Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMAIChevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Series / Round 1 : Daytona International Speedway By PAUL CARRUTHERS PHOTOS BY HENNY RAY ABRAMS DAYTONA BEACH, FL, MAR. 10 iven the maturity Nicky Hayden W showed in winning the 61st running of the Daytona 200, he may want to think about removing "The Kid" moniker from the back of his leathers. Daytona 200s, after all, are won by racers canny enough to save not only their tires, but their motorcycles as well - doing so while maintaining a pace fast enough to keep them in front. Showing wisdom well beyond his 20 years, Hayden simply dominated the Daytona 200, running virtually mistake-free to his first victory in the one race he'd dreamed about winning since his childhood. Hayden was the dominant rider on the dominant motorcycle as the factory Honda RC51 s proved to be virtually unstoppable all week at the famous Speedway in Florida. He was fast, and the motorcycle was fast. But the key was making it last. Many were counting on the Hondas either breaking down, or being too hard on their tires to go the distance. Those pundits proved to be correct in that Miguel DuHamel's RC51 suffered an engine failure, and Kurtis Roberts disintegrated his rear tire. But Hayden's bike ran strong to the finish and he did what he had to do to ensure that his tires did likewise. He had the package. Plain @ 8 MARCH 20. 2002' a U a • • and simple. And when all was said and done, he had become the youngest to win the Daytona 200 since a 19-year-old by the name of Johnny Cecotto won in 1976. "It feels so good," Hayden said. "That race was so long I never thought it was going to end. This is amazing. Growing up as a kid this is what I dreamed about. I went to bed thinking about the Daytona 200. To win it is just an incredible feeling and I just want to thank my team. The Hondas were so fast today. We had a big advantage. The team got the bike working so good. I'm just so happy to win and be leading the points. Obviously, with Kurtis [Roberts] going out and Miguel [DuHamel] and Mat [Mladin] not riding, I wish I could have beat those guys straight up, but still it feels so good. I didn't think it was going to end. That race seemed so long. One lap after another, and with seven laps to go I had a contact lens come out - I was just waiting for it to be over. " Second place, some 18 seconds behind Hayden, went to Blimpie's Yoshimura Suzuki's Jamie Hacking after he ran down Yamaha's Anthony Gobert on the final run to the flag to take the runner-up spot· his best· ever finish in the 200. Gobert's third was also a career best at a racetrack that has been less n __ s than kind to the Australian. This time, however, Gobert was able to turn things around - even though Daytona tried its hardest to keep him down once again. Suffering a shoulder injury in an horrific crash in the 600cc Supersport that left his younger brother, Aaron, in serious condition, Gobert was able to bounce back (stitches and all) - bravely riding at the front of the pack, showing at least early on that he was the one rider who could at least come close to running with the factory Hondas. But in the end, Hacking was better. Gobert got out of sync on his tire changes early and it hampered him at the end. Hacking's GSX-R750 had good speed and the South Carolinian always seems to show well at Daytona. He had his head down at the end, had fresher tires, and managed to reel Gobert in over the course of the final few laps, finally tracking him down just before the finish line to end up second. "Don't count me out," Hacking said. "If you count me out, you've done messed up. That Blimpie Yoshimura Suzuki had some hot sauce in it today, because that thing was flying. That thing ran so good." The move left Gobert third, but . all things considered - he was elated. "We struggled a little bit at first with a tire," Gobert" said. "The tire Anthony Gobert (16) got the holeshot at the start of the Daytona 200, with Pascal Picotte (21), Miguel DuHamel (17), Nickey Hayden (69), Kurtis Roberts (80) and the pack giving chase. was coming apart. I stayed out for two laps and we lost a lot of time, about 10 seconds. At the end of the race you wish you had those 10 seconds. As it turned out, we only just sort of made the finish of the race with this one [tire]. If I hadn't have come in a lap earlier, I wouldn't have fmished the race. I said to myself for my brother, who got hurt pretty badly the other day, that I wanted to finish on the podium and sort of make it right. The main thing, I wasn't really worried about losing second, I thought if maybe there was a train they'd steam to the finish and then I'd finish fourth. I thought I'd be heartbroken then. But there was only one of them. This is the first time I've fin· ished on the podium in Superbike, so I'm happy." Fourth place went to Hacking's Yoshimura teammate Aaron Yates, the Georgian spending the majority of the day racing with Hacking and Kawasaki's Eric Bostrom before finishing between them. Bostrom was a disappointed fifth after failing all week to find the setup that would allow his ZX· 7R to steer

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