Daytona 2011

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Just an update for the Daytona next year as I know some people like to make early plans.

Supercross earlier, 200 in the day, AHRMA & CCS gone.
By: Henny Ray Abrams   

Photography By: Courtesy of AMA Pro Racing
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The 2011 Daytona schedule will have a completely different look aimed at drawing more fans to the Supercross, while returning the Daytona 200 to its traditional Saturday afternoon start time in yet one more example of AMA Pro Racing reversing the early and failed practices of the initial Daytona Motorsports Group regime.

The biggest change is that  the Daytona Supercross will move a week earlier, to Saturday night, March 5, the weekend before the Daytona 200. The move will allow traditional Supercross fans to come to the race without being gouged by the exorbitant prices the hotels charge during Bike Week. It also means the race can get more advance promotion without getting lost in the road racing. And the second annual Ricky Carmichael Supercross event will take place on Sunday, March 6, while the Ricky Carmichael University will run on Monday, March 7.

With Supercross running on the prior weekend, and into Bike Week,  two popular enthusiast events are being eliminated. The Championship Cup Series and the AHRMA vintage races have been shuffled off to the Fall Cycle Scene in October. The CCS races were at the center of the debate concerning testing because they allowed teams to ride on the same track as the AMA race within a week of the AMA Pro Road Racing weekend. A well-attended teams' meeting was held at the most recent round of the championship, at New Jersey Motorsports Park, to try to form a consensus on how testing should be regulated. A policy for the future has yet to be announced.

The AHRMA races were popular with the riders and a certain segment of fans, but didn't add much to the Daytona International Speedway coffers. The track was, essentially, loaned to AHRMA. The high banks of Daytona International Speedway isn't the ideal venue for many of the vintage machines and rider entries had declined in the past few years, mostly due to the recession.

The pro road racing schedule is set up for the 200 to run on Saturday, March 12, after running at night this year and last. This is the third year in a row that the race will have a different look. The 2009 featured the first and only flying start for the 200. This year the race was started from the traditional grid on the pit lane, as next year's race will be. There had been talk of returning the 200 to Superbikes on both bankings, but that was never going to happen in 2011. The track is in the process of being repaved and Dunlop, the control tire supplier, will need several tests to ensure that they can build a tire capable of withstanding the unparalleled stresses the banking puts on tires.

Another reason for moving the 200 to a daytime start is that a nighttime race would clash with the Indianapolis Supercross, which is likely to be shown live on SPEED. The 200 has been shown 'almost' live on SPEED the past two years. The race starts prior to the telecast, but finishes on live television.

Superbike and Supersport races will be run on Friday, March 11 and again on Saturday, March 12. The second year of the Vance & Hines Pro XR1200 series will run at Daytona for the first time-the series started mid-year at Road America-though no date was given.

The Daytona Short Tracks are to be run on Thursday, March 10, and Friday, March 11, at the new facility just outside the West Banking. Amateurs will race on the track the previous Sunday, March 6, through Tuesday, March 8.



Ron Carbaugh