Graves Yamaha Motorsports teammates Ben Bostrom and Josh Herrin finished 1-2 in the 68th running of the historic Daytona 200 on their YZF-R6s in Daytona Beach, FL on Friday night, March 6. It was a powerful victory and a huge validation for Yamaha’s 2009 R6, which Bostrom highly praised for its flexible power and brilliant handling – and for its ability to trounce machines with nearly twice the displacement.
Sportbike... In the early stages of the event pole winner Bostrom, along with Herrin, Hayes and rival Danny Eslick on, swapped the lead numerous times as they ran in a tight foursome. However Eslick’s bike soon faltered, and after a blazing first pit stop Hayes held a comfy lead on his R6, with Bostrom and Herrin racing in a pack several seconds behind. Lighting trouble at the track forced the safety car to come out, tightening the field. From there on Bostrom and Herrin were back in the hunt with Hayes. Hayes led the most laps while Graves ’ young Tommy Aquino also figured prominently in the running order before crashes took both out of contention. When the safety car came out for another incident late in the race, Bostrom got a flyer of a re-start and blazed through the infield to build a gap on his pursuers that no one could touch, leading Herrin’s R6 and rival Jason DiSalvo to the flag.
"I’ve lost this race by two-thousandths of a second before,” Bostrom said afterwards. “Now I know what it's like to win! I loved every minute of it _– I was in my helmet just smiling because I love riding the wheels off that R6. I just have so much fun riding the thing!” Herrin added, “It was a really awesome race, really eventful – probably one of the most exciting races I've ever been in. If I didn't have my awesome R6, I don't think I would've been able to hold off Jason.” Yamaha road race team manager Tom Halverson added, “This was a huge team effort led by division manager Keith McCarty. It took nearly 40 people to put this together, including the entire Yamaha Factory Road Race and Motocross teams, the entire Graves Motorsports team, and a portion of the L&M Racing Supercross team. There was an incredible amount of teamwork and we started practicing at Chuck Graves’ shop months before the event to make sure it all went as perfectly as possible. Although at Daytona, you have to be ready for anything!”
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