2010 Daytona 200 Results


By Bart Madson and Steve Atlas


Friday, March 05, 2010



Graves Yamaha's Josh Herrin claimed his first career Daytona 200 victory, with the young R6 pilot dominating the latter stages of the race. Project 1 Yamaha's Dane Westby took second on the 200 podium, with Team Latus Ducati rider Steve Rapp finishing third. Defending Daytona SportBike champion Danny Eslick was fourth, with another Yamaha, Kevin Coughlin, rounding out the top five.


The 57-lap race got off to a shaky start, with pole-setter Martin Cardenas just one of a handful of riders to go down on the first lap and force a red-flag restart. Cardenas went down in Turn 3 from the lead, while at the same time seven additional bikes tangled in the fast Turn 2 kink.

When the race got underway the second time, Yamaha's Herrin bolted out to the lead after the first lap of the Daytona circuit. Eslick appeared to possibly have jumped the restart, but it was determined he did not gain anything and thus was not penalized.

The lead group of seven then emerged, with Yamaha riders Herrin, Tommy Aquino, Westby and Kevin Coughlin, against Suzuki riders Eslick and Brett McCormick, and Ducati's Steve Rapp.

The front seven remained close, at times riding well within a second of each other. The first round of pit stops began at Lap 18, with Aquino the first of the leaders in the pits, followed a lap later by Herrin and McCormick. Aquino's quick-fill gas cap stuck open, covering him and his bike with fuel, preventing him the ability to restart. The rest trickled in, with Eslick losing several seconds changing tires as well as Rapp. Coughlin was the last of the leaders to pit on Lap 20.

After the first round of stops were sorted out, Herrin and Westby emerged battling for the lead. Eslick and Rapp settled into a fight over third, about seven seconds behind the leaders. McCormick and Coughlin lingered in fifth and sixth, with Aquino out of the running after his first pit.

At the halfway point around Lap 28, Westby and Herrin continued to fight for the lead, with Eslick and Rapp dueling over third. Of the 44 starters, only 29 riders continued to race, as the Daytona 200 attrition mounted, with McCormick one of those hitting the ground and falling out.

The second round of pits started on Lap 41, refueling for the final dash to the line. Herrin and Westby pitted side-by-side and a pit-stop war ensued. The Graves Yamaha boys pulled through and gave Herrin a two second lead exiting the pits for the final time.

"He (Herrin) went out of the pits, and I saw him when I was hopping on,” said Westby of the second stop. “I was like, ‘Well there he goes.’ I knew it was going to be a tough job. It just wasn't quite do-able. I didn't want to throw anything away."

And that was all she wrote for the 69th running of the Daytona 200. Herrin pulled out nearly eight seconds over Project 1 Atlanta Yamaha rider Westby at the line to take his first-ever Daytona 200 win.

"It was awesome. I don't know how to describe it. It was just peaceful; I didn't have to worry about anything. All I had to concentrate on was my downshifts," said Herrin. "I found myself in a weird rhythm. I was expecting Dane (Westby) to catch me because I was stressing so bad about dropping the bike. When I saw my pit-board giving me more of a gap each lap it was kind of a relief to just relax and ride my own pace; just concentrate on getting to the checkered flag safe"

It was a breakout performance for the former dirt tracker in second spot as well, Westby taking the first podium of his professional road racing career. Rapp came home in third, 24 seconds behind the leader, though still an impressive finish for the truly privateer Latus Motors Racing team.

“It was a long race and it was cold but the team did a great job and I think everything we (the series) have gone through in the past year is for this, to show a new team can come in and be competitive,” said Rapp. “And we accomplished that here; with a good team and an experienced rider and you still be successful here. I love riding this Ducati as well. I’ve ridden them in the past and that feeling never goes away – it’s so smooth and it’s a great platform to start a racebike from.”

Eslick was even further off the pace, more than a half-minute behind. Coughlin rounded out the top-five, the first rider to go a lap down.

2010 Daytona 200 Results:
1. J. Herrin Team Graves Yamaha
2. D. Westby 7.964 Project 1 Atlanta
3. S. Rapp 24.496 Team Latus Motors Racing
4. D. Eslick 40.973 GEICO Powersports, RMR, Suzuki
5. K. Coghlan 1 lap Aussie Dave Racing
6. C. West 39.919 Vesrah Suzuki
7. G. May 1:50.590 GMR Racing
8. S. Higbee 1:54.030 Higbee-Racing.com
9. T. Knapp 2 laps Ducshop Racing
10. E. Wood 15.626 Team Heyser
11. E. Haugo 50.989 Viking Moto
12. R. Patterson 1:16.795 D and R Racing
13. B. Fong 1:17.343 Crozier Roberson Motorsports
14. R. Orlando 1:40.129 Ricky Orlando Racing
15. S. Villa 1:40.244 RoadRacingWorld.com
16. P. James 3 laps James Gang Hoban Bros. Racing
17. A. Padovani 18.553 CR2 Corse
18. A. Lazo 31.987 Alex Lazo Racing
19. D. Marchetti 1:09.585 Ducshop Racing
20. W. Sipp 1:09.855 Walt Sipp Racing
21. J. Ashmead 4 laps Brady Racing
22. R. Vargas 49.807 Vargas Racing
23. K. Keesee 7 laps Brevard Superbike Racing
24. C. Martinez 3.965 Mid Cities Motorsports
25. D. Dumain 8 laps Moto Journal-Crit
26. M. Paris 10 laps MPH Racing, Inc.
27. B. McCormick 26 laps Picotte Racing
28. K. Turner 27 laps 29 D.
29. McPherson 28 laps McNology Racing
30. B. Long 33 laps LEVEL 10 Racing
31. M. Barnes 36 laps VRC Racing
33. R. Wacker 42 laps Wacker Racing LLC
34. J. Wood 5:03.726 Vesrah Suzuki
35. C. Moodie 47 laps Bulldog Racing
36. A. Fania 49 laps KSW Racing
37. F. Amantini 56 laps Team Amantini
38. M. Cardenas 57 laps Monster Energy/M4 Suzuki
39. C. Seller Project 1 Atlanta
40. J. Day Four Feathers Racing
41. P. Jacobsen Celtic Racing
42. B. Skubic Inotherm Yamaha Racing Team Slovenia
43. R. Wikle Wikle Racing
44. M. Crozier Crozier Roberson Motorsports




YouTube - 2010-daytona-200-first-start-crash.avi

YouTube - LAST LAP AMA The Daytona 200

 

I watched it Friday night on Speed. Good race, crazy first lap!

It's amazing how often racers forget that you can't win the race on lap one, but you sure can lose it!

Great racing up front for the first part of the race, with amazing passes over and over between a bunch of riders.
Once everything got sorted out, Herrin just took it to everyone.

Are those pics at the bottom yours? Were you there?

 

No one aired it around here, i'll try and download it later on.

Riders as well as drivers seem to do the same first lap mistake, but who cares, its good TV, No?

 

Agreed that it happens in all forms of racing. It was good TV!!

 

Agreed. It was a great race. I still think superbikes should be in the 200 but what can you do when NASCAR owns the AMA?

Those pics were not mine. Credit goes to a friend who went.