laps into the race.  Beaubier runs fastest lap at 1:50.6.  Jason DiSalvo is back in the pits, with smoke out of the Triumph.  It's truly game over for him this time.  That's a shame.  The Triumph is a cool, unique sounding motorcycle.  Jake Zemke runs a 1:51 flat.  Could someone brake away into a lead?  That would be a first in Daytona Sportbike at the 200.

Benny Solis is back on track.  The bike is fixed.  So, Solis will go after points.  He comes out, blending in with the leaders, even though he is a few laps down.  Make lemonade from lemons.  That's Solis' duty now.  Jake Gagne battles with Jake Gagne.  Rispoli is getting used to the Sportbikes after being on a Super Sport bike last year.  There is a light headwind down the front straight, which would be different for a rider and bike, than a tailwind.  Solis pits, and, it's game over.  He's a DNF.

Beaubier is ahead by 1.6 seconds, running in the 1:50 bracket, as is Jake Gagne who sets fast lap at 1:50.087.  Gagne passes Zemke.  Pit stops are coming and the window opens.  But, Jake Lewis has some issues.  It is his first Daytona 200.  One wonders what is wrong with the bike.  Garrett Gerloff pits.  Less than 40 laps to go.  This is a perfect, quick stop.  Jake Lewis is a retirement from this race.  He takes over the Meen Motorsports bike from Bobby Fong.  Cameron Beaubier pits.

One mistake could cause panic for the crew and the riders.  So far so good.  Fuel, tires, and away.  No worries.  However, Joey Pascarella's fraught race continues.  He'll retire the bike.  He looks up and is like, "oh no.  It's done."  Steve Rapp pits.  Fuel, and a rear tire.  It was a very clean, calm pit stop.  Zemke runs a 1:51.609.  20 laps now complete.  Eight laps to halfway.  Fong and Gagne pit.  Both tires are changed.  Jake Gagne also has a good stop for the Road Race Factory team.  Elena Myers will also pit.  It's an unscheduled stop, and a bit slower.

They had a slight delay with the fuel, and with the air wrench for the rear wheel.  But, she's back out on track.  Here comes Jake Zemke, from the lead.  James Rispoli is also in.  There was some issue with the tire.  Slower stops for the Ducati's.  J.D. Beach makes a really good pit stop!  A flyer!  Zemke tries to pass Rispoli through turn six and does.  Melissa Paris pits, and has a good stop.  She's run a good race all day.  Some riders are going out in pairs, with a drafting partner, just like Nascar.

Huntley Nash pits, and almost knocks the bike down.  Nash takes a drink, but has a slow pit stop.  It was a slight issue.  But, it can still cost time, working lap 22.  Beaubier runs a lap at 1:50.815.  Cameron Beaubier has a six second lead, and his rivals will have to catch him.  Mr. Beaubier is flying, turning a 1:50.529.  He passes Elena Meyers and Melissa Paris.  Luke Mossey, a Brit, is racing in the Daytona 200, and will contest the British Superbike series for the rest of the year.  Mossey's father ran the Daytona 200 years ago.  Bobby Fong is third.   Fong took a swig of energy gel, which is sugar and electrolytes that cyclists use.

Riders need fuel as much as the bikes do.  Jake Gagne is running well, and has fastest lap at a 1:50 flat.  That's fastest lap of the race.  Steve Rapp is up to ninth.  Huntley Nash is also riding well.  Fernando Amantini is also running quicker.  He is one of the mid field riders, as Beaubier completes lap 26.  A couple laps to halfway, which will be lap 28.  Amantini is on his own team's Yamaha YZF R6, bike #7.  Melissa Paris is still running well, with Elena Myers right behind.  Luke Mossey is also in this battle.  This race is at halfway, on lap 29.

Beaubier is cruising.  He has a ten second lead on everyone else.  He runs a 1:51.233.  Steve Rapp is now up to eighth.  As far as Beaubier, his team owner, former racer, Chuck Graves, is really impressed.  Dane Westby is disappointed he can't race.  Westby had a crash.  He'll be back for the next race.  There is a gap, because it is not known when or where the second race of the season will be.  A cold track, and the sharp curves in the chicane, were a bad comibation for many riders.  J.D. Beach is holding off Supersport champ, James Rispoli.  Rispoli is running laps in the 1:54 flat range.

We are now into the second half of this race, working lap 32.  Jake Zemke slows, pulling off the road, parking the Ducati 848 at a corner station.  Not good.  The motor died as he rolled off the throttle.  Zemke will not win a second Daytona 200 today.  Ducati has only had one win at Daytona, and for the most part, have had bad luck.  Garrett Gerloff, Bobby Fong, and Jake Gagne run second, third and fourth.  Beaubier extends his lead to thirteen seconds.  He's been on top all weekend.

Garrett Gerloff is still running consistently.  There is one last round of pit stops to go.  Melissa Paris and Bobby Fong still run well.   Fong holds third place, but has Jake Gagne behind him.  Rispoli and Beach are still battling for fifth place.  Beaubier leads by fourteen seconds, with sixteen laps to go.  The second round of pit stops, come soon.  Unlike last year, there's no real battle for the lead.  Beaubier has it, and is consistent.  He could very well win.  But, twenty laps still remain.  Garrett Gerloff makes his second pit stop.  Two tires and changed.  The fuel is in, and he's back on track.

Elena Myers pits.  It's only a rear tire change, and there is a struggle with the fuel.  But, she is learning, and should finish this race.  Steve Rapp also pits.  Only the rear tire is changed, and the fuel is done.  Good stop.  Beaubier pits.  He's got twenty seconds in hand.  He knows he's going to win it.  Eighteen laps remain.  Bobby Fong pits.  Jake Gagne makes a pit stop.  Can Gagne catch Fong?  Melissa Paris pits from tenth spot.  Paris got out of the pits just in front of J.D. Beach.  Wow!

Paris had her weight on her good leg.  The time you stop is important.  But, the in lap and out lap are important.  In the old days, the riders could fly down pit road.  Beaubier wiggled.  But, he'll get back into a rhythm.  James Rispoli has yet to pit.  Fifteen laps to go.  These riders are going to be really sore after this race, because their bodies are locked into one spot on the bike, tucked for aerodynamics.  The compression into the banking, goes against how you move.  But, the riders are used to it.  We are coming towards the finish at Daytona.

Rispoli needs to pit.  He's losing time.  Now, he comes down the pit lane.  Rispoli gets a rear tire and fuel.  Actually, both tires were changed.  But this is a slow, disastrous pit stop for Rispoli.  He'll get enough points towards the season championship.  The rest of the year, there will be two races.  Not for this event.  It's the crown jewel.  Cameron Beaubier leads, and the field is spread out.  Usually, this race is calamity.  Not this year.  Riders are just riding around.  This is special, seeing Beaubier dominate.  Once you win one, you want another.  It's just like car racing.  Beaubier could race in Europe in the future.  World Superbike, or, MotoGP could be an avenue in the future.

Garrett Gerloff still needs to pit.  But, it could be a risk.  James Rispoli runs five seconds behind Steve Rapp.  Game over for Huntley Nash.  The engine in the bike, went ka blammo.  Ten laps to go.  Steve Rapp has run very consistently, running sixth.  Rapp is the 2007 Daytona 200 winner.  Melissa Paris is getting a "meatball" flag, which is a mechanical black flag (a black one, with a big red dot).  There were too many crewmen over the wall.  Paris' penalty will drop her down the order.  What a shame.  Five people were over the wall.  Rider cannot touch the bike.  There were six men over the wall.

Elena Myers will take the spot from Melissa Paris.  Bobby Fong slowed dramatically, as he probably overshot the chicane.  Fong will get on the podium.  Paris is doing a ride through penalty, shaking her headm, understandably upset.  It wasn't the crewman who gave her a water jug.  But, it was the same crewman, carrying a tire back over the pit wall.  Cameron Beaubier has a 23 second lead, and will lap Elena Myers and John Ashmead, again, the 1989 Daytona 200 champ.

Beaubier has lapped the field up to seventh.  No battles.  It's just single file racing.  This is unheard of in the Daytona Sportbike division.  A lot of the heavy hitters have fallen by the wayside.  Beaubier books it by James Rispoli.  Jake Gagne will get fast lap.  But, it seems that 1:50s are possible.  But Beaubier is the only rider who can run consistent fast laps.  Five laps to go.  Should Beaubier do it, this will be the 22nd win for Yamaha at Daytona.  They had a streak, winning each race for over a decade, between 1973 and 1984.

Cameron Beaubier is about to lap Steve Rapp.  Rapp of course, filling in for Dane Westby.  Give a call to J.D. Beach.  He's stuck with the pack.  Ditto for Jake Gagne, his team mate.  How will the rest of the season shake out?  We'll see.  Steve Rapp is going very well on Westby's bike.  He's done well.  Westby will get to ride in the next race.  But that next race isn't for a couple months, and the venue is still up in the air.  Jordan Racing is working on James Rispoli's bike, and it's their first foray into Sportbike, after running Superbike for some time.

Two laps to go.  Garrett Gerloff will get a solid second place.  Gerloff didn't race last year, and Tommy Hayden filled in for him.  But, now, Cameron Beaubier, is going to win the Daytona 200.  This guy is on his way to being a legend of motorcycle road racing, perhaps.  It's the last lap, out of the bus stop chicane.  The #6 YES Graves Yamaha, wins it!  Cameron Beaubier is a Daytona 200 champion!  Gerloff gets second.  Graves Yamaha gets a 1-2.  Melissa Paris will finish tenth.  Bobby Fong gets third, and is on the podium.  But, it's all Beaubier's race.  We'll focus on other AMA races later.  That includes, highlights of the second Superbike race, showing later today.  That race will be published tomorrow.  But, for now, the Daytona 200 is in the books for 2013.

#6 Cameron Beaubier     Yamaha YZF R6

Congratulations, Cameron Beaubier!  Yamaha scores their 22nd Daytona 200 triumph, first winning with Don Emde in 1972.  They were on a roll, winning every Daytona 200 between 1972 and 1984.  Other Yamaha riders to win the Daytona 200 include Giacomo Agostini, Gene Romero, Johnny Cecotto, Steve Baker, Graeme Crosby, Kenny Roberts, Dale Singleton, Patrick Pons, David Sadowski, Eddie Lawson, Scott Russell (who also won on a Muzzy Kawasaki a few times), Ben Bostrom, Josh Herrin, and Joey Pascarella.

So long for now, motorcycle racing fans.  What a great Daytona 200 this was.