DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (March 6, 2009)
- Ben Bostrom took the lead from M4 Suzuki
rider Jason DiSalvo on the run through Daytona
International Speedway's tri-oval on Lap 53
and then joined young teammate Josh Herrin in
scoring a one-two finish for Team Graves
Yamaha Friday in the Daytona 200 by Honda AMA
Pro Daytona SportBike presented by AMSOIL
race.
Starting first on the grid on his No. 1s
Yamaha YZF-R6 after winning the pole in
Thursday's single-bike Superpole qualifying,
Bostrom became the first rider since Miguel
Duhamel in 2005 to win America's premier
motorcycle road race from the top starting
spot. He won his first career Daytona
200 victory in his fifth start and had a
previous best finish of second in 2003.
"I've tried to win this thing,"
Bostrom said. "We have been on the
pole here twice now and I have lost the race
here by two-thousandths of a second. I
know what it's like in the heart when you take
second at Daytona. It hurts. Now I
know what it's like to win."
Bostrom led from the start, lost the lead
momentarily in the infield to Danny Eslick and
the No. 9 Bruce Rossmeyer's Daytona Racing/RMR
Buell 1125R on the opening lap, but then
powered past Eslick to officially lead Lap 1.
From there, Bostrom stayed in the lead pack
for the entire race, frequently swapping the
top spots with Eslick, Team Graves Yamaha
teammates Herrin and Josh Hayes (No. 4 Yamaha
YZF-R6) and M4 Suzuki teammates DiSalvo and
Martin Cardenas.
"The race was really intense and under
the lights it was really spectacular,"
Bostrom said. "When we started out,
there were several of us going tooth and nail
at the front. I loved every minute of
it."
Bostrom crossed the finish line .554 of a
second ahead of Herrin's similar No. 8 Team
Graves Yamaha YZF-R6 while DiSalvo finished
third on his No. 40 Team M4 Suzuki GSX-R600.
The race was slowed by two safety car periods,
including the first on lap 36 due to a
temporary lighting failure on the back
straight. A red flag was shown a few
laps later when the fourth Team Graves rider,
Tommy Aquino (No. 6 Yamaha YZF-R6), went down
after being hit from behind when the field
jammed up while slowing behind the safety car.
Aquino was examined and released from the
infield medical center and the field was
reformed for a single-file restart.
After a few warm-up laps, racing resumed only
to see the safety car return a few laps later
for the downed bike of Kris Turner (No. 3 Team
M4 Suzuki GSX-R600). The race returned
to green on Lap 49 for a dash to the finish
with Bostrom, Hayes, Herrin and DiSalvo at the
point. DiSalvo took the lead on Lap 52
as he battled with the three Graves Yamahas.
"The M4 Suzuki was running really strong
up top out there," DiSalvo said.
"I think if we could have been a little
bit closer and had a little bit better
preparation coming into the final lap we could
have made a run. We could have got the
double draft and I was sitting in third
thinking this was going to work out, but it
wasn't to be tonight."
After Bostrom took the lead for good, Hayes
was in hot pursuit only to lose control of his
Yamaha exiting the infield's east horseshoe
section. Hayes was uninjured after the
tumble but will have to wait another year for
his next shot at what is becoming an elusive
Daytona 200 victory. He led a race high
27 laps, Bostrom led 22 laps, Cardenas - who
finished eighth - was in front for four laps
and DiSalvo and Herrin each led a single lap.
"It was a really awesome race and really
eventful and probably one of the most exciting
races I have been in," Herrin said.
"For being my first 200, actually for my
first race over 20 laps, I think I did really
good and I am really happy with it. We got a
Yamaha one-two finish and that might be the
first time that has been done in the
200."
Jamie Hacking (No. 88 Monster Energy Attack
Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R) and Shawn Higbee (No. 11
Higbee-Racing.com Buell 1125R) rounded out the
top five to make it four different
manufacturers represented in the top-five
finishers.
Next up for AMA Pro Road Racing is the AMA Pro
Suzuki Superbike Challenge, Round 2 of 2009's
schedule at Auto Club Speedway, March 20 - 22.