Former Daytona 200 winner John Ashmead has returned to Daytona International Speedway in hopes of racing in the 2005 Daytona 200 by Honda and eventually eclipsing Rick Shaw’s all-time Daytona 200 mileage record. “Yeah, that’s what I want to do,” Ashmead told Roadracingworld.com during CCS’s event at Daytona March 5. “I was hurt last year, so I didn’t make it.” “I saw that,” said Shaw, when asked if he knew Ashmead was at Daytona and looking to ride in the 200-mile AMA race. “We went out on track together this morning, and I gave him the finger the number-one finger not the other finger. This may just kick me in the ass to come back and do it next year.” Shaw, 56, had planned to retire from Daytona 200 action after 2004, but the possibility of claiming the record for number of Daytona 200 starts (23) from Warren Sherwood and the challenge of doing the race on a 600cc Formula Xtreme bike drew Shaw back to the “World Center of Racing” in 2005. Shaw currently holds the Daytona 200 mileage record at 3365.48 miles. Ashmead currently has 2821.41 miles, a difference of 544.07 miles. While age is in 41-year-old Ashmead’s favor regarding his pursuit of the mileage record, 56-year-old Shaw will attempt to qualify for this year’s Daytona 200 on a well-prepared 2005 Yamaha YZF-R6 while Ashmead will attempt to qualify on a 2005 Kawasaki ZX-6RR that still wears the stock exhaust and bodywork. “Yeah, but Johnny always has a way of stepping up,” said Shaw. “He’s won the damn thing, so he knows what it takes. It’ll be fun.”

Texas club racer Scott Crews will be racing a Kawasaki ZX-10R in the Superbike TT, Superstock TT and Senior TT at the 2005 Isle of Man TT. Crews’ effort will be sponsored by Eurosport Cycle in Fort Worth, Texas. This will be Crews’ second appearance at the Isle of Man TT. He raced in the 600cc Production TT and the 1000cc Production TT in 2004.

Jeff Wood, Damon Buckmaster and Vincent Haskovec each earned a pole position during Formula USA qualifying Saturday at Daytona International Speedway. Wood earned provisional pole for the Formula Sportbike (750cc) class with a 1:43.864 on his Dunlop-fitted Arclight Suzuki GSX-R750. Yamaha’s factory Supersport racers Jason DiSalvo (1:44.010), Aaron Gobert (1:44.534), Jamie Hacking (1:44.541) and Buckmaster (1:44.638) recorded the second-, third-, fourth- and fifth-fastest lap times, respectively, but the quartet’s times were disallowed when the team declined to undergo post-qualifying dyno testing. “We’re not going to the dyno,” said Yamaha Team Manager Tom Halverson. “We’ll just start from the back. We’ll probably pull in during the race.” John McGuinness (1:44.884) was next on the Formula Sportbike time sheet, but the former Isle of Man winner misunderstood the class regulations, rode his Kawasaki ZX-10R Superbike and was disqualified. The provisional Formula Sportbike front row was completed by KWS Millennium Suzuki’s Lee Acree (1:44.948), Kneedraggers.com Jensen Racing’s Robert Jensen (1:45.353) and defending Formula Sportbike Champion Arclight Suzuki’s Scott Harwell (1:45.688). All four men on the front row rode Suzuki GSX-R750s. Harwell’s GSX-R750, however, suffered a blown engine during the session. Buckmaster’s 1:43.903 on his Dunlop-shod YZF-R6 was good enough for the Superbike (600cc) provisional pole position. Superbike does not have a horsepower limit and does not require post-qualifying dyno testing. DiSalvo (1:43.990), Gobert (1:44.354) and Venemoto Prieto Racing Yamaha’s Michael Barnes (1:44.733) completed the provisional Superbike front row. Team M4 EMGO Suzuki’s Haskovec used a 17-inch rear Pirelli qualifying slick on his 2005-model GSX-R1000 to turn the fastest lap of the weekend, a 1:42.531, and take pole position in Unlimited Grand Prix. Haskovec’s teammate Geoff May, who also used a Pirelli qualifying tire on his new GSX-R1000, qualified second with a 1:42.778. DiSalvo was third-fastest with a 1:43.712 on his Supersport-spec Yamaha YZF-R6. Rojo Racing’s Jason Perez claimed the final spot on the front row with a 1:44.624 on his Yamaha YZF-R1 in spite of crashing just moments before in Superbike qualifying. Saturday’s Thunderbike and Sportbike qualifying sessions were postponed until Sunday morning due to Saturday’s racing schedule running long with crashes, fluid clean-ups and other delays. Provisional Formula USA Qualifying Results: Formula Sportbike: 1. Jeff Wood (Suz GSX-R750), 1:43.864 2. Lee Acree (Suz GSX-R750), 1:44.948 3. Robert Jensen (Suz GSX-R750), 1:45.353 4. Scott Harwell (Suz GSX-R750), 1:45.688 5. Brian Stokes (Suzu GSX-R750), 1:45.744 6. Chris Ulrich (Suz GSX-R750), 1:46.342 7. Chris Peris (Yam YZF-R6), 1:46.900 8. Ryan Elleby, 1:47.980 9. Shawn Conrad (Suz GSX-R750), 1:48.104 10. David Weber (Suz GSX-R750), 1:48.385 Superbike: 1. Michael Barnes (Yam YZF-R6), 1:44.733 2. Jeff Wood (Suz GSX-R600), 1:45.254 3. John McGuinness, 1:45.472 4. Geoff May (Suz GSX-R600), 1:45.645 5. Scott Greenwood (Yam YZF-R6), 1:46.418 6. Jason Perez (Yam YZF-R6), 1:47.367 7. Robert Jensen (Yam YZF-R6), 1:47.442 8. Scott Harwell (Suz GSX-R600), 1:47.652 9. Heath Small (Yam YZF-R6), 1:48.026 10. Barrett Long (Yam YZF-R6), 1:48.353 Unlimited Grand Prix: 1. Vincent Haskovec (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:42.531 2. Geoff May (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:42.778 3. Jason DiSalvo (Yam YZF-R6), 1:43.712 4. Jason Perez (Yam YZF-R1), 1:44.624 5. Damon Buckmaster (Yam YZF-R6), 1:44.725 6. John McGuinness (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:44.849 7. Cory West (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:45.274 8. Heath Small (Yam YZF-R1) 1:46.113 9. Brian Stokes (Yam YZF-R1), 1:46.170 10. Larry Pegram (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:46.384

British racer John McGuinness marked his racing return to Daytona International Speedway by winning the Solo class of Friday’s Formula USA Team Challenge on his Aim Racing Kawasaki ZX-10R Superbike. “I didn’t expect to win,” said McGuinness. “We’re just here to have a bit of fun, really. I’m just here to have a test with my new bike and team. We were going to go to Spain, but it’s been cold and rainy down there the last few years. And after you shuttle all the guys and stuff down there, it’s just as easy to stick your stuff in a fly box and bring everything here and have a bit of a holiday, too.” “I don’t particularly like them,” said McGuinness of the changes to Daytona’s infield section. “It’s spoiled it for me, really. But I understand why they did it, because the bikes have so much horsepower now and they have such a hard time keeping tires on them.” “I’ve ridden around here on a 250 (McGuinness won the AMA 250cc Grand Prix in 1999 and 2000.), but it’s just awesome riding a Superbike around here. You even get slides up on the bank!” McGuinness said he planned to use the CCS/Formula USA weekend to warm-up for the AMA Superbike race March 12. Asked if he considered racing in the Formula Xtreme Daytona 200, McGuinness said, “Yeah, but it would be so expensive to build a bike for that one race that you couldn’t run anywhere else.” McGuiness, 32, plans to contest the entire British Superbike series, several classes of the Isle of Man TT, several other “true road races” in Ireland and the Macau Grand Prix in 2005.

Himmelsbach Racing misses Daytona opener. The crew for Himmelsbach Racing was in route to Daytona International Speedway for the opening round of the Formula USA series when the team was involved in a horrible accident. The team was traveling on Highway 26 in South Carolina when a strong gust of wind and a narrow shoulder contributed to the destruction of the recently purchased Chevy C4500 box truck and the teams motorcycles and equipment. Three members of the team Chris Rich, Chris Bynum and owner Michael Himmelsbach were aboard the vehicle during impact and escaped with no injuries. The team had recently purchased a Chevy C4500 Diesel box truck in an effort to step up their program for 2005 but had no idea the vehicle would contribute in saving their lives. ” I was very pleased with the design of the truck. You don’t buy a truck like this and think about an accident but we hit a tree head on, actually split it in half and the cab of the vehicle was undamaged and thankfully we all walked away.” Said Michael The crew climbed out from the accident to find one of the Yamaha R6 motorcycles had been ejected out of the roof and lay a couple feet from the truck while the other machine was buried under the equipment. Himmelsbach Racing is back at home and plans to compete in the remaining rounds of FUSA competition. Now we will begin to assess the situation and figure out how to accomplish the goals originally set for the remainder of the season. Michael would like to apologize to all of our sponsors for missing this event. It was a tough decision to return to the shop but due to the damage we felt it was best to regroup and bring the best program possible to Road America for our team and sponsors.

2003 AMA Supersport Champion Jamie Hacking crashed his factory Yamaha YZF-R6 during a test session in the middle of the 2004 season at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, breaking his right collarbone. The fracture was surgically plated, and Hacking raced at Laguna Seca less than two weeks later, placing an amazing sixth on his Graves Yamaha YZF-R1 Superstock bike. Then, during the AMA Superstock race at Mid-Ohio, Hacking’s rear tire had a catastrophic failure at high speed, throwing Hacking to the pavement at over 150 mph. Initial reports on Hacking’s condition said he bent the plate holding his collarbone together, and he finished the season without further surgery and with some success he nearly won the final Supersport race at VIR in October. Unbeknownst to anyone but Hacking, however, he had badly separated his shoulder in the second Mid-Ohio crash. “I got the same shoulder injury that Eric Bostrom had all of last year or the year before that. I raced the rest of the season with it. It didn’t feel good, that’s for damn sure. I tore the labrum in the front of your shoulder that holds your shoulder in the socket there,” Hacking told Roadracingworld.com Friday at Daytona. “The next day after Virginia I saw Dr. (Arthur) Ting. Sure enough we had to fix the labrum. It was torn and lying down here on my bicep. He had to go in there and fix it all up. “Everything was going OK. I was starting to rehab on my shoulder. Every time I started training on that shoulder, my collarbone would start hurting real bad. That thing never really got any good bone calcification, so it was like a rubberband. I kept sending (Dr. Ting) X-rays of it, and the little black gaps kept getting more pronounced. So we went out there, put the plate back in, did some re-adjusting of the plate, put it in a different position so it didn’t bother me as bad. A month ago I was just able to concentrate on training and getting my shoulder back up to strength. “This has been the longest injury recovery I ever had. I think if we had sat out the rest of last year we would’ve been healed up (by now), but that’s (not) what I chose to do. I’m paying for it a little bit now, because these guys have got a little bit of test time on me, but thank God we’re here to get some valuable track time.” Asked what his impression of the new Daytona infield road course was after his first few laps on the track Friday, March 4, Hacking thought for a minute before saying, “I read what they had to say, but I couldn’t judge it until I got here. I saw it and judged it in the motorhome yesterday without even riding on it. Putting whatever laps I just did now on it, it’s definitely a different racetrack. Good? I don’t know if I can say that. Definitely as far as not running that banking over there and getting the tire temperatures down, they accomplished that. But I think as far as safety-wise goes, I can’t agree with it.”

“It’s pretty fast,” said AMA veteran Larry Pegram when asked what he thought of his new Hotbodies Racing Honda CBR1000RR Superbike during CCS practice March 4 at Daytona International Speedway. Word around the Daytona paddock is that Pegram’s Honda, which is equipped with a full HRC-kitted, Mike Velasco-built engine, produces 200 horsepower. When asked if that was true, Pegram gave a confirming smile and said, “I heard that, but I don’t know if it’s true. It makes a lot more power than my bike did last year, that’s all I know.” Unlike his 2004 program, which came together a month before the season started, Pegram started talking to Honda late last year, about the same time that Hotbodies Racing owner Roger Davies also started conversations with American Honda. Once Pegram and Davies realized they were working toward the same goal, they merged their efforts and the Michelin-sponsored Hotbodies Racing TriangleCycles.com Honda team was born. Not only is Pegram happy with his new program, he is also happy with the results of a cutting-edge hip resurfacing procedure he had done during the off-season to repair range-of-motion-limiting damage he suffered to his left hip in a crash many years ago. “It’s top secret. It’s an HRC kit hip,” joked Pegram. “They call it hip resurfacing. It’s a new deal that’s still in clinical studies. They only do it on professional athletes and stuff. Basically, they popped it out, ground it down to smooth out the surface, put a titanium cap on the top end of my femur and a titanium insert into my pelvis. So now my hip joint is metal-on-metal. I have a lot more range of motion now, and it’s going to get better with stretching.” In addition to Pegram, the Hotbodies Racing TriangleCycles.com Honda team will also field Jeremy Toye on another HRC-kitted CBR1000RR, though Toye’s bike will be built by Phil Allison and will not have the full HRC engine kit until the round at Barber Motorsports Park in April. “Roger (Davies) mis-dialed the phone and got me instead, then he couldn’t backpedal out of it,” said Toye when asked how the deal with his new team came together. Toye pointed out that he had never ridden a CBR1000RR or on Michelin tires before, but said, “It’s not too shabby for a stock bike.”