DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (February 26, 2009) - A
full field of motorcycles and international
riders - including 84 AMA Pro Daytona
SportBike entries for the 68th annual Daytona
200 by Honda - is heading to Daytona
International Speedway next week for the debut
event of the new AMA Pro Road Racing series.
AMA Pro Road Racing's four series have
attracted a combined total of 170 entries,
including the biggest field in four years and
one of the largest in decades for the Daytona
200 by Honda. The race will be part of
AMA Pro Road Racing's historic opening weekend
with the first night running of the Daytona
200 under the lights, Friday, March 6. The
advent of the new Daytona SportBike class will
also bring the Daytona 200 action back to the
full 3.55-mile legendary Daytona road course
for the first time since 2004.
The AMA Pro American Superbike division shares
the spotlight with the Daytona SportBikes at
Daytona and attracted a strong entry of 41
motorcycles for its debut 2009 race. A
15-lap American Superbike sprint at 3:30 p.m.
highlights the racing on Thursday, March 5,
while the Daytona SportBike Daytona 200 starts
at 8 p.m. Friday night for 57 laps under the
lights.
With AMA Pro Road Racing's pair of premier
classes accounting for 125 of the 170 entries,
the starting field in each race will be full
of past, present and future legends of AMA Pro
Road Racing. Former Daytona 200 winners Jake
Zemke (No. 1x Erion Racing Honda
CBR600RR), Steve Rapp (No. 15 Black
Hole Racing Aprilia RSV) and reigning race
champion Chaz Davies (No. 57 Factory
Aprilia/Millennium Technologies Team Aprilia
RSV) will join record five-time winner Miguel
Duhamel (No. 17 Team Suzuki/Blackfoot/Picotte
Racing Suzuki GSX-R600) in looking for another
Daytona 200 victory.
Top riders gunning for a first Daytona 200 win
include factory Yamaha teammates Ben
Bostrom (No. 1s Team Graves Yamaha YZF-R6)
and Josh Hayes (No. 4 Team Graves
Yamaha YZF-R6), who is looking to avenge
2008's heartbreak after what appeared to be a
convincing victory was taken away when his
motorcycle failed post-race inspection. Chris
Peris (No. 10 Erion Racing Honda
CBR600RR), Jamie Hacking (No. 88
Monster Energy/Attack Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R),
teammates Jason DiSalvo (No. 40 M4
Suzuki GSX-R600) and Martin Cardenas
(No. 36 M4 Suzuki GSX-R600) and Yamaha's young
standouts Josh Herrin (No. 8 Team
Graves Yamaha YZF-R6) and 16-year-old Tommy
Aquino (No. 6 Team Graves Yamaha YZF-R6)
will also be among the dozens of riders with a
legitimate shot at victory.
Proven 600cc racing bikes from Honda, Yamaha,
Suzuki and Kawasaki anchor the Daytona 200
entry list but the new Daytona SportBike class
is home to a diverse lineup of motorcycles.
Rapp and Davies are joined in the Aprilia camp
by Hooters Aprilia teammates Shane Narbonne
(No. 12 Hooters Aprilia RSV) and Ryan
Elleby (No. 21 Hooters Aprilia RSV), Ty
Howard (No. 67 Ridesmart Motorcycle
Schools Aprilia RSV), Scott Jensen (No.
76 Black Hole Racing Aprilia RSV) and Ben
Thompson (No. 97 Factory Aprilia/Millennium
Technologies Team Aprilia RSV).
Buell is also well represented with six 1125Rs
entered for Danny Eslick (No. 9 Bruce
Rossmeyer's Daytona Racing/RMR Buell 1125R), Shawn
Higbee (No.11 Higbee-Racing.com
Buell1125R), Bryan Bemisderfer (No. 98
HDFR Buell 1125R), Latus teammates Josh
Bryan (No. 45 Latus Motor Racing Buell
1125R) and Alan Schmidt (No. 54 Latus
Motor Racing Buell 1125R) and Michael
Barnes (No. 34 GEICO Powersports/RMR Buell
1125R). Barnes is recovering from a
third metacarpal fracture hand injury from an
early February testing accident but is using
this weekend's CCS event to assess his
readiness for the Daytona 200.
A pair of Ducati 848s are entered for Calvin
Martinez (No. 20 Wisconsin Racing Ducati
848) and Gene Burcham (No. 94 GBR
Motors Ducati 848) as well as two Triumph
Daytona 675s for Mark Crozier (No. 14
Crozier Motorsports Triumph Daytona 675) and
second-generation rider Justin Filice
(No. 30 Bud Light Lime/R & B Motorsports
Triumph Daytona 675), son of AMA Pro
Hall-of-Famer Jimmy Filice.
Flag-to-flag coverage of the Daytona 200 by
Honda will air on SPEED Friday, March 6, at
8:30 p.m. ET.
American Superbike Stars
While the AMA Pro Daytona SportBike riders
will shine in the Friday-night lights of the
Daytona 200, the stars of AMA Pro American
Superbike will take the spotlight on Thursday
afternoon.
In addition to moonlighting in the 200 on
their Yamaha Daytona SportBikes, Bostrom (No.
2 Yamaha Motor Corp. USA Yamaha R1) and Hayes
(No. 4 Yamaha Motor Corp. USA Yamaha R1) will
contest the full 2009 American Superbike
season on Yamaha's latest R1 motorcycle.
They will be among the American Superbike
stars looking to kick off the year with a
victory at Daytona and Bostrom and Hayes lead
a seven-bike Yamaha American Superbike entry.
Another top threat is six-time defending
Daytona American Superbike race winner Mat
Mladin (No. 7 Rockstar/Makita Yoshimura
Suzuki GSX-R1000) who is looking for his
second Daytona win in a row and fourth in five
years. Mladin's teammates at Yoshimura
Suzuki include quick Americans Tommy Hayden
(No. 22 Rockstar/Makita Yoshimura Suzuki
GSX-R1000) and Blake Young (No. 79
Rockstar/Makita Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000).
Other Suzuki threats come from Jordan Suzuki,
Roadracingworld.com/M4 and Team Hooters.
The Michael Jordan-owned Jordan Suzuki
effort includes bikes for Georgia-based riders
Aaron Yates (No. 23 Jordan Suzuki
GSX-R1000) and Geoff May (No. 54
National Guard Jordan Suzuki GSX-R1000), Chris
Ulrich rides for M4 (No. 18
Roadracingworld.com Suzuki GSX-R1000) and
Daytona 200 competitors Narbonne (No. 12
Hooters Suzuki GSX-R1000) and Elleby (No. 21
Hooters Suzuki GSX-R1000) are also on Team
Hooters American Superbikes. In total, a
class-high 25 Suzuki GSX-R1000s are entered in
the American Superbike race.
Honda's charge is led by former World
Superbike Champion Neil Hodgson (No.
100 Corona Extra Honda CBR1000RR) and
Australia's Aaron Gobert (No. 96 AGR
Inc. Honda CBR1000RR) who top a five-bike
Honda entry.
A lone Buell and three Ducatis will also be in
the hunt. Higbee (No. 11
Higbee-Racing.com Buell 1125CR) rides the
Buell while Larry Pegram (No. 72
Foremost Insurance/Pegram Racing Ducati 1098R)
is expected to be the pacesetter of the trio
of Italian-made motorcycles.
The American Superbike race will be featured
in the premiere of the new AMA Pro Prime
Time on SPEED Saturday, March 21, at 11
p.m. ET (8 p.m. PT).
SuperSport Send Off
The Daytona 200 by Honda weekend also marks
the debut of the new AMA Pro SuperSport class,
which is AMA Pro's showcase of America's
future motorcycle racing stars today.
The proving ground series is reserved strictly
for up-and-coming riders between the ages of
16 and 21 who compete on 600cc sport bikes
that are only minimally modified from what you
will find at your local Suzuki, Yamaha,
Kawasaki, Honda and other motorcycle
dealerships.
SuperSport is also divided into East and West
Championships although the Daytona kick-off is
a combined race that has attracted two dozen
young up and comers. The green flag is
scheduled to drop for the 12-lap SuperSport
race at 2 p.m. on Thursday.
A second combined East/West race will be held
later in the year at Heartland Park Topeka
while a SuperSport Shootout Finale will be
held during the season-ending AMA Pro Road
Racing weekend back at Daytona in October.
New SunTrust Moto-GT Moniker
The fourth and final series in the 2009 AMA
Pro Road Racing lineup is the renamed AMA Pro
SunTrust Moto-GT class. It is the only
class in AMA Pro Road Racing that features
multi-class racing with teams of riders that
share a single motorcycle in a race. The
original SunTrust
MOTO-ST name has been slightly revamped to AMA
Pro SunTrust Moto-GT, which reflects
some class adjustments and the fact that even
more motorcycles are now eligible.
The biggest changes are that the competition
is no longer strictly reserved for
two-cylinder motorcycles and that the previous
three classes have been narrowed to just two,
making it easier for race fans to follow both
the overall battle while watching a "race
within a race." The former premier SST
category has been renamed GT1 and will feature
a wider mix of potentially more powerful
multi-cylinder motorcycles.
The former GST and ST classes have been
essentially replaced by GT2. Two-cylinder
motorcycles remain the only type allowed in
GT2, but variety is also part of the mix with
several different types of bikes and engines
eligible.
While things have been shaken up as far as
classes and eligible motorcycles are
concerned, the format of the racing has
changed little. Team and multi-rider based,
several riders share each competing bike and
SunTrust Moto-GT is the only series in AMA Pro
Road Racing that features rider changes during
pit stops. SunTrust Moto-GT also
features a variety of riders, from young
up-and-coming talent to Hall-of-Famers like Jay
Springsteen (No. 9 Pair-A-Nines Kawasaki
Ninja 650R GT2) and former Daytona 200 winner John
Ashmead (No. 37 Old Pros Racing Kawasaki
Ninja ZX-6R GT1).
The season-opening two-hour SunTrust Moto-GT
race will be run at 4 p.m. on Friday, March 6.
Cool Contingency Cash
The total team support package for the 2009
season-opening Daytona 200 by Honda weekend,
March 4 - 6, is the richest purse in the
event's history with a total of $286,000 on
the line.
The lucrative Daytona weekend, however, is
just the kick-off event to potentially even
more bonuses available to AMA Pro Road Racing
competitors this season. More than $1.8
million in posted contingency awards from AMA
Pro Road Racing and its proud contingency
partners is up for grabs by eligible
competitors this season.