Wyman Wins Daytona 200
K
yle Wyman (N2 Racing
Yamaha) clinched his first
Daytona 200 victory, March 16,
coming out on top after a four-lap
spring to the finish following a late
red flag.
Wyman topped pole sitter Sean
Dylan Kelly (M4 Ecstar Suzuki)
and Kelly's teammate Bobby
Fong. Veteran Josh Hayes (MP13
Yamaha) came home fourth at the
flag.
The overall margin between
Wyman and sixth-place finisher
Geoff May (Yamaha) was just
1.206 seconds, with Wyman tak-
ing $25,000 home for the win.
Wyman's win came after the
red flag fell on the 54th lap
following a crash by Yamaha
rider Jason Aguilar, setting up a
four-lap sprint to the finish. The
Arizona resident took the lead on
lap 57, holding it to the flag to fin-
ish 0.213 of a second up on Kelly.
"To win it like this, Daytona, in
a four-lap sprint race, it's just un-
real," said Wyman, who said the
red-flag period was fortuitous.
Worried about running out of
fuel before the race ended, he
was conserving fuel down the
stretch, just trying to finish or
at best carve out a podium (top
three) result.
"I'm speechless—what a race!
The high and lows of a 200-mile
endurance race, you know,"
Wyman said. "I ran out of fuel on
the last lap the second stint and
I was just gutted. I was riding
around in third place [toward the
end] but the red came out and I
had another shot."
Kelly was also the bearer of
good late-race fortune. The
16-year-old was a lap down when
the red flag came out. However,
he was allowed to restart on the
IN
THE
WIND
P28
(Left) Kyle Wyman, who qualified
fourth for the Daytona 200, stepped it
up when it counted most, on Saturday,
to win the race for the first time. (Right)
At 16 years of age, Sean Dylan Kelly
(311) became the youngest rider ever
to win pole position for the Daytona
200. He took second on race day.
PHOTOS: BRIAN J. NELSON
