VOL. 56 ISSUE 11 MARCH 19, 2019 P29
lead lap going into the four-lap
sprint, and the Floridian made
the most by taking second on his
Daytona 200 debut.
"That restart saved the whole
200 for me," said Kelly.
Four-time Daytona 200
Champion Danny Eslick's quest
to become the third five-time
champion of the race ended
early. Eslick was running in the
top 10 when he went off-course
on lap 11. After getting back onto
the track, he came down pit road
and eventually left the race due
to mechanical issues, ultimately
finishing a distant 55th.
In all, 60 riders started the
race, which took two hours,
seven minutes and 33.8 seconds
to complete. Wyman's average
speed was 94.1 mph, and his
average lap time was two minutes
and 14.2772 seconds.
On Friday before the race,
Kelly became the youngest rider
in the 78-year history of the Day-
tona 200 to take pole position.
He clocked an average speed
of 115.859 mph/1:49.064
seconds to head Fong (115.551
mph/1:49.354 sec) and Aguilar
(115.551 mph/1:49.706 sec).
"I'm so, so happy to get this
[pole]," said Kelly. "But the impor-
tant thing is [Saturday]. It will be
a long, long race—but I will sleep
well tonight."
Kelly added, "Talk about being
exciting. I am absolutely stoked
to be on the pole. I didn't really
expect it coming into the week-
end. It wasn't the first thing in
my mind. I knew after the Team
Challenge that this would be
something similar but at the same
time completely different. There
are a whole lot more competition
and a lot of good riders this year
running the 200. I was coming in
after a solid week [of] testing and
today was just [about] working,
working, step-by-step with my
crew chief and the whole team in
general. Every time out we were
really improving. Everything was
just going really solid."
Defending Daytona 200
champion Danny Eslick qualified
eighth. CN
DAYTONA 200 RESULTS
1. Kyle Wyman (Yam)
2. Sean Dylan Kelly (Suz)
3. Bobby Fong (Suz)
4. Josh Hayes (Yam)
5. Brandon Paasch (Yam)
6. Geoff May (Yam)
7. Tyler O'Hara (Kaw)
8. Jason DiSalvo (Yam)
9. Jody Barry (Kaw)
10. Ryan Jones (Kaw)
QUALIFYING
1. Sean Dylan Kelly (Suz) 1:49.064
2. Bobby Fong (Suz) 1:49.354
3. Jason Aguilar (Yam) 1:49.706
4. Kyle Wyman (Yam) 1:49.814
5. Tyler O'Hara (Kaw) 1:50.217
6. Josh Hayes (Yam) 1:50.312
7. Geoff May (Yam) 1:50.334
8. Danny Eslick (Yam) 1:50.364
9. Jason Farrell (Kaw) 1:50.597
10. Brandon Paasch (Yam) 1:50.760
