AMA: Daytona International Speedway

By Gina Taylor
March 6, 2009

It was a historic night in Daytona!  The Honda sponsored 200 mile race consisted of a 57 lap competition among 75 riders.  Team Graves Yamaha sponsored Ben Bostrom was in pole position on his Yamaha YZF-R6 with Daniel Eslick on the debuting Buell 1125R right behind in the number 3 spot.   Two waves of riders were separated by a 50 second gap led out on to the Speedway by the Honda Accord Safety Car.

It was an awesome site, the riders, their machines and the sound of the engines’ growl in a harmonious show under the lights. Night-time riding is not that common especially here in the United States so the ambiance and excitement was evident.

Bostrom and Hayes were in the lead for the first half of the race with Cardenas contributing to the ferocious battle for the front spot.  It was an intense race between this trio especially when it came to the heart stopping sweeps around the first turn at over 170 miles per hour sometimes 5 riders thick.

After the first round of pit stops, Hayes was in the lead with Bostrom falling to third.  Hayes had a 6 second advantage and was dominating the circuit leading laps 22 through 39.  Josh Hayes’ race was unfortunately cut short after a disappointing crash in lap 51 of the race.

Despite a full course yellow followed by a race suspending red flag and a confusing restart with the Honda pace car, Ben Bostrom dominated the last half of the race leading the last 14 out of 16 laps next to DiSalvo on the Suzuki GSX-R600 for Team M4 Suzuki and Herrin on the Yamaha YZF-R6 for Team Graves Yamaha.  The last 2 laps proved to be the winners for Bostrom.   

It was definitely Ben Bostrom’s night becoming the winner of the 68th Daytona 200 and kicking off the AMA Pro SportBike season.   Bostrom said to the media after the race “it was really intense under the lights…I rode the wheels off that R6…the Yamaha pit team were awesome… I was smiling under my helmet the whole time, it was a real race from start-to-finish”.

Race Results:

1-Benjamin Bostram
2-Josh Herrin
3-Jason DiSalvo