Duly Noted: Daytona
New Jerseyan Brandon Paasch proudly displays his second Daytona 200 trophy in a row, and he’s flanked by South African riders Cameron Petersen, who finished second, and Sheridan Morais, who finished third. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.
Now that MotoAmerica’s first visit to Daytona is done and dusted, here are a few notes, comments, statistics, musings, and bits of trivia about the event:
Top Speeds
“The World Center of Racing” is absolutely a crucible of speed where aerodynamics, drafting, track position, and horsepower are all critical to achieving “mile an hour.” Here are the top speeds achieved in the three races that were held on Saturday at Daytona:
179.0 – Daytona 200 – Josh Hayes and Max Angles (Yamaha YZF-R6)
171.5 – Mission King Of The Baggers Race Two – Jeremy McWilliams (Indian Challenger)
159.0 – Twins Cup Race Two – Jackson Blackmon (Yamaha YZF-R7)
Margins Of Victory
A total of seven races took place at Daytona, and the average margin of victory for all of them was just .117 of a second. Here are the margins of victory for each of the seven races, in order of smallest to largest margin:
.007 – Daytona 200
.025 – Mission King Of The Baggers Race Two
.065 – Twins Cup Race One
.077 – Roland Sands Design’s Super Hooligan National Championship Race
.200 – Mission King Of The Baggers Race One
.201 – Mission King Of The Baggers Challenge
.241 – Twins Cup Race Two
Back To Back
Brandon Paasch is the 12th rider in Daytona 200 history to win back-to back Daytona 200s (Scott Russell and Danny Eslick did it twice), and only the third rider to win the 200 back-to-back on two different motorcycles (Dick Mann – Honda 1970 & BSA 1971 and Danny Eslick – Triumph 2014 & Suzuki 2015).
World Views
Several foreign riders competed at Daytona in MotoAmerica’s various race classes, and here’s a sampling of what some of them said about competing at the “World Center of Racing”:
“It’s a very unique racetrack. Very special. And it’s very special just to be here and standing on top of the box. That’s not really what I expected. I’d be really happy to just get on the podium.” – Ulsterman Jeremy McWilliams, winner of Mission King Of The Baggers Race Two
“That was the best race of my life. So much fun. So much passing. Ridiculous. I know it’s an endurance race, 57 laps, but it felt like a sprint race. It was really, really cool.” – South African Sheridan Morais (now living in Portugal), third-place finisher in the Daytona 200
“It was amazing getting to race at the Speed Capital of the World, and it was a pleasure getting to race in the United States again. The track was super fun, and the banking was amazing. I’d never rode anything like that.” – Italian Tommaso Marcon, third-place finisher in Twins Cup Race Two
Brand Parity
The top 10 finishers in the Daytona 200 represented four different brands of motorcycles (two Triumphs, four Yamahas, three Suzukis, and one Ducati):
Triumph Street Triple RS (Brandon Paasch)Yamaha YZF-R6 (Cameron Petersen)Yamaha YZF-R6 (Sheridan Morais)Yamaha YZF-R6 (Josh Hayes)Suzuki GSX-R600 (Richie Escalante)Triumph Street Triple RS (Danny Eslick)Yamaha YZF-R6 (Harry Truelove)Suzuki GSX-R600 (Geoff May)Suzuki GSX-R600 (Hayden Gillim)Ducati Panigale V2 (Josh Herrin)
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