Bostrom wins Daytona 200 from pole

By John Hopkins

DAYTONA BEACH, FL -- Ben Bostrom rode his Team Graves Yamaha YZF-R6 to a narrow victory in the Daytona 200 at Daytona International Speedway on Friday night.

Bostrom edged his Graves Yamaha team-mate Josh Herrin by just 0.551 seconds in the 57-lap race around Daytona's 5.65km (3.51-mile) road course, while M4 Suzuki GSX-R600 rider Jason DiSalvo was right behind Herrin in third.

The race was the opening round of the AMA Pro Daytona SportBike season.

Bostrom grabbed the lead for the final time as the field completed its 54th lap. He had been leading on a lap 52 restart following the race's final full course caution, but slipped back to fourth after a big wobble through the infield.

"That race was really intense," said Bostrom, who had qualified on pole in Thursday evening's SuperPole session. "It was al about those last three laps. On the restart I took a few small risks and I was hoping to put in a really good lap a few laps from the end."

After making a run at the leaders in the closing laps Jamie Hacking settled for a fourth place finish aboard the Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki ZX-6R and Shawn Higbee placed fifth riding the Higbee-Racing.com Buell 1125R.

Bostrom was always in the thick of the lead battle in the first Daytona 200 to be run under the lights, battling in the early stages with another of his Graves Yamaha team-mates Josh Hayes and the Bruce Rossmeyer's Daytona Racing Buell 1125R of Danny Eslick, who had qualified second for the race.

Eslick fell to the back of the pack, however, when he had to pit with a loose fairing on lap 10.

That left Hayes and Bostrom, along with a very impressive Martin Cardenas on another of the M4 Suzukis, running at the front when the race went under full course caution for the first time on lap 35. The lights in the chicane had gone out due to an electrical fire.

Two laps later Team Graves Yamaha rider Tommy Aquino went down in an incident and the race was red flagged while he received medical attention. He was not seriously injured in the crash.

The race was restarted with Hayes in the lead from Bostrom, Cardenas and DiSalvo. Cardenas had yet to make his second fuel stop and dropped out of the reckoning immediately, while Bostrom passed Hayes for the top spot on the lap 42 restart.

The race's final caution came out soon after for a crash by Kris Turner. The caution period was extended after race leader Bostrom was mistakenly waved around the Safety Car, setting up the final shootout for the win.

Hayes took the lead when Bostrom got out of shape on the infield on lap 52 only to highside out of the race a lap later exiting turn three.

Bostrom, meanwhile, was able to open a slight gap on Herrin and DiSalvo as they disputed the runner-up spot.

"It was an awesome race," said Herrin after his first Daytona 200 appearance. "It was probably one of the most exciting I've been in. For my first race over 20 laps I think I did pretty well."

After starting the race third DiSalvo took advantage of good tire wear and some slick pit work to move up the order early on.

"I pitted in fifth or sixth the first time and came out second," said DiSalvo, who did the whole race on a single front tire. "The crew did a phenomenal job. The Suzuki was running really strong up top, and if I'd been a little closer on the final lap maybe I could have made a run."

Barrett Long finished sixth on his Paradigm Racing Yamaha YZF-R6 and Welshman Chaz Davies took an impressive seventh on the Factory Aprilia Millennium Technologies Team Aprilia RSV1000R, making a strong run from just outside the top 10 after the final restart.

Dane Westby took eighth on the Westby Racing/Kneedraggers.com Yamaha YZF-R6 while Cardenas settled for ninth.

Another impressive performance came from 2008 Red Bull 125 Cup star Leandro Mercado, who placed 10th on his Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki ZX-6R after starting 24th.

Provisional Race Results
1. Ben Bostrom, Yamaha YZF-R6, 57 laps
2. Josh Herrin, Yamaha YZF-R6, +0.554 secs.
3. Jason DiSalvo, Suzuki GSX-R600, +0.627
4. Jamie Hacking, Kawasaki ZX-6R, +4.748
5. Shawn Higbee, Buell 1125R, +12.952
6. Barrett Long, Yamaha YZF-R6, 14.408
7. Chaz Davies, Aprilia RSV1000R, +22.903
8. Dane Westby, Yamaha YZF-R6, +23.026
9. Martin Cardenas, Suzuki GSX-R600, +24.003
10. Leandro Mercado, Kawasaki ZX-6R, +25.646
11. Jake Zemke, Honda CBR600RR, +25.859
12. Steve Rapp, Yamaha YZF-R6, +33.767
13. Damian Cudlin, Yamaha YZF-R6, +51.766
14. Bostjan Pintar, Yamaha YZF-R6, 56 laps
15. Dan Eslick, Buell 1125R, 56
16. James Wikle, Suzuki GSX-R600, 56
17. Miguel Duhamel, Suzuki GSX-R600, 56
18. Garrett Carter, Yamaha YZF-R6, 56
19. Eric Wood, Honda CBR600RR, 56
20. Santiago Villa, Suzuki GSX-R600, 56
25. Chris Peris, Honda CBR600RR, 56
35. Alan Schmidt, Buell 1125R, 55
39. Matt McBride, Suzuki GSX-R600, 55
49. Jean Paul Tache, Yamaha YZF-R6, 54
Time of Race: 2:42:06.677
Average Speed: 72.3 mph
Margin of Victory: 0.552 secs.