(Note: All updates will run top to bottom, starting with the morning report and going through the main event. So, make sure to scroll down for the latest.) 

Morning Report

The sunshine state brought us some the warmest morning of the season and it looks like it will be a perfect day. There has been a lot of speculation that James Stewart would return to racing at Daytona, that is not the case folks. Tonight’s racing will return lapped races instead of the timed races we’ve been seeing so far this season. Note, the decision to revert to the old style is just for this race as the lap times are over one minute. 

Honda is the title sponsor of this event so they wanted to have the seat on the bike filled.

Jeremy Martin will be doing a one race fill in for Ken Roczen and will be on the 450 tonight. I spoke with him this morning and although he doesn’t have any expectations on how he’ll do, he’s excited to race the 450.

We did a Facebook Live video of the track walk this morning, you can check it out here. 

The start is at the end of the track this weekend instead of the normal from the center. They also trucked in some sand straight from the beach and it is DEEP. The sand is so deep I caught Joey Savatgy prepping some lines on the track walk.

250 Qualifying Session 1

Savatagy led the pack from the beginning followed by Zach Osborne with the red plate. On lap three Savatgy tucked the front while leading the pack and Osborne laid down the first 1:15. Savatgy regrouped and then threw down a 1:14 followed by a 1:13. Adam Cianciarulo appears to be riding with a lot of confidence and took the top spot from Savatgy with a 1:13 of his own. As the laps went on everybody picked it up and the top five were 1:13 or better. Cianciarulo and Savatgy were the only ones to get in the 1:12’s though.

450 Qualifying Session 1

There aren't really any stand out lines here today that we've seen so far. Tomac is usually one of the guys to jump things first so I watched him pretty closely during the session and although he appeared to be going scary fast charging through everything, he ended the session in sixth behind Jeremy Martin who is hoping on the 450 for the first time this weekend. Smooth and steady Ryan Dungey lead the session most of the time before being snaked by Jason Anderson who threw down a 1:11.427 on the last lap which was nearly a full second over Dungey. Blake Baggett was third. I spoke with Baggett’s dad Tom during track walk and he said they built a Daytona section at the La Chupacabra ranch that was total overkill compared to who gnarly Daytona gets so Blake should be ready. Chad Reed is also feeling the Florida flow today and was the final rider to dip into the 1:12 lap times.

250 Qualifying Session 2

Christian Craig was riding really well and was at the top of the leader’s board, well actually there is no leader board this week, but you know what I mean. He crashed in the corner at the opposite side of the track from the start, rolled down the berm and his spinning rear wheel caught the front of his helmet at jerked his head. He got up, inspected the bike, and headed back to the mechanic’s area. He seemed to be ok.

Alex Martin rode really well in the session and after Craig went down, Martin stayed on top. followed by Savatgy, Cianciarulo, Osborne, and Ferrandis. Cameron Macadu is out. 

450 Qualifying Session 2

Blake Baggett brought his race pace to this qualifying practice from the get go. He jetted to the front when the green flag waved and put down some heaters right away. When I checked the times, Dungey quietly ran a 1:10.935 on lap three.

Jeremy Martin really seems to be meshing with the 450 and doesn’t appear to be intimidated by the big boys as we’ve seen other rookies in the past. Is it the lack of championship pressure? Is it the 450? Is it the track? Who knows, but we do speed has never been a problem for Jeremy, it’s his starts. He ran in second for most of the session and was really consistent. So consistent he was actually the rider to get into the 1.11 the most with three of his nine laps.

Dungey, Martin, Tomac, Baggett, Musquin round out the top five for qualifying.

250 Heat Race 1

Joshua Cartwright got the jump off the gate and went wide on the start. Zach Osborne and Jordon Smith hugged the inside and tried to make the move, but Cartwright had the drive coming out of the corner. Osborne made quick work of Cartwright and it took Osborne about a lap to make it to second. After that Smith put on a charge and almost made a move on Osborne before Osborne picked it up and gapped him about a second. Osborne looks to be faster in the first half of the track and Smith better in the second half—Osborne was pulling away up to the whoops and then Smith would tighten things up by the wall jump and keep gaining until they reached the finish again. Freddy Noren washed his front on the triple after crossing the start straight and will be heading to the LCQ. Joey Savagty got a really bad start and it took him five laps to get up to third before the checkers came out.

250 Heat Race 2

Adam Cianciarulo got the jump, but also went wide in the first turn allowing Alex Martin, Christian Craig, Mitchell Harrison, and others to slide inside sliding Cianciarulo back to sixth. By lap four Alex Martin caught the back of a lapper who wasn’t paying much attention to the blue flags. It Martin about a third of a lap to get around the lapper who really slowed him, but luckily Martin already a 2.5 second lead over Craig and stretched it back out to 2.7 seconds for the end of it. Harrison finished out in third and Cianciarulo made is way up to fourth.

450 Heat Race 1

The first two races were pretty vanilla, but this one was exciting. Three for three races so far whoever has made it to the inside tough block in the first has had to push everyone on their outside to hold their line allowing the rest to slide down. Justin Brayton had it this time, but Jason Anderson, Blake Baggett, and Justin Barcia took it from him and Barcia had the lead by the time the re-crossed the finish. Barcia got out front and that’s where he stayed. After the finish on the first lap Anderson put the hammer down to go after Barcia, but made some mistakes allowing Barcia to open a 1.3 second lead by lap two.

The sand is no joke tonight. There are two sections with a sandy corner in between and it looked more like a dust storm in Glamis than a heat race when they went through there. I felt like I was getting roosted in the nose bleeds. Josh grant washed his front in the sand corner on lap two trying to pass Martin.

Jeremy Martin got the start he needed and followed Brayton in fifth before making a mistake allowing the charging Cole Seely to get by. Martin went down a second time Martin went down half way through the rhythm after the finish. The section curves left before hooking right and I all I saw was J. Mart picking his bike up off the tough blocks where it veered right. On lap four Anderson found another gear and put a charge on Barcia, but it wasn’t enough and Barcia took his first heat race win of the year.

450 Heat Race 2

Ryan Dungey got the holeshot before Eli Tomac cut inside and then Dungey got him right back. Tomac had the inside in the next corner and he and Dungey were side by side over the first rhythm and triple. Dungey had to check up and go wide in the following corner as Tomac had the inside again. Dungey going wide allowed Marvin Musquin to get by and it was Tomac, Musquin, Dungey, Millsaps, Bogle. With Dungey on the rear wheel of Musquin it allowed Tomac to open a gap and do his thing. Tomac is on fire again tonight. Dungey started searching for new lines to get around Musquin and it allowed Musquin to pull a two second lead over Dungey by the end of it. Millsaps took the final transfer spot to the main.

250 LCQ

Freddy Noren with the holeshot and he kept it! James Milson was riding in a third before going down on the face of the first jmp before the sand section knocking himself out a spot for the main.

450 Semi 1

After the heats guys are starting to figure out you you need to hug the inside off the start. Vince Freise took the hole shot. Not only did Freise get the start but he gapped Chad Reed who was riding like man on a mission. It was Freise, Reed, Grant, Weimer with a big gap over the final transfer spot by the time the white flag came out. Wilson made his way to 7^th with one lap to go and made the two more passes to get the final transfer spot to the main

450 Semi 2

Bogle had the lead on the first lap before he tucked in the corner going into the sand. This allowed Seely to slide by. Malcolm Stewart was in second, Broc Tickle third and Mike Alessi fourth. Alessi and absolutely slammed his face on his bars, but didn’t go down and kept his transfer spot.

Bogle remounted in firth and was pressured Jeremy Martin. On lap three Bogle jumped off the track after the dragon’s back. He went around the first two jumps of the triple and singled the last without losing a position. On the following lap Martin took the final spot from him over the same triple. Seely, Stewart, Tickle, Alessi, Martin headed to the main.

450 LCQ

Chisholm and Schmidt battled off the start before Chisholm charged through dragons back and pulled a gap and took the win. Bogle got a bad start, couldn't make it happen and will be watching the main from the stands.

250 Main

Joey Savatgy and Adam Cianciarulo went one, two off the start followed by Lorenzo Locurcio and Dylan Ferrandis. Cianciarulo passed Savatgy in the rhythm after the finish and then they were the only two to triple out of the corner at the far end of the track opposite of the start. This allowed Cianciarulo and Savatgy to put a gap the rest of the field right away. By lap two Cianciarulo was already starting to gap Savatgy slightly. 

Osborne was also making moves on lap two as well. First he made his way up to third washing his front end in the sand corner and sliding back to eighth. From there is was Cianciarulo and Savatgy out front in no man’s land, followed by another two pack consisting of Lorenzo Locurcio and Dylan Ferrandis, another large gap and then the rest of the field.

Kyle Cunningham, the new JGR 250 East fill in was riding in a solid fifth until Jordon Smith caught him. Smith was all over Cunningham with eight laps to go. Smith got around Cunningham and then Osborne did two at the double double before the finish from the inside. Osborne was riding hard and actually double doubled from the inside to make the move, something I hadn’t seen all day from either class.

The crowd was mostly focused on the leaders as Savatgy was on Cianciarulo’s tail the entire race with the gap never getting to more than about 1.5 seconds. While all eyes were on the Kawasakis out front, Dylan Ferrandis silently passed Lorenzo Locurcio for third. 

With four to go Smith and Osborne got by Locurcio. Smith was on a charge and then caught Ferrandis. Osborne was all over Smith and they nearly came together over the dragon’s back. Smith set his sight on Ferrandis in third and he really wanted that podium. Smith was close at the end, but Ferrandis was able to hang on and took his first ever podium.

450 main

The start was pretty wild. It looked like four different guys could have had the holeshot. Tomac got a great jump, someone else had the drive, then it appeared Brayton had it in the corner before Jeremy Martin (who had an 18^th gate pick) railed the outside and blew around the outside of Tomac. Marvin Musquin hit the gate off the start and Justin Barcia went down on in the first turn, which held up Ryan Dungey, bad. By the time everyone got to the second corner is was Martin, Tomac, Brayton, Reed and Weimer rounding out the top five. After the first triple Blake Baggett tucked the front and went down. When Dungey came across the finish on the first lap he was in 17^th. Cole Seely made quick work to fifth and had a close call with a near full endo over the backside of the wall jump, but held it together and set his sights on Reed.

From there Martin and Tomac checked out and did battle for ten laps. Tomac typically makes quick of everyone, but not tonight. Martin was impressive on his 450 debut. On the fourth lap Tomac started pressuring Martin and Martin went on the defense. Martin did a look back and began blocking lines. He regrouped and then got back on the charge and didn’t let Tomac intimidate him. There were two sections that really favored Tomac tonight. The wall jump section as well as the dragon’s back to the triple. When he would hit the corner before the wall he’d really come to life made up some time on Martin, but Martin was faster on other parts of the track keeping them pretty even. Tomac got back to the rear wheel of Martin, but then Martin nearly gapped him by two seconds. 

Seely started showing Chad Reed a wheel on lap six. While I was watching these two battle I didn’t even see Jason Anderson who was flying through the pack after flinching on the gate as he was next to Musquin on the line. While Seely struggled to get around Reed, Anderson made quick work of Seely. On the next lap Reed went down on some tough blocks three corners before the finish. Reed’s crash made a total yard sale of tough blocks and tough block covers. This forced Baggett to slow way down while trying to navigate through the debris and caused a bit of a pile up with him, Millsaps, and Musquin. Musquin appeared to get off balance and went down in the double double before the finish.

Meanwhile, Dungey was doing damage control trying to come through the pack and it took him about three laps to get around Mike Alessi. Dungey appeared to have run out of tear offs as he was wiping his goggles.

With the gap still at about two seconds Tomac regrouped and made another charge on Martin. They were bar to bar over the wall jump with Tomac on the inside going into the next corner. Martin squared him up in the next one before the dragons back as they were again bar to bar. Martin had the inside again on the left of Tomac, but it was a left and quick right after the triple so Tomac ultimately had the inside. Martin went to square up again, but couldn’t do it without hitting the brakes and Tomac pushed him a little wide over the first roller. It looked like Jeremy got a little off balance and then Tomac took off.

After Dungey finally got around Alesssi he blew by Brayton and set his sights on Reed who was in fifth. Dungey got reed on the double-double before the finish and then radar locked Seely with two laps to go. Dungey was riding pissed tonight! He was all over the rear wheel of Seely the and in the same left/right where Tomac got Martin, Seely was on the inside and could have parked Dungey before the right, but was too nice and Dungey pushed him wide. Seely did everything he could to get him back, but it just wasn’t enough and Dungey took fourth. With that, Tomac gained 7 points in the championship and he reduced Dungey’s points lead to 17. Got to love Daytona.