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/1494803
This time Daniels chased down and overhauled JMC Motorsports/Fairway Ford's Jarod Vanderkooi for the win instead of Robinson, while being pursued by Mees and Rackley Racing's Davis Fisher in place of Bauman and Lewis. Moments after Daniels overtook (and quickly distanced himself from) Vanderkooi, Fisher went around the outside of Mees to round out the box. Mees came home in fourth, again followed by Beach as the two replicated their Thursday results. Robinson fought back from an early mishap to finish sixth, while Bauman added a seventh to his third in what must be con - sidered a successful initial out- ing for a program that figures to only increase in competitive- ness all season long. As impressive as Daniels was as a rookie a year ago, he looks to have leveled up over the off- season. While he agrees with that basic sentiment, he cau- tioned not to read too much into a single Daytona doubleheader, no matter how convincing the performance. "This is amazing," he said. "I felt really good all weekend… just gelling with the bike, gell - ing with the team. The second race was kind of a carbon copy of the first, just dealing with a different rider. Jarod was riding a super smooth race. He wasn't making any mistakes so I kinda had to search around the track. I tried to go around the outside of him and he hooked a hole and about wheelied into me. Man, I've got to be careful. Saturday's Daytona Short Track II rematch, despite al- tered track conditions following Friday's rain-out, produced pretty much the same race story, albeit with a different cast of adversar- ies for Daniels to overcome. ROUNDS 1-2 / MARCH 9-11, 2023 DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY / DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA FLAT TRACK I PROGRESSIVE AMERICAN FLAT TRACK P102 However, he was excited by how unexcited he and the team were with that performance. "It was a good first two races with the new team," he said. "They learned a lot about me. This is definitely not my type of track to go to if I had to pick one on the schedule, so to walk away with two fourths is something we should be happy with. But I'm glad no one on the team is satisfied. They want more, and I feel the same way." 88 CHASE SAATHOFF 10-3 SINGLES American Honda/Mission Foods' Chase Saathoff has been widely by tipped as a rider to watch in '23 after registering a rookie season last year similar to those of Dallas Daniels and Kody Kopp before him. His chances for a splashy opener diminished due to an arm injury he suffered on Thursday, which limited his ability to ride as effectively as he wanted. Even still, he managed to claim a podium on Saturday night. He said, "During Thursday's qualifying, I got hit by a rock in the left arm, and I wasn't really able to use it after that. I'm looking forward to the next couple weeks and getting to the next race." MYOWNRACE Brandon Robinson (44) made a great run for the win Thursday night in the season opener. Unfortunately for him, he came up a half- second short of the victory. Kody Kopp looks determined to keep the number-one plate in 2023 after topping both main events in the Singles class.