Daytona, FL March 17, 2012 – 19-year-old Joey Pascarella won the 71st running of the Daytona 200 aboard his Yamaha YZF-R6®. Riding to help raise awareness and support for the March of Dimes March for Babies, Joey led 41 laps of the 57-lap race.
Also the same age as Joey and hailing from the same part of California, Cameron Beaubier raced his Yamaha Extended Service /Graves/Yamaha R6 to a podium finish. Cameron was fast and out front at the start of the race, and he led 5 laps at the “World Center of Racing.” The final lap was as exciting as any 200 ever raced, and Cameron was in contention to notch the win. As always, drafting played a key role in the outcome, and Cameron crossed the finish line in third.
Tommy Hayden was called into action at virtually the last moment as a replacement rider for Garrett Gerloff, who was unfortunately injured in the first AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike practice on Thursday. Despite very little seat time in preparation for the race, Tommy relied on his immense experience and finished in a very impressive 7th place.
After the race, Cameron said, “I’m proud to put my Y.E.S./Graves/Yamaha R6 on the podium, but I’m also disappointed to not win the race. My crew gave me a great bike, and the pitstops were flawless. I’m really looking forward to the rest of the season.”
The Y.E.S./Graves/Yamaha team’s next race is in about five weeks’ time when AMA Pro Racing makes its return to Road Atlanta for the Big Kahuna Atlanta on the weekend of April 20-22.
