Sign of the (Lap) Times: Daytona
How could you describe the conditions of the 2008 Daytona Supercross by Honda? Grim? Lousy? Deplorable? Awful? Calamitous? Disastrous? Dreadful? God-awful? Miserable?
All of the above.
Nonetheless, the races were a game of survival, yet the cream still rose to the top as we’ve seen some familiar faces atop the lap times chart.
In the Lites class it was Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto setting the fastest time of the soggy evening with a 1:32.319 on his way to another runner-up finish. This came after a brief off-track excursion coming out of the first turn after he and Honda Red Bull Racing’s Ben Coisy almost collided. Check it out below:
|
|
|
AMA Supercross Lites
|
Finish
|
Best Lap Time
|
Rider
|
Bike
|
|
2
|
1:32.319 |
Kawasaki
|
|
|
1
|
1:33.049 |
Honda
|
|
|
4
|
1:37.341 |
Honda
|
|
|
9
|
1:39.212 |
Kawasaki
|
|
|
5
|
1:39.855 |
Suzuki
|
|
|
3
|
1:40.471 |
Honda
|
|
|
22
|
1:41.592 |
Yamaha
|
|
|
8
|
1:42.427 |
Shane Sewell
|
Kawasaki
|
|
6
|
1:42.923 |
KTM
|
|
|
12
|
1:42.953 |
Suzuki
|
|
|
7
|
1:43.001 |
Suzuki
|
|
|
10
|
1:46.070 |
Honda
|
|
|
11
|
1:46.085 |
KTM
|
|
|
13
|
1:46.766 |
Robert Marshall
|
Kawasaki
|
|
19
|
1:47.000 |
Honda
|
|
|
16
|
1:48.147 |
Honda
|
|
|
15
|
1:50.307 |
Tyson Hadsell
|
Honda
|
|
14
|
1:50.435 |
Kawasaki
|
|
|
18
|
1:51.595 |
Kawasaki
|
|
|
17
|
1:55.410 |
Suzuki
|
|
|
20
|
1:55.672 |
Mitch Dougherty
|
Honda
|
Biggest surprise: We’re definitely going with Chaplin Kawasaki’s Ricky Renner here. Not only did he have the fourth-fastest lap time, but after getting lapped by Canard late in the race, Renner didn’t lie down and came back to actually pass the points leader and eventual winner. Ricky Renner is fast in the mud!
AMA Supercross
By the time the AMA Supercross class riders took to the Daytona track for their 12-lap main event, the track resembled a lake instead of a dirt bike track. Doh!
However it didn’t matter to San Manuel Yamaha’s Chad Reed, who quickly motored out to the lead and set the fastest time in the class—a 1:51.346—almost a full 20 seconds slower than that of Villopoto’s fastest time! That’s how much it had rained between the early portions of the Lites main and the early laps of the 450 race.
The second-best time of the Supercross main came from our eventual winner Kevin Windham, who logged a 1:54.169 on his Torco Racing Fuels Honda 450. Rockstar/Makita Suzuki’s Ryan Dungey was third (1:57.540), Millsaps was fourth (2:00.380) and Hart & Huntington/Rockstar Honda’s Cole Siebler was fifth.
And although it’s a dubious honor, the worst best-lap time of the main event goes to Cernic’s Kawasaki’s Jeff Gibson with a 2:47.220. That was before Jeff could be seen literally standing and bouncing on the bike’s rear wheel, trying to pry its stuck front out of the mud.
|
Finish
|
Best Lap Time
|
Rider
|
Bike
|
|
7
|
1:51.346 |
Yamaha
|
|
|
1
|
1:54.169 |
Honda
|
|
|
10
|
1:57.540 |
Suzuki
|
|
|
2
|
2:00.380 |
Honda
|
|
|
19
|
2:02.639 |
Honda
|
|
|
13
|
2:02.736 |
Dusty Klatt
|
Kawasaki
|
|
9
|
2:03.849 |
Eric Sorby
|
Honda
|
|
4
|
2:04.790 |
David Vuillemin
|
Suzuki
|
|
3
|
2:06.971 |
Honda
|
|
|
6
|
2:07.598 |
Honda
|
|
|
15
|
2:07.672 |
Honda
|
|
|
16
|
2:07.716 |
Honda
|
|
|
5
|
2:10.010 |
Honda
|
|
|
14
|
2:11.456 |
Kawasaki
|
|
|
18
|
2:11.810 |
Yamaha
|
|
|
17
|
2:11.908 |
Yamaha
|
|
|
12
|
2:13.226 |
Yamaha
|
|
|
8
|
2:18.299 |
Honda
|
|
|
11
|
2:35.795 |
Bryan Johnson
|
Honda
|
|
20
|
2:47.220 |
Kawasaki
|
Biggest surprise: Cole Siebler, of course! Too bad having the fifth-fastest lap time didn’t translate into a better finish, as the Hart & Huntington/Rockstar rider finished 19th.
|
