2011 Daytona 200
Last year’s Daytona 200 winner, Josh Herrin, returns this year aboard the Monster Energy sponsored 2011 Yamaha R6, prepared by Chuck Graves, to attack the fresh pavement at Daytona International Speedway in the Sunshine State of Florida.
Herrin and his AMA SportBike spec machine are fit and ready to go for back-to-back wins in America’s most legendary motorcycle road race, which would bring his win Daytona 200 record to two-straight and Yamaha’s overall record of victories to a lucky 21.
Yamaha definitely knows a little something about repeated victories at the world center of racing, having won an unprecedented, unbeaten string of 13 Daytona 200 victories, from when Don Emde won in 1972 to when Kenny Roberts won in 1984.
In 2009, the Daytona 200 returned to the 3.56-mile Daytona Speedway and Infield Course used in the 24 hours of Daytona. Yamaha won the race that year with California-born Ben Bostrom aboard the Pat Clark Motorsports prepared 600cc R6.
Scott Russell (Kawasaki and Yamaha) and Miguel Duhamel (Honda) are tied for most Daytona 200 wins at five each.
Russell, is known by the nickname "Mr. Daytona" because of his achievements at the famed track, won all his Daytona races in the Superbike class that was original slated as 750cc but later changed to a 1000cc limit.
The first four of Duhamel’s victories came aboard Honda superbikes while his fifth victory came in the new-for-2005 600cc Forumula Xtreme class.
The race evolved from a 3.2-mile sandy beach racing venue in 1937 to the 2-mile Daytona International Speedway course in 1961. The current road race course in approximately 3.5 miles.
This year’s AMA Daytona 200 returns to daytime, with the 57-lap event set to go green on Saturday, March 12 at 1:15 PM.