Paul Carruthers | February 2, 2010
The yet-to-be announced change in the schedule for Daytona Bike Week means that Yamaha’s Josh Hayes will not be racing in the Daytona 200, leaving Yamaha’s chances for victory in the hands of youngsters Josh Herrin and Tommy Aquino.Team manager Keith McCarthy confirmed today during the first of two days of testing at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, that the slated change to make the Daytona American Superbike race a doubleheader will preclude Hayes from taking part in the 200.”A change in the schedule to a Superbike doubleheader would not allow him to do that,” McCarty said today. “The amount of time you have to put in with practice and everything else… and our focus with Josh is on Superbike. I think it’s a good move if they [AMA Pro Racing] do have a Superbike doubleheader because it shows their support for that class.”Although there hasn’t been an official confirmation that a Superbike race will be held on both Thursday and Friday during Bike Week, everyone is expecting that announcement soon.”It’s all happening pretty late and he’d [Hayes] be testing a 600 here if we thought he was going to be doing the 200.”Hayes crossed the finish line first in the 2008 Daytona 200 on an Erion Honda CBR600RR, but was later disqualified for a technical infraction.Hayes finished second in last year’s American Superbike Championship to Mat Mladin, winning seven times – including the last four races of the season.
Paul Carruthers | Editor
Paul Carruthers took over as the editor of Cycle News in 1993 after serving as associate editor since starting his career at the publication in 1985. Carruthers has covered every facet of the sport in his near-28-year tenure at America's Daily Motorcycle News Source.
