- 16-Year-Old Polesitter Sean Dylan Kelly Finishes 2nd
- Danny Eslick’s Quest for 5th DAYTONA 200 Victory Ends Early
Kyle Wyman, riding the N2Racing Yamaha, emerged from a late-race, four-lap shootout to win the 78th DAYTONA 200 on Saturday at Daytona International Speedway.
Wyman edged polesitter Sean Dylan Kelly (M4 Ecstar Suzuki) and Bobby Fong (M4 Ecstar Suzuki), who started second in the 60-bike field. The overall margin between Wyman and sixth-place finisher Geoff May (Yamaha) was only 1.206 seconds. That statistic illustrated the closeness of the four-lap battle that ensued following a red-flag period.
The red flag was brought out by a Lap 53 incident involving third-place starter Jason Aguilar (Yamaha) that set up a four-lap shootout to the finish. The restart came on Lap 54. After several swaps of the lead among the frontrunners, Wyman took control for good coming out of the chicane on the 57th and final lap, pulling away from his rivals as the cycles climbed the 31-degree banking in the speedway’s Turn 3 and Turn 4. Wyman took the checkered flag 0.213 seconds ahead of Kelly.
“To win it like this, Daytona, in a four-lap sprint race, it’s just unreal,” said Wyman, who said the red-flag period was fortuitous.
Worried about running out of fuel before the race ended, he was conserving fuel down the stretch, just trying to finish or at best carve out a podium (top three) result.
“I’m speechless – what a race … the high and lows of a 200-mile endurance race, you know,” Wyman said. “I ran out of fuel on the last lap the second stint and I was just gutted. I was riding around in third place [toward the end] but the red came out and I had another shot.”
Kelly also could credit some luck for his finish. Due to earlier mechanical issues and an extended pit stop that cost him valuable time, he fell a lap down and stayed that way – until the red-flag period. The red flag allowed him a “wave-around” that put him back onto the lead lap for the restart.
“That restart saved the whole 200 for me,” said Kelly, a 16-year-old from Hollywood, Florida who was trying to become the youngest winner in the race’s history. On Friday he had become the youngest-ever polesitter.
Josh Hayes finished fourth on a Yamaha. The accomplished 43-year old rider – a four-time (2010-12, ’14) AMA Superbike champion – returned this year to the DAYTONA 200 for the first time since 2009. He was declared the winner in 2008 but his bike failed post-race inspection and his finish was disallowed.
Four-time champion Danny Eslick’s quest to become the third five-time champion of the DAYTONA 200 ended early. Eslick was running in the top 10 when he went off-course on Lap 11. After getting back onto the track, he came down pit road and eventually left the race due to mechanical issues, ultimately finishing a distant 55th.
The DAYTONA 200, sanctioned by the American Sportbike Racing Association (ASRA), was the final major race of the 78th Bike Week At DAYTONA; ASRA and Championship Cup Series races on Sunday will be the final competition of the week at the speedway.
Sanctioned by ASRA, the DAYTONA 200 is an integral part of Daytona Beach’s rich racing history, dating to 1937 when it was held on the Daytona Beach-road course that utilized both the Atlantic Ocean shoreline and State Road A1A. It quickly became a companion to the course’s stock-car races that were first held in 1936. The DAYTONA 200 moved from the beach-road course to the speedway in 1961, the facility’s third year of existence.
Racing returns to DIS on the Independence holiday weekend, with the annual midsummer/midseason NASCAR under-the-lights doubleheader. On Friday, July 5, the NASCAR Xfinity Series’ Coca-Cola Firecracker 250 will be held, followed on the evening of July 6 with the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series’ Coke Zero Sugar 400.
Tickets for the Coca-Cola Firecracker 250, the Coke Zero Sugar 400 and other speedway events can be purchased online at www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com or by calling 1-800-PITSHOP. Fans can stay up to speed on the latest news by using #BikeWeek, #DAYTONASX, #DAYTONATT and #DAYTONA200. Stay connected with Daytona International Speedway on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube and Snapchat, and by downloading Daytona International Speedway’s mobile app, for the latest Speedway news throughout the season.