Ducati on pole for Daytona 200 !
 

Eric Bostrom on the 999 obliterated the previous lap record, got pole and has a real chance to win the Daytona 200. Ducati has been racing there since 1966 and has never won the race. If the bike holds together for 200 miles they have every chance of winning it for the first time this Saturday.

Anyone know if it's on the telly in the UK?

motors tv are showing the race live at 18:30 tomorrow evening:D

Ooohhhh...delicious!

the ama web site has live timing on it.....AMA website

Click on the live wire tab

Way hey, go Eric!

Anyone watch the race laast evening? Pretty good race! Unfortunately, Ducati did not make to the finish (again!). Eric's 999 broke down with smoke pouring out of the bike with about 12 laps to go of 57. Ducati has been racing there since 1966, I believe, and has never won. There best result was Foggy coming second.

An interesting aspect was that for the first time at Daytona, the winning strategy was three pitstops instead of the usual two. Ducati was also on a three stop strategy. The winner was Mat Mladin on the Yoshi GXSR 1000. Ben Bostrom also went out with mechanical problems after the first pitstop on his new Fireblade. His teammate, Miguel Duhamel, finished third. The new fireblade looked well quick. So, the podium was:

1. Mat Mladin - GSXR 1000
2. Jake Zemke - CBR 1000
3. Miguel Duhamel - CBR 1000

Felix,

I missed the race, the wife made me go out and drink copious ammounts of beer - pfffffft! Women!

Like you, I was disappointed to not see Ducati in the results, after a bit of searching and reading I believe Eric Bostrum was challening Mladin on lap 42 when his oil cooler was holed by debris or a stone.

Bad luck strikes again eh.

Cheers!

Scott

I recorded it if anyone wants to borrow it.

Jasper,you have a U2U about that video.

Just got back from Florida,where we took in the Daytona races.
As mentioned above,the racing was great with loads of suprises and drama.The Supersport and BMW Boxer cup races were good too.The fast guys run so close to the banking wall,scary stuff.One guy hit the wall out of the rear chichane in the Boxer race.
In the main event Ben Bostrom went out with clutch trouble.He fried it when he came in on the first pitstop.At first the team thought the chain was loose as he came back in to get it adjusted.They then realised the clutch was cooked.
Eric Bostrom went out with 12 laps to go with a split oil cooler.He was in the lead when he survived a massive high side in turn one.This allowed Mladin to close the gap.He came in for a pitstop and the bike went pop on the next lap.
It looked like it was going to be a Suzuki 1-2 untill Aaron Yates went to pass a backmarker.The backmarker crashed and took Yates out.The team were that angry there was a fight in pit lane!
Zemke and DuHamel were way back and engrossed in their own battle,Zemke getting the 2nd spot by a wheel.Mladin was in cruise mode for the last two laps.

Great racing and good viewing on the infeild.Plenty of room to mooch about and four small grandstands to watch from.You can see most of the track from here.The tickets cost $40,about 25quid.The program was $10 and came in a waterproof envelope (with Daytona stamped in silver on it),a free event badge and a coupon to exchange for a sheet with the grid positions and times.
The traffic managment is handled by the Florida Police,who do a superb job.It took us half an hour to get out the circuit infeild and on to the motorway.British circuits please take note.
I'll post some pics when Ive got a bit more time.

[Edited on 13-3-2004 by KeefyB]

KeefyB, nice one! Hope to could make it to see the Daytona bike races some day.

The collision between Yates and the backmarker has been all over the news in the US. Yates head butted and drop kicked the other guy immediately after the crash. As a result he got suspended and fined $25,000 by Suzuki US. Their is likely going to be more reprocussions for him and the pit crew. Not very professional, pretty sad really.