A strange day at Daytona saw a rider who blew an engine during the race ultimately win it, Jason DiSalvo (Ducati). The race was red flagged when several riders started to chunk front tires on an extremely hot racing surface. Turning into a 15 lap sprint, DiSalvo crossed the line first ahead of Corey West (Suzuki) and third place Jake Zemke (Yamaha).
MotorcycleDaily.com – Motorcycle News, Editorials, Product Reviews and Bike Reviews
Motorcycle News, Editorials, Product Reviews and Bike Reviews
Motorcycle News, Editorials, Product Reviews and Bike Reviews
©1999-2024 Enhance Partners, LLC
Motorcycle Daily Privacy Policy
Ducati needs to start marketing a Daytona 200 edition 848, complete with an extra motor!
Back in the old days there was lots of advertisement surrounding a 200 win, do you think they will even want to mention it?
Everyone seems ready to lynch DMG and Dunlop, but no one has mentioned the lack of available testing time on the new track surface. Perhaps those of you who think that Cycle News is dead haven’t read this:
http://www.cyclenews.com/articles/road-racing/2011/01/17/daytona-tire-test-a-washout
The new pavement on the Speedway made it a completely new game for Dunlop this year. As a former racer, I commend DMG for throwing the red flag and requiring the tire changes, before someone got killed. It was a scary moment when Danny Eslick’s front tire failed on NASCAR turn four.
While the sprint to the finish might seem to have been artificially “enhanced” by the red flag, the race was already a great one to watch. I feel for Jake Zemke and Josh Herrin, who had the most to lose with the restart. They had the field covered prior to the red flag. Oh, by the way, I don’t mean the race was a great one to watch on TV, but in person. I still haven’t watched it on TV yet, having just recently gotten home from Daytona. Maybe I’ll see you at the track next year!
Who cares, really?
The Daytona 200 has less significance than the competition at our local track days! And the D2 has about the same level of talent, honestly.
I think it says something about the pathetic management of this event that this topic has only generated a grand total of 20 comments so far after a few days up. It appears that no one really give a crap about the 200 anymore. Great job killing this historic event DMG. What’s next? You going to get into the mortgage business?
race was a CLUSTER for sure, but not for anything DMG or speed did or didn’t do. it was a cluster because roadracing is by definition “risky”. been to DIS enough times to see this. also, dunlop (once again) may have tried to force the riders into using the wrong front tires. notice i said “once again”. a similiar thing occured in ’09 at NJMP. i know dunlop makes a fine product and worked hard under the allen era to correct the slicks (kudos), but NJMP also involved DOT fronts, the sportbike class, and relatively new asphalt. coincidence…? i’ll let you decide.
Races at Daytona are always won by drafting strategy, not outright performance. The last three laps are a chess game, with everyone trying NOT to be in front at the wrong time.
It’s interesting but it’s not what I consider to be racing.
I say take Daytona off the schedule.
historic strategy is to gear for the draft, exit the bus-stop on the final lap in P3/P4, and stay slightly lower on the banking (shorter distance) than those ahead of you. I say keep Daytona on the schedule.
These comments ALL hit the mark! I’ve been to the 200 three times over a 10 year period and have seen the race quality contine to slide South. This year, I watched it on TV with my son (until SPEED cut away). His question was “Where are the fans?” He found it strange that a race run during the World’s Greatest Motorcycle Event (aka Bike Week) drew so few fans. I had to explain the difference between a biker and a motorcyclist. The AMA/DMG need to drop this race and move on. I’ll still go to Mid-Ohio and VIR but Daytona is a waste of time!
from the mouths of babes. awesome! even a 10yr old can see (early AMA cock-ups not withstanding) the problem NOW rests with fan failure. rick, i would like to amend the terminology in your comparison to not being between biker Vs. motorcyclist, but the difference between a biker/motorcyclist (synonymous) Vs. a mere “consumer”. see you at Mid-O and VIR.
Norm, my comment regarding biker -vs- motorcyclist revolves more around why we purchase motorcycles. Many of my biker friends ride once a week to Hooter’s for bike night. They drink a few beers and ride home….that’s it! It’s more of a status thing. It’s the Rolex on wheels! Most ride HD, wear the Do-rag and don’t ride very well. Most motorcyclist (I assume you are in this camp) are constantly trying to improve their riding ability. We attend races for the excitement but also to witness others ride at a very high skill level, a level we hope to achieve some day. If you are in the “once a week camp”, your interests are not in the same place. It’s more about being seen than the actual participation. While I’m sad to see what the AMA has done and think DMG is bringing their NASCAR ideas to roadracing (BTW have you seen the NASCAR attendance figures over the last 10 years? BIG Downward trend!), I still enjoy watching the action….the names have changed……the equipment is not as exotic…..but it’s still racing. See you at Mid-Ohio!
Obviously DMG feels NASCRAP Truck qualifyinng is more important than the 200. Mid Ohio last year was pathetic too. DMG and the AMA are doing a horrible job. This along with the death of CycleNews, is making it real hard to be a fan.
perhaps a lil’ insight. YES, nascar (even qualifying) is more important than the 200. even if the CEO of speed were a raving bike maniac, he’s still obligated to make sound programming decisions to keep the lights on. his data not only shows motorcycling as a niche business, but the fans (you, me, us) further compound the problem by devaluing and failing to support (ie. double jeopardy). the sobering reality is nascar fans can be trusted to do their part to close the economic loop.
now for the corrections. AMA and DMG are 2 seperate entities. after bleeding the franchise for all it’s worth, AMA divested itself of racing a few years ago. considering what was left to work with, DMG is doing a commendable job keeping it going (afterall what else do we have domestically with a tv package?). cyclenews is not dead, they’ve been resurrected and have an awesome digital edition. here’s a sweet investigative article on the reasons behind ducati’s withdrawl from WSBK (you may have to copy/paste)…
http://cyclenews.coverleaf.com/cyclenews/20110301#pg39
see, all is well. 🙂 btw a bit of advice, nothing EXTERNAL to you should make it “hard” for you to be fan… that is… unless you LET it…??? passion for motorcycling comes from the inside… not from the outside. prolly not a good idea to expect nameless, faceless entitys to cultivate it for us…? just a thought.
I wish they’d just skip Daytona. It’s a NASCAR track that is a total snooze to watch bikes race on it. No elevation changes, banking, drafting. The only way to make it even remotely unique or interesting is making it 200 miles with a pit stop. What a joke!
I am starting to think Mladin and EBoz are right that Daytona is too dangerous for bikes. It’s not a real track and the walls are bad. Did you see the highlights (wrecks mostly) from the Supersport race would be terrible to kill some young kid there. The race always ends up to be a drafting thing which is boring. Time to say good bye to the 200. There are enough real, or as Mladin put it, proper race tracks around the AMA doesn’t need Daytona anymore.
SHAME on DMG and all the moronic fools who have gutted what was once a fine day (or week!) of racing. A restart with 15 laps to go? That sounds exactly like a NASCAR mystery caution deliberately designed to bunch them all up for a “good” entertaining finish. What a sad sad non-event this race has turned into. I live 90 miles away and I don’t find it to be even worth the day trip anymore. There’s other great and far more entertaining racing during bike week which I’m sure I’ll head down for but I doubt I’ll ever go back for the 200. Freaking Jackwagons…
Woefully inadequate show put on by the AMA.
Dunlop has millions of miles in racing experience and fully understands what Daytona is all about; High Speed Banking!
They should have done a better job with tires.
The AMA should waive the D.O.T. tire rule at that track and let them run slicks for this race only.
If SBK’s can handle it then 600’s should have no issues whatsoever.
Seems like every year it’s something else that goes wrong with this race!
AMA, get you Sh*T together!!!
Well said!
SPEED proves again what a lousy broadcasting company it is. Rather than stay with the race to the finish, the cut away to NASCAR (boring) truck QUALIFYING. Not a race… qualifying.
They should just change their name to NASCAR TV. They give a crap about motorcycle racing or the fans.
YUP, thats SPEED for ya. Even 10 years ago it was getting like that.
old news unfortunately. i’ve long since shifted from anger to understanding. bottom line, nascar sells and is supported by it’s fans. motorcycling…? not so much. i’ll give you one guess what WE have to do to correct this…?
Another red flagged Daytona.
Glad I didn’t waste my money to see it.
no amount of money spent on motorcycling is a waste. a gamble…? yes, but not a waste. the pay-off was knowing eslick (and others) weren’t hurt, and ducati finally winning at daytona after the drama of an amazing engine swap (good hustle that).
I don’t have a problem with a displacement advantage for the twins. That’s they way the rules were drawn up and everybody has the same opportunity to use whatever engine configuration they think will work for them, (a similar rule gave us great bikes like the RC51 and TL1000). What I have trouble with is AMA/DMG allowing DiSalvo to re-enter the race after losing his motor – something that would not have been possible w/o the extended red flag delay. I love Ducati’s and wish them well but that just strikes me as being fundamentally unfair. Maybe I’m wrong but that’s just the way I see it.
not sure what the rules are on that, but yeah, it could be a technical infraction. kind of a gray area. it would’ve definitely been “less gray” if disalvo had pulled off on his own prior to the red flag. many times luck DOES play a role in results. most times it’s for the bad, but some times (as in this case) lady luck conspires to your good. 🙂 for all his undeniable talent, rossi has ALSO proven to be one of the luckiest som’ bitches rollin…!!! never seen anything like it. LOL
In street trim that may be true. But watching the race, those 600’s gave up nothing on the duc. It was all about who was in the best draft position coming out of that final corner.
TOTALLY FAIR. A smaller SCREAMER CAN and WILL put a hell of a fight to anything…and this coming from a 90* V-Twin FanBoy (^_^ )…LOL.
People always turn a blind eye at how each beast makes AND put out its power…the displacement “advantage” is only there to try to even the field based on those events. JMH-some-what-informed-O.
correct, over in WSS 748’s, 749’s, and 675’s have been getting handed their asses routinely for over a decade. illegal now, but not sure an 848 twin would’ve faired any better against guys like sofoglu, crutchlow, and laverty.
Not fair “There is no replacement for displacement” Ducati has the 41% displacement advantage and it shows. 🙁 The 848 makes a tested 115.6 hp (86 kW) at 10,000 rpm and 62 lb·ft (84.1 N·m) at 8,250 rpm. vs the ZX=6R 107.7 bhp (80.3 kW) @ 14,100 rpm[ and 42.9 lb·ft (58.2 N·m) @ 12,000 rpm[11]
This is not a personal comment. Life is not fair. The rules are not secret and don’t change during the race (normally). The rules are in writing. Every fan, every racer, and every race team is welcome to become familiar with the rules before the season starts and at the start of each race. Anyone disapproving of the rules is welcome to make this determination at any time, ignore the race, and do something else, like I did today (rode my mountain bike).
The greater the piston quantity the smaller the pistons, the smaller the pistons the higher the maximum potential piston speed, the higher the piston speed the higher the maximum RPM, the higher the RPM the higher the rate at which the cylinders pump air in/out and the higher the maximum power potential. For this reason, if/when internal combustion motors of varying cylinder quantity are allowed to race, it is always only flat unfair to specify a fixed displacement.
It appears impossible to argue that the twin deserves no displacement advantage. You can well argue the size of the twin’s displacement advantage.
Yes but I remember when the Ducati was only 748 CC.
and i remember when 599cc supersports were in the range of 450-475lbs and didn’t break the 100hp mark…?