If you walk past Jason DiSalvo in the pits at an AMA Superbike event, you might think he is some young kid who happened to come across a nice Yamaha team shirt. He is physically small, polite and unassuming. You would be dead wrong.
After DiSalvo’s performance at Daytona a couple of weeks ago, people who follow the sport of motorcycle roadracing know him very well. Although he looks even younger than his 19 years, he is an extremely experienced rider. Before landing on the Yamaha roadrace team, DiSalvo competed at the pro level in dirt track, and also raced as a wild card in several World championship grand prix roadracing events in Europe. Impressive enough to land a ride with Team Yamaha Roadracing in 2003, DiSalvo showed plenty of talent, and continued to develop, but you have to admit that his 2004 Daytona performance is a quantum leap upward for the young American.
DiSalvo set the lap record in 600 Supersport qualifying, to take the pole position. He also very nearly had pole in 1000cc Superstock aboard his Yamaha R1, ultimately taking the second spot on the grid. More importantly, DiSalvo won the extremely competitive 600 Supersport race at Daytona — arguably, the most important race from a manufacturer’s standpoint, aboard his Yamaha R6. In the Superstock final, his R1-mounted teammate Aaron Gobert won, while DiSalvo finished sixth.
How good is this kid? The clock doesn’t lie. At Daytona, DiSalvo had the disadvantage of coming to the race weekend knowing that he had blown out a rear tire at very high speed a couple of months earlier at the same venue. Sucking up that terrible experience, DiSalvo got down to the business of being the fastest supersport and superstock rider, consistently, throughout the Daytona events. So, he has both speed and guts. A winning combination.
