Motorcycle Stars Show Their Mettle in Rolex 24 At
Daytona
DAYTONA
BEACH, Fla. (January 26, 2009) - Motorcycle racers
are some of the toughest competitors on the planet and
star riders Jeff Ward, Scott Russell and Jason Pridmore
proved it this past weekend in the Rolex 24 At Daytona.
The two-wheel trio drove the No. 09 AMA Pro Racing/Spirit
of Daytona Porsche Coyote Daytona Prototype race car in
the 47th annual running of America's premier endurance
race and overcame more than their fair share of trouble to
finish the day-long race that is held on the 3.56-mile
road course at Daytona International Speedway.
Although the all-star riders are well familiar with
Daytona from success in the Daytona 200 by Honda and the
popular AMA Pro Supercross events held on the grass within
the track's tri-oval, the Rolex 24 represented an entirely
new challenge.
The car the team drove was a Porsche Cayenne V8 powered
Coyote Daytona Prototype entered and prepared by the
Spirit of Daytona team that is headquartered just a few
miles from the legendary racing facility known as the
"World Center of Racing." The three
motorcycle veterans were joined by experienced sports car
driver Guy Cosmo who, along with team owner Troy Flis,
helped them through the ups and downs and various nuances
of major league sports car endurance racing. Their
advice was taken to heart and came in handy for the
motorcycle riders who encountered just about every type of
pitfall that a 24-hour sports car race can throw at a team
and its drivers.
In fact, an argument can be made that of all the teams
that actually finished the 2009 Rolex 24 At Daytona - less
than half of the 49 race cars that started - no team
overcame more adversity than the No. 09 AMA Pro/Spirit of
Daytona entry. This included the only major fire of
the race that happened in the team's pit stall just before
Noon on Sunday, less than four hours from the finish.
Russell was strapping into the car to start his next shift
after Cosmo had just exited when something went wrong.
"Guy had just exited the car and was over the
wall," said Russell, a five-time winner of the
Daytona 200 by Honda. "I had my arms through
the shoulder belts and I smelled it (fuel) instantly. They
took the deck lid off and it flamed up. I dived out
and luckily I wasn't strapped in."
While Russell and his teammates thought the fire was the
end of their race, the hard working Spirit of Daytona team
had other ideas. Despite the spectacular looking
incident, that produced a huge cloud of smoke and mostly
fire-fighting chemicals, the No. 09 was back in the race
less than an hour later. The team raced until the
finish and ultimately took the checkered flag 11th in the
Daytona Prototype class (23rd overall) after starting
13th.
"It was a good experience and I really enjoyed
it," said Russell. "I can't say enough
about the hard work that the crew put in, not only getting
us back from the fire, but in the months leading up to the
race."
The 2009 AMA Pro Road Racing season will begin at Daytona
the first weekend in March. The weekend will be
highlighted by the first Daytona 200 by Honda under the
lights, Friday, March 6, for the AMA Pro Daytona SportBike
division. The Daytona kick-off will also feature AMA
Pro American Superbike competition and races for
additional AMA Pro Road Racing championships.