Last Saturday was the 73rd running of the Daytona 200 since the
race began on the beach in 1937 and was won on (you guessed it) an
Indian. Saturday's race was one of firsts and lasts. It was likely the
last 200 for the SuperSport class. After the 2004 race Formula Xtreme
replaced the SuperBike class. At that time motorcycle technology had
outpaced tire technology. The big liter bikes were going too fast for
the tires and the track, resulting in too many crashes. The new class
was a confusing mix of 600cc in-line fours from the Japanese
manufacturers and an assorment of twins and triples of various
displacements. This enabled marques such as Ducati, BMW, Buell, and
Triumph to compete---sort of.
In 2009 the Formula Xtreme class was replaced by the SuperSport class, the class that raced the 200 Saturday.
The race was won by Danny Eslick on his 675cc Triumph triple. The
street version of the bike is named the Daytona. You may recall the
original Triumph Daytona from the sixties. It was the first win for
Triumph since Gary Nixon won the 200 on his factory machine in 1967. In
2015 the SuperBike class will return to the Daytona 200. The word is
that tire technology has caught up with liter-bike speed. Unless
Triumph comes up with a bike that can compete with the big Japanese
in-line fours it will be the last win for Triumph at Daytona.
Eslick will have the honor of being the last SuperSport rider to
win the 200. Despite winning the class championship twice and winning
the pole-sitter's Rolex for the second time this week, Saturday's race
was his first 200 win. Eslick is, as the saying goes, colorful. In a
happy combination of events those watching the race world-wide got to
see a close-up of Eslick flipping off another rider. I'm pretty sure
that's a first. The rider fully deserved the gesture. As Eslick was
lapping the slower rider the rider decided it would be cool to race
Eslick. Very unsportsmanlike. As he made the the pass Eslick reached
back and gave the rider the famed salute.
Such footage would probably never make it onto national
television. We got to see it because the race was live-streamed on the
internet at FansChoice.tv, another first. I was suprised that I could
find none of the Bike Week races on TV. Now I know why. Apparently
from now on that is the way the races will be broadcast. The footage
was great so it's fine with me if we've seen the last of live motorcycle
racing broadcast on television.
Meanwhile the Factory Wars tradition begun by Indian and
Harley-Davidson back in the day continues in the SuperBike class.
Today's Factory Wars are between Suzuki and Yamaha. For years I've been
tired of watching the Almighty Suzuki GXR (affectionately known as The
Gixxer) win race after race. I was happy to see a Yamaha win Saturday's
SuperBike race.
My current ride is a Yamaha. I've always been found of the brand.
Amongst other things they have a penchant for making nice knock-offs of
classic Brit bikes. Take their 650 vertical twin of the seventies. It
was like a Triumph that ran. It was also the bike that Robert Persig
rode when he wrote "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance". This
year Yamaha's big thumper, the SR 400, returns to the states. It
clearly pays homage to the famed BSA Gold Star. No electric leg for the
SR. It's strictly kick-start. Can't wait!
No comments:
Post a Comment