IN
THE
WIND
P24
MICHAEL
BARNES
TAKES
EMOTIONAL
DAYTONA 200
VICTORY.
S
ome things are just meant to
be, and for Michael Barnes
that meant coming out of retire-
ment and breaking the record
originally held by Dick Mann in
1971 as the oldest winner of the
Daytona 200. Forty-seven-year-
old Barnes led 46 of the 57-lap
feature to take the victory on his
Palm Beach Police Foundation/
Prieto Performance Yamaha
YZF-R6. The 2016 200 race
was Barnes' 13th attempt in the
Great Race.
"I'm kind of speechless and
fumbling for words," said a
tearful Barnes during Gatorade
Victory Lane ceremonies. "All of
the people who helped me…you
know who you are. I just can't
thank everybody enough. This
one is for quite a few people."
Barnes took the lead early on
in the race from pole sitter Geoff
May and eventually stretched
the advantage to 10.084 sec-
onds at the flag.
"It's awesome for him to come
out of retirement and put a
whuppin' on all of us," May said.
"'Barney had the pace today; he
was getting after it."
Wyatt Farris rode his Track-
side Suspension & Engineer-
ing/MD Racing Yamaha YZF-R6
into third place in his rookie year
at the 200, however, he fin-
ished over 45 seconds down on
Barnes after severe dehydration
and mechanical problems halted
his charge.
The race was briefly stopped
on lap 19 when Brett Molnar
crashed his Yamaha YZF-R6,
the machine spectacularly
catching fire. Molnar was unin-
Barnes proved
age is no
barrier to good
ol' fashioned
speed by
taking the
2016 Daytona
200.
