Daytona 200 2020

It depends on how hard, too. I remember back in the 80s at the ROC when they stopped the endurance race because Roger Edmondson lost control of the pace car in the conditions.
Remember 600 Supersport in 1996 when some unknown named Bronson had Pirelli rains and passed DuHamel twice, after the start and restart, before they postponed the whole gig for a week.?

 

I was out sliding around in that one...watched the pace car hydroplane off into the weeds at the chicane

 

The "unknown" was Thorvald Sæby from Norway. He and one other rider (Yves Briguet?) had Pirelli rains and ran away from the rest of the field.
The race was postponed and unfortunately these guys had to go back to Europe before it ran.

 

Nope, the guy was Jim Bronson. He came back in 2012 to back Joey Pascarella's Cinderella win in the Daytona 200.
https://blog.motorcycle.com/2012/04...-daytona-200-winning-project-1-atlanta-folds/

 

Maybe JJ can help remember if it was a different year that the Euros ran away - or maybe it was a supersport race?!
@Pneumatico Delle Vittorie

 

It was the 1996 600 Supersport race. Jim Bronson was riding the hell out of those Pirellis, so everyone else swamped the Pirelli tent, demanding a set of those tires.
The only Euro runaway that I remember was with Harald Eckl and Eskil Suter in the 250GP race. They left Rich Oliver in their dust.

 

Wow. Someone left rich Oliver?

 

OK Chris, you need to respect your retired elders, so it's Mr Vittorie to you.

 

You and Jensen must be drinking a lot more than me, LOL. I'll explain

In 1993 KTM asked Pirelli for a radial that looked like a dirt track tire for the new Duke, and the MT60RS Corsa was born. Hell yes we knew early that it would be a bad ass rain tire. And the tire is still in the range today and has ALWAYS been DOT approved. I think we brought a 100 sets to Daytona expecting rain. The CCS weekend before the Pro weekend was wet and we sold the shit of of them. And if it was wet we won everything Supersport because in those days tires had to be DOT approved. The AMA required a approved tire list before the season started and these were on the list. The Pro weekend started and guess what it was raining. Shortly after that I got pulled aside by the AMA and was told that the MT60s were not legal. I said WTF were you guys not here last weekend we won everything. They pressed on and asked if we had enough for the complete pro SS paddock? I said WTF I didn't sponsor those teams so why would I have that many tires, hold on more to come

 

Thorvald Saeby was not an unknown at Daytona. He rode 600s in 93 to 97. Yves Briguet was a 250GP and World SS rider that came to Daytona in 95 and 96.

 

So again they say the tires aren't legal and the factory guys and guess who else (wink, wink) are really pissed because Pirelli is the ONLY one that has a DOT approved open tread pattern radial in those sizes. Next I run over to a friends truck and borrow his Parts Unlimited dealer book and show the AMA dude that anyone can buy them. Now he has to go the factory teams and (wink, wink) someone else and explain that they got beat in the paddock by Pirelli. And that started it all.

 

Damn yall got some good memories! About the only thing I can recall from 92 to 97 was a street chase involving a white Ford Bronco

 

Nope
To start the boys from southern California are pissed off because Yves has a full chat HRC bike and he is fast. So the tension in the pits is high and I see Miguel checking out Yves as he knows who he has to beat. The SS warm lap starts and everyone goes out to scuff tires. Yves comes in with a vibration in the bike and asks Danny (his wrench) for a new rear. Then guess what, someone runs over to my boss and starts screaming you guys are cheating! LOL

The race starts and we wait for the pack to come around to the tri-oval and Thorvald is in the lead, Yves is in 2 or 3rd and a few seconds back and Miguel is in 5th I think. A couple laps go by and Yves gets the lead and when he crosses the line Miguel (in 6th?) hasn't even got to NASCAR 4 yet. It's rain like crazy and there's some crashes. You can bet the factories aren't happy with privateers leading, then a red flag is thrown. The race officials call it because there is too much water and the drains are backed up causing flooding. The race is rescheduled for Monday. Same thing happens Monday, rain and we are leading by large margins but they call the race again. It was postponed until Saturday, so I have to move in with Yves and Danny at their condo and extend our stay. Saturday comes and it's dry and Miguel wins and I think Yves was 4th? But I don't remember if Thorvald raced or went back to Norway. I kind of remember Bronson and I thought I could find the race on you tube but no luck

 

Yes. It was probably indicative of what kind of bikes we get in the States compared to the machinery run in Grand Prix racing. Those two riders might be just knocking on the door for a top ten finish in GP, but they ran away at Daytona.

 

I was pretty damn sure Bronson was up there. The race was started on Sunday, red flagged, and then there was a restart. Same thing all over again and another red flag. I'm pretty sure nothing hit the track on Monday, there was a meeting and it was announced that everything was postponed to the next Saturday. I went back to my room on the beach and made phone calls the change my flight, told the rental company I was keeping the cat another week and then called work to say I wasn't coming back when planned. I went to the lobby and extended my stay. Pretty brutal, it was the start of Spring Break and the kids were going berserk, looking for girls. I had to leave my phone off the hook for a week.

 

So my memory was a little off but not too far.
My first year at Daytona with the various Swedes, Norwegians and Danes was 1998, so I have most of my information from stories they told me.
99 was a great time as Thorvald had his R6 shipped over but it wasn't really out yet here in the states so it got a lot of attention.

 

Wait. You’re upset they were chasing spring break girls? But you just said that you were renting pussy for a week too.

btw these are great stories guys. Thank you.

 

I've got a call into the guy that built Yves bike so hopefully he'll have info

 

That's a typo. Rental car. As soon as I determined that I was staying another week, I had to wash some of my clothes at the laundromat on the ground floor. I was in the Holiday Inn at 400 N. Atlantic Ave. Then it was Shoney's Inn. Then the Boardwalk Beach Resort. Now it's the Regency. I moved a couple of doors down to the Sea Dunes.
As I'm doing my laundry, some beach bum appeared (He was probably sleeping in there during the storm.) and chewed my ear off about his Kung Fu skills.
The college kids were looking for pussy. One method was to call every damn room in the inn looking for some. That's why I had to leave the phone off the hook.
Then I found the door to my balcony locked. The inn was afraid of drunks falling off of them. I called the lobby and complained. I got their explanation, and countered with I'm in my 40's and I don't drink. They didn't care about that, so I gave them 10 minutes to get their asses up there and unlock the door before I called the Fire Marshal's office. That got their attention.
When I checked out a week later, the line was slow. As each college kid turned in their key, the desk clerk would give the room number to somebody over the radio. Whoever was at the other end would go to the room, give an estimate on the amount of damage and the amount was taken out of the substantial security deposit the student had to pay when he checked in.

 

I lived in Daytona for ten years. You just explained it in one story. lol. And I’m sorry. I had to capitalize on that typo.