Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

Racers’ reactions to the re-configured chicane at Daytona International Speedway remained generally positive after it was tested under racing conditions Thursday afternoon.

“It’s pretty good. I think it’s a good design,” said Larry Pegram after riding an endurance stint for Team Orient Express in Thursday’s Team Challenge. “It needs to be closer to NASCAR three. We have too much speed before NASCAR three now. It could overheat the tires and push us into the wall on the banking. We’re probably going 7-8 mph faster by the time we get to NASCAR three and 10 mph faster at the start/finish line.”

“It was about the same under race conditions except it was a whole lot safer,” said Jason DiSalvo, who used the Team Challenge to test his factory Yamaha YZF-R6. “It was kind of tough to pass people going in. You can take the entrance faster because there’s not so much of a bump at the entrance now. Overall, it makes about half a second to a full second faster on our lap times.”

“It’s a lot safer and a lot smoother,” said Matt Wait after taking the Team Challenge overall race win. “The approach is good, the exit’s good and I like the way it feels coming out. It’s smooth so there’s a lot of grip. I like it.

“I think they put more pavement on the inside (of the right at the entrance). So you have a wider section. The paint’s got some kind of grit in it, so it has grip now. But it’s still the same as far as passing.”

“It’s the same,” said Steve Rapp. “You can’t pass going in really. If you get behind them at the entrance, you have to slow down and wait behind them until you get to the exit. It’s kind of one-line now. Before you could pass them in the middle. Now if you don’t pass them before you lean it in, you have to wait. But it’s better on the exit. You can’t risk messing up the exit though because that takes you all the way around.”