Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128315
o R61n 2003, Jamie Hacking winning the crown from teammate Damon Buckmaster, the title going down to the final race . For the new season , Yamaha's just as strong and a year more experienced . Yamaha increased its contingency program so that the R6 is now the weapon of choice for privateers. Suzuki and Kawasaki stepped up with new 600s for '04, both factories coming to the table w ith stronger lineups. Tommy Hayden is joined by brother Roger Lee, with Aaron Yates back in 600s for the long haul. This season, Suzuki and Kawasaki had new models to showcase and stepped up their programs for 2004, while Honda stepped out, BigRed putting its resources into the Formula Xtreme class. Kawasaki was a revelation in Thursday's Superstock race , the new ZXlOR showing surprising speed . Would it be the same for the middleweight? Yamaha's Jason DiSalvo broke the lap record by nearly two seconds in qualifying, lapping the 3.56-mile road course in I :50.998. The time would have put him eighth on the Superbike grid. The race began late on a warm, windy Saturday morning, Tommy Hayden getting the jump and a quick five-rider breakaway forming up. A 20-plus mph tailwind on the backstraight meant closing speeds in the chicane were deceiving. Experienced riders would compensate, not so for the rest. Floridian William Meyers got caught out entering the chi- 38 Ben Spies' mm spent the time replacing the radiator on his GSX-R600, while others finetuned the ir machines , some changing tires , some not. Both Roger Lee and Tommy Hayden adjusted the gearing on their Kawasakis to compensate for the winds. Tommy Hayden was again the early leader, now taking Yoshimura Suzuki's Aaron Y ates along. Before long there was an eight-rider break, seven factory machines and Michael Barnes . Barnes had spent the previous weekend racing CCS and F-USAand learning his new R6, a machine he'd had for only two weeks . He and long-time tuner Tony Pogue decided not to try to reinvent the wheel. They used components they knew, including Pirelli tires, which Barnes credited with his ability to run consistently at the front. There 's also the matter of experience. " l' rn not tak ing anything away from those guys, but I've been here 33 times or something like that," the Floridian said. Three differe nt riders led the pack, Aaron Gobert, DiSalvo and Tommy Hayden , the Yamahas spending most of the time up front . The eight-rider pack numbered nine on the I I th lap. the 5uzukis clearly down on power and shuffled to the back. Spies MARCH 17 ,2004 • CYCLE NEWS would drop out on the 17th lap with a blown shock. "I'm not even really worried about this place," said Spies, who was returning to Daytona for the first time since he had a rear tire blowout during an October tire test. "I don't like it anyway. We're out of here. I'm in one piece, so I'm all right ." With five laps to go, the lead pack was down to flve with four more just beh ind. Then they hit traffic, and the rear caught the front, and the fight was on. Now there were two at the front, DiSalvo and Gobert swapping the lead from the 12th lap on , Gobert leading laps 16 and 17 of 18 and knowing he'd made a mistake. "I was leading the race , think ing to myself, 'I'm an idiot.' I shouldn't be leading," he said, adding, "I don't know how 40th Anniversary spread out the whole field was , but we slowed down a fair bit that last lap because nobody wanted to lead ." Eventually Tommy Hayden moved to the front , explaining that he thought someone might try to pass him. "So I was leading and seeing how brave anyone was , if anyone wanted to try to lead, someone that knew they could n't draft past , or something like that," he said. DiSalvo knew he had motor on the Kawasakis, so he took Hayden at th e first opportunity and set his sights on the flag.