Watch Daytona 200 race Saturday....

[Arizona Wayne]

...on www.FansChoice.tv with race starting @ 1pm on Florida time on 3/18/17. 

[LowRyter]

TT is on now

[Arizona Wayne]

TT is on now

Watched part of it............no comparison, IMHO.

[Buford]

I've got all kinds of alarms set to remind me, but somehow I don't think it will be necessary! I hope someone has been assigned to keep Danny Eslick out of trouble.

[Arizona Wayne]

Mike Barnes won the Pole position for this years Daytona 200 (last years winner). 

Valentine Debise (France) in 2nd place.

Danny Eslick in 3rd place(2 time winner).

[Arizona Wayne]

2 aborted starts and a bike fire.  3rd restart in a little while.     Some of these riders haven't run this race before and aren't familiar with the wind dynamics on the high banks when bunched together.

[LowRyter]

finally got an HD picture during the break.  I'd rather be riding but got a sore throat.

[steven c]

 Just lost the feed.

[LowRyter]

no picture,  I am done with it

[Buford]

It was pretty frustrating for the first half an hour or so. Not the most powerful stream. Like an old man with kidney stones and a UTI. The commentating and coverage is definitely not as well produced as MotoGP. Did we really have to watch some squid trying to wheelie a pit bike?

I don't see why the third red flag was necessary, but I'm not there. Less than 20 laps to go. Eslick in the lead. Crap!

[Nick]

Close finish!!!

[Arizona Wayne]

Danny Eslick wins his 3rd Daytona 200 on his 3rd brand bike.    As far as watching it  from start to finish, you have to "refresh" the screen periodically. 

[Darren Williams]

went out and changed the back tire on the Thruxton, went for a 20 mile shakedown ride, and then got back in time to see the last 8 or 9 laps.  The feed actually stayed up and pretty cool to see my hometown boy win it!

John, you should have stayed with it, as the final 3 laps were pretty classic. Lots of lead changes and lapped riders to contend with.

[LowRyter]

Just got back taking the EV out.  Clutch is working good, my throat not so much.

I lost picture and left after 10 minutes of dead air.  I am glad that Danny won.  It looks like West and him had a good one.

The race has lost a lot of it's luster.

[Arizona Wayne]

The race has lost a lot of it's luster.
[/quote]


Yeah, with the factories and superbikes not in it anymore, but it gives the also rans a chance to win.     Looked like a pretty good crowd in attendance.  About like it was when I was there watching in `99. When the fastest bikes were factory 750s (Mladin, Duhamel, Oliver).

[bad Chad]

It sure has.  The most famous road race in the USA, and it can't even be seen on a semi obscure cable channel?

[Buford]

Why isn't this race sanctioned and conducted by MotoAmerica? Back before MotoAmerica didn't DMG honcho the 200?

[LowRyter]

Why isn't this race sanctioned and conducted by MotoAmerica? Back before MotoAmerica didn't DMG honcho the 200?

Yep, DMG = NASCAR = Daytona.  Hence, no MA.

I think it would be great to have MA superbikes and British Real Road Racers and/or FIM Superbikes invited. 

The Real Road Racers might be the deal because they change tires at the Isle of Man like they do at Daytona.  I think it comes down to politics and $$$.  Since the AMA superbike class was too fast for the tires, the "200" has gotten worse every year.   

This was my snapshot of the last Superbike Daytona 200 winner.

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[Buford]

Yep, DMG = NASCAR = Daytona.  Hence, no MA.

I think it would be great to have MA superbikes and British Real Road Racers and/or FIM Superbikes invited. 

The Real Road Racers might be the deal because they change tires at the Isle of Man like they do at Daytona.

But does that explain why ASRA runs the show? DMG doesn't even exist any more (at least not in motorcycle racing). MotoAmerica is the AMA's current premier pro road racing organization. Right? I dunno. It just seems like motorcycle road racing in the US is improving since MA took over, but the 200 is some sort of holdover from the soup sandwich that was DMG. The entry list is mostly domestic riders. If the factories are involved it's to a very small extent. And there's not much diversity in the brands represented on the grid (Yamaha Cup). I'm no Honda fan, but... one Honda on a grid of 50 bikes!! Just based on their market share there should be a bunch out there. It's almost like the AMA holds the 200 every year to check the box. Like Christmas after your kids are grown ("okay, let's all unwrap the sweaters we are never gonna wear so I can get back to organizing my iTunes files").

I noticed that Cory West was disqualified after post-race tech inspection (for his airbox). It's interesting how little press this got. Roadracing World, who usually trumpet even the most insignificant motorcycle racing news, just added the story in the form of a footnote to their report. West raced 200 miles, reeled Eslick in like a fish, and got pipped at the line... and then was disqualified? That should be the big story.

The real casualty in our cluster of a national series is that it isn't going to result in US riders graduating to GP or WSB; at least not with much success (evidence Josh Herrin).

#RantOver

[Arizona Wayne]

But does that explain why ASRA runs the show? DMG doesn't even exist any more (at least not in motorcycle racing). MotoAmerica is the AMA's current premier pro road racing organization. Right? I dunno. It just seems like motorcycle road racing in the US is improving since MA took over, but the 200 is some sort of holdover from the soup sandwich that was DMG. The entry list is mostly domestic riders. If the factories are involved it's to a very small extent. And there's not much diversity in the brands represented on the grid (Yamaha Cup). I'm no Honda fan, but... one Honda on a grid of 50 bikes!! Just based on their market share there should be a bunch out there. It's almost like the AMA holds the 200 every year to check the box. Like Christmas after your kids are grown ("okay, let's all unwrap the sweaters we are never gonna wear so I can get back to organizing my iTunes files").

I noticed that Cory West was disqualified after post-race tech inspection (for his airbox). It's interesting how little press this got. Roadracing World, who usually trumpet even the most insignificant motorcycle racing news, just added the story in the form of a footnote to their report. West raced 200 miles, reeled Eslick in like a fish, and got pipped at the line... and then was disqualified? That should be the big story.

The real casualty in our cluster of a national series is that it isn't going to result in US riders graduating to GP or WSB; at least not with much success (evidence Josh Herrin).

#RantOver

I don't think the AMA runs the Daytona 200 any more.  Rather the Daytona track does with some amateur road race assoc.  No bike factories are directly involved in this race any more like they used to be.  It's now an amateur race only.  Some of the racers run in MA races but even their rides then are not factory sponsored.  Doubt any American factory road racers make the kind of  $ they used to when all the factories were competing like in the past years when the Daytona 200 was a big deal.  Even now Kawasaki doesn't have any $ in the MA series.  Yamaha is the biggest factory sponsor of MA since it's inception a few years ago.  Kawasaki is big in WSBK but not in the US.   

[LowRyter]

yeah AMA sold to DMG.  DMG went bust, MA took up the pieces.  Daytona is too cheap to anything with the 200 and didn't come to terms with MA, so they went with amateur racing.

When DMG took over from the AMA, Honda quit and hasn't been back, Kawasaki has dropped out, since MA took over Yamaha & Suzuki have maintained a couple of factory and customer bikes.  A few of the other bikes have been in out of the series.  Some of the aftermarket companies have maintained bikes.

Let me give you an example.  One of the local kids here has shown some promise and won in the lower levels of AMA.  He was actually able to step up to the Supersport/Superbike division riding Eric Buell's factory ride.   He used to work at the local Kawasaki shop, they told me that Buell didn't pay his travel or expenses.  The guy has a normal 7-4 job now and I haven't heard that he races anymore.  The guy was a promising rider and had probably won more AMA/DMG races in the junior division than anyone else.  Since I can't verify what the dealer told, I won't mention his name.  You'd likely recognize him.