Sunday at Daytona was a day to remember and a day to forget with Mat Mladin, Rich Oliver and Jeff Nash taking race wins and too many riders leaving the track in ambulances, one never to come back.
Yoshimura Suzuki’s Mat Mladin rode a perfect race in an event filled with carnage and won the 60th Daytona By Arai, his second Daytona win in two years. Second place went to Kawasaki’s Eric Bostrom in his best finish in the Spring classic. Erion Honda’s Kurtis Roberts recovered from early-race problems to score a podium finish, third place, in his Daytona Superbike debut.
Attrition was the word for the 200-mile event as problems started on lap three with Nicky Hayden and ended on lap 52 with Harley-Davidson’s Pascal Picotte’s blown motor. In between, there was a horrific crash on the first re-start of the race, which was red-flagged three times. HMC Ducati’s Scott Russell’s Superbike stalled on the grid at the first restart, and Russell aimed the bike right, toward the edge of the track as Dean Mizdal arrived from row six; Mizdal had no place to go and side-swiped Russell and fell, and Richie Morris hit Russell at full throttle. Both Russell and Morris suffered serious injuries and were transported directly to the local hospital. Also injured in the 200 were Yoshimura Suzuki’s Aaron Yates and Jamie Hacking, when Yates clipped Roberts and Hacking ran into the crashed Yates at the first red-flag, on the back straight. Roberts suffered a possible broken left hand while Yates and Hacking suffered relatively minor injuries.
Before the Superbike carnage started, Dirk Piz, 45, lost his life when he hit Kiyo Watanabe’s crashed bike entering the chicane on the fourth lap of the Buell Pro Thunder final. Piz suffered internal injuries and was pronounced dead at 1:22 p.m. EST at Halifax Medical Center.
Piz’s crash cast a dark shadow over what was possibly the best Pro Thunder race ever. As many as five riders battled for much of the eight-lap restart. Advanced Motor Sports’ defending Pro Thunder Champion Jeff Nash won a drafting battle on his Ducati 748 over the factory Buells of Hal’s Performance Advantage’s Mike Ciccotto and Tilley H-D/ Buell’s David Estok. Munroe Motors’ Thomas Montano was a close fourth.
Sunday started with quite a show in the 100-kilometer MBNA 250cc Grand Prix race. Sticker Solutions’ Rich Oliver battled with Performance Machine’s Roland Sands tooth-and-nail. Each rider took a turn leading the race until Sands lowsided near the halfway point. Sands remounted without losing his second-place position but had no chance of catching Oliver. The battle for third between veterans Randy Renfrow and Jimmy Filice and young gun Jason Disalvo gained the spotlight. Positions changed all around the 3.56-mile course with Renfrow, who was very slow off the start with a mechanical problem, taking the last rostrom spot in the last-lap draft.
Results from Sunday’s action at Daytona follow:
MBNA 250cc Grand Prix Results
1. Rich Oliver, Yamaha TZ250
2. Roland Sands, Yamaha TZ250
3. Randy Renfrow, TSR Honda RS250
4. Jason DiSalvo, Honda RS250
5. Jimmy Filice, Yamaha TZ250
6. Tomas Palander, Honda RS250
7. Perry Melneciuc, Yamaha TZ250
8. Michael Hannas, II, Yamaha TZ250
9. Simon Turner, Yamaha TZ250
10. Jeff Wood, Yamaha TZ250
Buell Pro Thunder Results
1. Jeff Nash, Ducati 748 RS
2. Mike Ciccotto, Buell 1200
3. David Estok, Buell 1200
4. Thomas Montano, Ducati 748
5. Dean Mizdal, Ducati 748
6. Dario Marchetti, Ducati 748
7. Thomas Fournier, Ducati 748
8. Michael Barnes, Buell 1200
9. Paul Vitale, Ducati 748
10. Scot Dormier, Ducati 748
Chevy Trucks Superbike/ Daytona 200 By Arai
1. Mat Mladin, Suzuki GSXR750
2. Eric Bostrom, Kawasaki ZX-7
3. Kurtis Roberts, Honda RC51
4. Doug Chandler, Kawasaki ZX-7
5. Tommy Hayden, Yamaha YZF-R7
6. Larry Pegram, Ducati 996
7. Mike Smith, Harley-Davidson VR1000
8. Jimmy Moore, Suzuki GSXR750
9. Mauro Cereda, Suzuki GSXR750
10. Nicky Hayden, Honda RC51
