The week started out as a soggy mess last Saturday with rain that delayed the start of the Daytona Supercross Main Event. Point leader Ryan Villopoto was expected to run away with the race but he ran in to trouble at the start.
“I was really hoping to get out front early and not get roosted, but ended up in last place two corners in,” said Villopoto. “They made some track changes due to the conditions which was a positive, but unfortunately for me the shortened moto cut back on my time to get to the front.”
Even with start Villopoto was able to finish in 5th place.
It was clear that James Stewart was comfortable with the muddy conditions and took the victory with his teammate Davi Millsaps finishing 2nd.
“It means a lot for us to get a win and to go 1-2 as a race team,” said Stewart. “We had a lot of…I wouldn’t say bad luck, but we had some struggles with starts – at least I have – and then some weird things happening. I’ve been saying if I got a start I felt like I could win one of these things. So tonight it was definitely good enough for me. So, I’m stoked.”
For the AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBikes Martin Cardenas earned the pole for the Daytona 200 on Saturday.
But towards the end of the race the top position was going between 19-year-old Joey Pascarella and Cameron Beubier but at the end Jason DiSalvo made a charge for the finish but was only able to get up to second place only 0.048 seconds behind Pascarella.
Joey Pascarella says: “I knew I could do it and I had faith in myself. I ran my own race. I thought if I led on the last lap and someone passed me, so be it. I felt most comfortable in the lead. Everyone was there the whole race. It ended up working out. I got a draft on a lapper and I was able to bring it home with a win. I don’t know what we’re doing for the rest of the season, but hopefully the team and I can keep going.”
Jason DiSalvo says: “I thought I had an issue with the motorcycle and I backed off the pace considerably and we lost a good bit of time. We went through our pit stop and got back out there and everything looked okay and we kept going.”
Cameron Beubier says: “The race was awesome. I really didn’t get a good draft to the line, but I am happy with third.”
What makes the win for Joey Pascarella and the Project 1 Atlanta/March of Dimes Yamaha YZF-R6 team is that this is the only race they planned for this season.
