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RACE WATCH
Daytona in the light (and at night)
Some people come to Daytona for the beer. Actually, a lot of people come for the beer. And many just come for the ride, the first chance after a long, cold winter to use a motorcycle for more than dreaming in the garage. But everybody seems to come, no matter how peripheral their interest in motorcycles.
We came for the racing. The Daytona 200, Grand National Short-Track and Supercross are what this week is based upon for race fans, and although there were a lot more people watching the “sport” taking place on Main Street, there was an encouraging number of fans in the stands for these events.
After a thrilling 600cc Supersport final that saw Miguel Duhamel take the win after trading the lead in an eightbike group, I asked CW Tech Editor Kevin Cameron what he thought. “I thought it was a sailboat race,” he
replied. Kevin’s good at saying exactly what he’s thinking (and good at writing it, too), and the likelihood you’ve ever thought anything remotely similar is pretty slim. He explained: “On the banking, all they’re trying to do is steal air from each other, looking for puffs to
push them ahead. Sometimes they find themselves accelerating, sometimes decelerating, and they’re not ever truly sure which will happen when.”
So in that way, it was a sailboat race. Kevin didn’t deny it was suspenseful and exciting, but it did seem a little random, although he commented later that Duhamel seems to emerge at the front of this sort of drafting dance more often than the others. This being Duhamel's 38th win in the class sup ports that statement.
That was the best support-class roadrace of the week, although Jason Pridmore’s win over Ben Spies (both on Suzukis) in 750cc Supersport was plenty entertaining. They made it a two-bike race, and at the end, neither one wanted to lead lest he get drafted past at the finish. Pridmore joked at the post-race press conference that he thought Spies was going to stop to get him some flowers at one point.
The dirt racing, by contrast, was all about domination. In the Daytona Supercross, Ricky Carmichael pulled a McGrath on The Man himself. “Showtime” has been the Supercross Golden Boy for what, a decade now? And here’s Ricky, just plain smokin’ Jeremy, and making it look easy. It was Carmichael’s sixth-consecutive win. Has anyone ever seen a worried McGrath? We have now, as he definitely looked worried after the race.
The most striking thing about watching the Daytona Supercross (the outdoor-MX nature of the track makes it more of a Super-motocross) was the brutality of it on ground level. From the stands, a lap appears to be a series of graceful leaps connected by quick corner flicks and some sweetly timed rhythm though the whoop sections.
From trackside, it’s nothing like that. In describing the track after the race, Suzuki’s Travis Pastrana (who killed ’em in the 125cc ranks) said it was “a> brutal chaos of misplaced jumps.” Gary Bailey, who’s designed the track for the last 20 or so years, was riding around on a scooter, videotaping the races with an amused but slightly evil-looking smile. He obviously enjoys challenging (pummeling?) the world’s best motocrossers.
At the Short Track, as I watched genuine Daytona dirt flying into my beer (it sinks to the bottom), Will Davis ran away from the rest in front of a packed Municipal Stadium. Good heat races and semis saved that show.
But by far more interesting than any of the sanctioned races is what happened in the night: Illicit Daytona, if you will. A congregation formed late in the evening at the Hess gas station on International Speedway Blvd. near Interstate 95. Out front, the wheelie hounds and burnout artists congregated to show off. In back was an impromptu paddock, populated with Ford Excursions and other monster trucks, most pulling enclosed trailers with dragbikes inside. They came here to negotiate bets, riders and match-ups for illegal drag races that took place later. Photography is frowned upon, and a professional photographer who accompanied me to the “event” said he was glad he didn ’t bring his camera.
Trash-talking was the name of the game: “Two-thousand dollars? I don’t get out of bed for that!” After races were lined up, the exodus began as everyone moved quickly to their vehicle. We drove out of town, then everybody pulled over on the side of this four-lane highway.
Time to race! Right here, on a highway with traffic all around? Yep. It was exciting, and it somehow seemed more runwhat-you-brung pure than the “commercial” stuff at the track. Certainly, there is some question as to how it is all financed, but I wasn’t inclined to ask.
A large break in traffic occurred, and finally two stretched, lowered Suzuki GSX-1300R Hayabusas staged, launched and accelerated away impossibly quickly. The winner’s (no names, please!) nylon windbreaker was flapping in the wind as he passed-no leathers sponsors, I presume. I was going to check the illegal street-racing media guide, but it’s probably hanging on the wall at the post office...
This was all illegal and dangerous, disorganized and quite dumb, really. In fact, among Bad Ideas, street racing a motorcycle easily capable of a 9-second, 150-mph quarter-mile on a public road with traffic all around ranks right up there. Would I watch again the next time I'm in Daytona? I wouldn't miss it.
Mark Hoyer
