Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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P110 CN III TRACKSIDE BY ANDREA WILSON I t's hard to watch someone or something decline to the point of being barely beyond recog- nition. The Daytona 200 is no different. It's a race with great history. A race that has a name that holds meaning far beyond the U.S. borders. A race con- nected with some great names of the sport that earned the esteemed Daytona 200 win. But right now, it's a race that fails to represent the great name it holds. Now, pointing out those shortcomings is not meant to disrespect the new custodians of the great event—American SportBike Racing Association (ASRA)—nor does it take away the achievements of those who topped the podium in the past two years after the race was no longer a part of the national championship. The reality is that the Daytona 200 has been on a steady decline for many years. So when did it start its de- cline? You could point to when they made the switch to 600s in 2005. It was a bit disappointing to no longer have the premier class race the grand race, but superbikes were exploding tires at an alarming rate and the need for safety outweighed old tradi- tions. At first they still had some big names racing the 600s, but it still felt a bit lackluster that such a famous race with such a rich history lacked some of the top racers in the championship, like superbike racers Matt Mla- din and Ben Spies. Fast-forward 10 years and it's no longer a part of a national championship. It's now a club race. Go back even farther, before the switch to 600s—long before the height of AMA superbikes and Mr. Daytona himself Scott Russell—it used to be a race that attracted the best from around the world, names like Giacomo Agostini, Jarno Saarinen, Barry Sheene and even the "King" himself Kenny Roberts. I feel cheated that I missed this era. Not just because it was a group of great racers, but it would have been awesome to see two- strokes race at Daytona, as well. But then there are the less ro- mantic parts about Daytona, the casualties. And there were many. But to reference one specifically (especially in light of the previ- ous reference), it would have to be Sheene's rather spectacular crash on the banking in 1975 when his engine seized. The documentary, named appropri- ately Daytona 1975, captured the incident for posterity and it was pretty sobering. Fortunately, although banged up pretty bad, he returned to racing and carried on a great career. Over the course of time, machines evolved and so did racing. The word safety started to take prominence. Safety and progress in technology can be a death sentence to an old track with a great legacy and the Daytona 200 is a good example of that. It will be hard to find a profes- LET IT DIE, OR BRING IT BACK TO LIFE?