Ben Bostrom Wins Daytona 200: 2WheelTimes Report

Updated Race Results at bottom of page! AMA Changes Results...

By Michael Hannas

Photos courtesy of Yamaha Racing USA
 

Ben Bostrom definitely put his money where his mouth was.  After qualifying on pole and saying all week that he was going to win the Daytona 200, Bostrom did just that on his Graves Yamaha R-6 after outgunning teammate Josh Herrin and M4 Emgo Suzuki’s Jason DiSalvo in the final six lap dash to the finish.  The race was interrupted by two controversial caution periods in which the safety car was deployed due to lighting issues in the chicane area, the second of which resulted in a six-lap sprint to the finish.  Josh Hayes was also battling in the lead pack in the final dash when he highsided out of second place in the first horseshoe with four laps remaining.

Hayes had led much of the race after battling early with Bostrom and an impressively quick Danny Eslick on the Buell 1125R, until Eslick was forced to pit for repairs on a fairing and radiator unit that was falling off on lap eleven.  Eslick went two laps down during the lengthy repair and ultimately jumped off his machine and grabbed a roll of duct tape off pit wall and took over from his mechanics in his frustration.  Hayes was able to pull a gap on Bostrom and the rest of the pack with the help of his crew during the first pit stop sequence and had a comfortable six-second lead over the battle for second between Bostrom and Martin Cardenas when the first caution period occurred on lap 35.

During the caution period while the safety car was making its second or third lap while leading the field slowly there was a scary accident involving Tommy Aquino and multiple other riders entering the chicane when the pack slowed to stay behind the pace car and the rest of the pack was still coming at speed down the back straight behind them.  Aquino was shaken but uninjured, but the incident resulted in a red flag which also shook up the running order at the time.  Most of the field made their second and final pit stop during the safety car period before the incident took place, with Bostrom barely making his stop in time, and poor Jake Zemke waiting too long and having to make his final stop after the red flag, which took him out of contention for the win after sitting in fifth before the safety car came out.

In the final six-lap dash Bostrom, Hayes, Herrin, DiSalvo, and Monster Kawasaki’s Jamie Hacking, who was one of the riders who benefited from the cautions and red flag, all pulled away from the rest of the pack immediately.  After dicing back and forth for a lap, Bostrom took control entering the infield on lap 53 and tried to pull a gap.  Hayes put his head down and tried to keep Bostrom from pulling a gap but he tried a little too hard exiting the first horseshoe and flicked himself from his R-6 to the pavement and out of the race.  To make matters worse, that meant his wife Melissa Paris beat him by finishing 21^st in her first ever AMA Pro race!

Bostrom now had a little breathing room over Herrin and DiSalvo, who had started to drop Hacking with three laps to go.  DiSalvo and Herrin battled back and forth while Bostrom maintained his gap as they hit the white flag, while Shawn Higbee on the Buell led the battle for fifth over Chaz Davies on the Aprilia, Dane Westby, Martin Cardenas, Leandro Mercado, and Steve Rapp.  Herrin took control from DiSalvo and charged after Bostrom but the gap was just enough that Bostrom was able to fend off the draft and take his first Daytona 200 victory.  Herrin held on over DiSalvo with Hacking fourth, and Higbee holding on for fifth on the Buell.  Davies beat out an impressive Daytona rookie Westby for sixth, with Cardenas eighth.  The last-minute Roger Hayden Replacement Mercado was ninth on the Monster Kawasaki in the first-ever AMA Pro event for the former Red Bull Rookie Cup rider, with Rapp tenth after switching during practice from the uncompetitive Blackhole Aprilia to a Four Feathers Racing Yamaha R-6 abandoned by an injured-in-practice Scotty VanHawk.  Eslick was also involved in the six-rider fight for fifth but was a lap down after his unfortunate fairing mishap and finished 13^th.

AMA Pro Daytona Sportbike presented by AMSOIL

Daytona 200 Results:

1. 1s, Ben Bostrom (Yam)
2. 8,  Josh Herrin, (Yam)
3. 40 Jason DiSalvo, (Suz)
4. 88 Jamie Hacking, (Kaw)
5. 11 Shawn Higbee, (Buell)
6. 57 Chaz Davies, (Apr)
7. 213 Dane Westby, (Yam)
8. 36 Martin Cardenas, (Suz)
9. 95 Leandro Mercado, (Kaw)
10.  27 Steve Rapp, (Yam)
11. 51 Damian Cudlin, (Yam)
12. 484 Bostjan Pintar, (Yam)
13.  9  Danny Eslick, (Buell)
14.  5  Russ Wikle, (Suz)
15. 17 Miguel DuHamel, (Suz)
16. 31 Garrett Carter, (Yam)
17. 29 Barrett Long, (Yam)
18. 53 Eric Wood, (Yam)
19. 32 Santiago Villa, (Suz)
20. 46 Tyler Odom, (Hon)
21. 413 Melissa Paris, (Yam)
22. 1x  Jake Zemke, (Hon)
23. 97 Ben Thompson, (Apr)
24. 67 Ty Howard, (Apr)
25. 34 Michael Barnes, (Buell)
26. 60 Michael Beck, (Yam)
27. 191 Jeff Tigert, (Hon)
28. 125 Ryan Patterson, (Yam)
29. 101 Marcos Reichert, (Yam)
30. 112 Ricky Orlando, (Kaw)
31. 64 Armando Ferrer, (Suz)
32. 474 Bostjan Skubic, (Yam)
33. 505 Nicky Moore, (Kaw)
34. 54 Alan Schmidt, (Buell)
35. 22 David Sadowski Jr, (Yam)
36. 45 Josh Bryan, (Buell)
37. 10 Chris Peris, (Hon)
38. 14 Mark Crozier, (Tri)
39. 33 Matt McBride, (Suz)
40. 37 John Ashmead, (Kaw)
41. 746 Meghan Stiles, (Yam)
42. 12 Shane Narbonne, (Apr)
43. 594 David McPherson, (Yam)
44. 221 Walt Skipp, (Yam)
45. 528 Mark McCormick, (Yam)
46. 73 Dylon Husband, (Kaw)
47. 84 Anthony Fania, (Suz)
48. 38 Dean Mizdal, (Kaw)
49. 26 Jean Tache, (Yam)
50. 63 Lloyd Bailey, (Yam)
51. 715 Troy Vincent, (Suz)
52. 94 Gene Burcham, (Duc)
53. 4  Josh Hayes, (Yam)
54. 199 Larry Myers, (Kaw)
55. 7 Fernando Amantini, (Kaw)
56. 28 Alistair Douglas, (Suz)
57. 204 Andres Lodono, (Yam)
58. 111 Mike Debrabrant, (Suz)
59. 171 Ray Hofman, (Yam)
60. 19 Eric Haugo, (Yam)
61. 76 Scott Jensen, (Apr)
62. 370 Clinton Gibson, (Kaw)
63. 113 Craig Moodie, (Yam)
64. 98 Bryan Bemisderfer, (Buell)
65. 6  Tommy Aquino, (Yam)
66. 30 Justin Filice, (Tri)
67. 322 James DiGiandomenico, (Yam)