Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

~ !lJG!J~J1J]J_D@_@_@_c> _ Races are won and lost in the pits at Daytona International Speedway. This time, that wasn't the case. Both Nicky Hayden and Mat Mladin had clean and efficient pit stops. Here's a breakdown on the top 10's pit stops during the 59th running of the Daytona 200. Lap 16: Larry Pegram (rear tire, fuel) Lap 17: Jason Pridmore (out of race - electrical) Lap 19: Nicky Hayden (two tires, fuel); Mat Mladln (two tires, fuel); Tommy Hayden (two tires, fuel): Pascal Picotte (two tires, fuel) Lap 20: Miguel DuHamel (two tires, fuel); Aaron Yates (two tires, fuel); Eric Bostrom (two tires, fuel); Steve Rapp (two tires, fuel) Lap 2]: Doug Chandler (two tires, fuel) Lap 3]: Scott Russell (out of race - mechanical) Lap 35: Steve Rapp (rear tire, fuel); Larry Pegram (rear tire, fuel) Lap 37: Mat Mladin (rear tire, fuel) Lap 39; Pascal Picotte (two tires, fuel) Lap 40: Nicky Hayden (rear tire, fuel); Aaron Yates (rear tire, fuel); Tommy Hayden (rear tire, fuel); Eric Bostrom (rear tire, fuel) Lap 41: Miguel DuHamel (rear tire, fuel) Lap 43: Doug Chandler (rear tire, fuel) Harley wars: For a while during the 200, the two factory VR1000s ran together. Pascal Picotte (211 ended up finishing ninth, with Russell going out of the race with a mechanical failure. Pegram and his Competition Accessories Ducati team came away with a 10th-place finish, but they'd expected more after qualifying on the front row of the grid. "We didn't have all the equipment that we needed, and our lack of testing showed in the race," Pegram said. "We came here, and we weren't as prepared as we needed to be. We made it through a lot of stuff this weekend with some balls-to-thewalls-type riding, but when we got to the race and the tire got greasy, our lack of testing and lack of setup showed." eN Daytona Intemalionll Speedwly Olytonl Belch, Floridl Results: March 12, 2000 [Round 1 of 13] SUPERBIKE QUALIFYING: 1. Troy Bayliss (1:40.075): 2. Mat Mlad;n (1:49.083); 3. N;cky Hayden (I :49.500); 4. Larry Pegram (1 :49.887); 5. Miguel DuHamel (1 :50.031): 6. Doug Chandler (I :50.044): 7. Steye Rapp (I :50.047): B. Aaron Yates (1:50.460); 9. Er;c Bostrom (1:50.6B3); 10. Jam;e Hacking (1:50.994); 11. Tommy Hayden (1:51.188): 12. Jason Pridmore (I :52.017); 13. Pascal Picotte (1;52.2'15): 14. Scott Russell (1:52.235): 15. Shawn Conrad (1 :54.699); 16. Damon Buckmaster (1:55.068): 17. Jeff W;lI;ams (1 :55.094): 18. J;mmy Moore (1 :55.962): 19. Oddge;r Haynen (1 :56.079): 20. Mike Ciccotlo (I :56.444); 21. Jamie Bowman (156.534): 22. R;ch Conicell; (156.870); 23. Mark Ledesma (157.345): 24. Thomas Haud (1 :57.570): 25. Roger Lee Hayden (1 :57.618); 26. Akiharu Sh;geno (1 :57.792): 27. Shane Clarke (I :57.912): 28. Raife Snover (1:57.914); 29. Mike Harth (1:57.961): 30. Ricky Orlando (1:58.133): 31. Randall Mennenga (I :58.340); 32. Tripp Nobles (1 :58.520); 33. James Romero III (I :58.893): 34. John Jacobi (1 :59.090): 35. Rob Bowerman Jr. (1 :59.144); 36. Thomas Fournier (I :59.216); 37. John Ashmead (1 :59.397); 38. Brett Ray (1 :59.421): 39. Brandon Bashore (I :59.600); 40. Mike Walsh (1:59.693); 41. Dean Mizdal (1:59.742): 42. Frank Aragaki (1 :59.786); 43. Ken Krebs (2:00.699): 44. Chad Simons (2:00.716); 45. Tommy Wagner (2:00.783): 46. Rick Na,up (2:00.820): 47. Day;d Smith (2:00.912): 48. Lu;s Nor;ega (2:01.017); 49. Nigel Manning Morton (2:02.377); 50. Shane Gonyea (2:01.168): 51. Rick Shaw (2:01.192): 52. R;ch;e Morris (2:01.207) DAYTONA 200: 1. Mat Mladin (Suz); 2. Nicky Hayden (Hon): 3. Doug Chandler (Kaw); 4. Miguel DuHamel (Hon); 5. Aaron Yates (Suz); 6. Steve Rapp (Due); 7. Tommy Hayden (Yam): 8. Eric Bostrom (Kaw); 9. Pascal Picotte (H-D); 10. Larry Pegram (Due); II. Oddgeir Havnen (Yam); 12. Jimmy Moore (Suz); 13. Jamie Bowman (Suz): 14. Ricky Orlando (Suz); 15. Mike Ciccotte (Suz): 16. John Jacobi (Suz); 17. Mike Harth (Suz); 18. Chad Simons (Suz); 19. Mike Walsh (Yam): 20. Brandon Bashore (Suz); 21. Randall Mennenga (Suz); 22. Shane Clarke (Suz); 23. Frank Aragaki (Suz); 24. Brett Ray (Kaw): 25. Nigel Manning Morton (Suz); 26. Rob Bowerman (Suz); 27. Dean Mizdal (Suz): 28. Riehie Morris (Kaw); 29. Raife Snover (Suz); 30. David Smith (Suz): 31. James Romero (Suz); 32. Shawn Conrad (Due); 33. Akiharu Shigeno (Suz); 34. Mark Ledesma (Kaw); 35. Thomas Hauri (Due): 36. Troy Bayliss (Due); 37. Tommy Wagner (Due); 38. Seott Russell (H·D): 39. Ken Krebs (Suz); 40. John Ashmead (Kaw); 41, Jeff Williams (Kaw); 42. Jason Pridmore (Suz); 43. Richard Shaw (Yam); 44. Thomas Fournier (Due): 45. Rieh Conieelli (Suz); 46. Riek Narup (Kaw); 47. Shane Gonyea (Suz). Time; I hour, 47 min., 8.51 sec. Distance; 57 laps. 200 miles Average Speed: I 13.631 mph Margin of Victory: 0.011 sec. ~G!J~(][?@DD@DD l!i!l@[? (]@ !I3@rJDD~~ Vance £, Hines Ducati's Troy Bayliss figured he was in trouble as he watched Yoshimura Suzuki's Mat Mladin and American Honda's Nicky Hayden cut hot laps during the second group of qualifiers for the Daytona 200 by Arai. Although the Australian had ripped off a 1;49.075 to set the pace during the first group of qualifiers, he thought there was a good chance that either Mladin or Hayden would go a tad quicker. "Coming into the second session," said Bayliss, "I thought it was only going to be Nicky [Haydenl or Mat [MIadin] who could do it, and I honestly thought they would go a little bit faster - so it was quite nail-biting out'there for me. I'm just happy for Vance £, Hines and Ducati that it turned out they didn't." Despite the nail-biting, Bayliss did end up earning pole position for the Daytona 200 - and the nifty little Rolex Daytona wristwatch that goes with the honor. When time ran out on the second group, Mladin was just .08 of a second off Bayliss' best lap, giving the pole position to the AMA Superbike rookie. In taking the pole, Bayliss became the third Australian to do so for the famous race, joining Troy Corser and Anthony Gobert. Although Bayliss captured the fastest lap on the factory Ducati, he wouldn't quite get to the lap record time turned in by Gobert in last year's qualifying. It was an impressive effort nonetheless for the Aussie, considering he'd never even seen the facility until showing up for the Dunlop tire test back in December. "I went for a drive around in a car - It's quite steep, but I like the place," Bayliss recalled. "It's good. We'll just see what we can do this weekend. I've got a lot to learn this weekend, but we've started the right way." Bayliss didn't sit around until the very end of the session to do his lap - as is the normal practice in AMA qualifying. Instead, he got things warmed up and then threw down the gauntlet in a hurry. "That was the plan," Bayliss said. "We wanted to get out and do the times fairly early rather than get caught and stressed out toward the end of the session. We ran out of tires towards the end anyway, so we had to sit and wait and watch Larry [Pegram - the quickest rider other than Bayliss in the first group] and a few other guys as well." As for the Daytona Rolex: "I didn't wear my watch out there, and I wanted a new one badly," Bayliss said. I've got a nice Oakley [watch], but this one will look quite nice, I'm sure." Mladin was visibly upset when he got off his Yoshimura Suzuki on pit lane after his best effort had come up short, but he was calmed considerably by the time the post-qualifying press conference rolled around. "I never really had any problems with lapped riders or anything like that," Mladin said. "Essentially, we all had one really good qualifier to do a lap on - a single compound. Mine let go coming through the chicane, so I rode it all the way to the finish and did a 49.1. We had a couple of dual-compound qualifiers, but they're just not the same as the normal qualifiers. It's a little bit disappointing, I guess. My split time on my bike showed we were four-l Oths quicker going down the back, so all we had to do was keep it under control - but we didn't get around, so ... "It's good to get on the front row and get locked in," Mladin added. "We can do another couple of hou,s of testing for the race tomorrow [Fridayj, now. The pole position would be nice, and I'm disappointed that I didn't get it, but it's good to get on the front row. I just want to get the start and leave. We're running pretty fast this year. I haven't seen the speed-traps, but the bike feels fast. If I can get the start, I'm just going to put my head down. I just want to get out of there. I don't want to race with anybody." If Daytona rookie Bayliss' pole was impressive, so too were the efforts of the last two on the front row - 200 rookie Nicky Hayden and privateer Larry Pegram on the Competition Accessories-backed Ducati 996. Hayden's qualifying was impressive because it was just his first for the 200, but also because it marked the debut for the brand-new Honda RCSt. Both the new bike and the new superbike rider were up to the task, and they lapped Daytona at 1:49.500. "I'm really happy so far because things have been going unbelievably well - just like I wanted it to," Hayden said. "I was pretty unsure coming into the race. I had limited time on the bike and not much time on a Superbike at Daytona. Those guys at HRC worked really hard all winter and really developed the bike. It's really fast and really good. As soon as we unloaded it, I felt pretty comfortable on it. I was by myself pretty much the whole time. I'm happy to be on the front row, but I'm disappointed because I thought I had a pretty good shot of getting the pole. I made some mistakes. I wanted it real bad, and maybe I put a little bit too much pressure on myself and didn't ride as smooth and relaxed as I should have. I made a few little mistakes that kept us off there [the pole], but I'll take it - I guess. "My strategy is to pretty much go for it," Hayden added. "This morning we did a pit-stop distance on a set of tires, and I was pretty comfortable with that, so I'm happy with how our race setup is going. I know it's going to be really tough. I'm a little bit nervous because I don't know what to expect with the pit stops. I know it's definitely going to be a long race, but I've been training hard this off-season. Hopefully, things will go my way on Sunday."· Pegram, obviously, was pleased with his front-row qualifying position, especially considering he was riding for a brandnew team: Pegram lapped at ]:48.887 - the fastest he'd ever gone around Daytona. "For us to come out here and finish fourth with no testing - and I hadn't run on the Dunlops on the Ducati before - with no notes, and just throwing the thing together with a brand-new team and brand-new guys, I'm really happy," Pegram said. "Skip Eaken [the crew chief] is building the motors already. He felt like it would take him a while, but it really didn't. [Eraldo] Ferracci is helping out, and he showed him what to do. We got a lot of our spares from his supply, and we're still waiting on spares from Italy - we're way low on a lot of stuff, but we're still just putting stuff together. To get through this first race and to be where we're at right now, we're way ahead of where we should be with the resources that we have. If we can get through this one and get points, every race we're going to get better. Within the next race or two, we'll be at the right level with spare parts and equipment and the guys' knowledge of the equipment. I'm really happy right now. To say I'm really happy with fourth - no - but with what we've got right now and with as quick as it got put together, yeah," With the front row being locked in via Thursday's times, the rest of the field had an opportunity to better their times on Friday. The second row would be led by one such rider - Honda's Miguel DuHamel. Riding with a sore neck, DuHamel moved into the 1:50s on Friday, lapping at 1:50.03J to qualify fifth. He headed Kawasaki's Doug Chandler, Vance & Hines Ducati's Steve Rapp and Yoshimura Suzuki's Aaron Yates to lead the second row. in all, 52 riders qualified to participate in the Daytona 200. cue I e n e vv s MARCH 22, 2000 9

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