Daytona tyre test

Honda stayed atop the speed charts during the second day of Dunlop tyre testing on Tuesday at Daytona International Speedway in preparation for the 63rd Daytona 200 By Arai on Saturday, March 6.

Ben Bostrom, aboard the Honda CBR1000RR, broke the one minute, 47-second barrier in the Tuesday afternoon session with a fast lap of 1:47.650 seconds. The Daytona 200 By Arai pole record held by Nicky Hayden is 1:47.174, which was set in 2002 with Dunlop qualifying tyres.
"We're making big head way, but we still have more to go," Bostrom said.

Honda also had a second Honda CBR1000RR on track on Tuesday for riders Miguel Duhamel and Jake Zemke to shake down. Both riders turned laps in the one-minute, 48-second range. Duhamel is chasing his fifth Daytona 200 By Arai victory, which would tie him at the top of the wins list with Scott Russell.

Unlike past years, Duhamel won't be racing in Supersport in 2004, where he has a record six victories at Daytona. Instead, the Canadian rider will compete in the inaugural Daytona Lockhart-Phillips Formula Xtreme event, which will be held on Thursday, March 4.

Duhamel has spent most of the Dunlop tyre test developing the new Xtreme bike. "Hopefully, we can get six in Xtreme," Duhamel joked. "It's a brand new bike. Just a few minutes ago before the lunch, we did a really good change. Some changes do nothing, some changes do a lot. We did a change on it and it went really good. We're quite a bit happier with it. It's progressing nicely which is to be expected on a project bike like the Xtreme is right now."

Dunlop tyre testing concludes on Wednesday.

Day 2 Times - (Taken with permission from Road Racing World)

1. Ben Bostrom, Honda CBR1000RR Superbike, 1:47.650
2. Miguel Duhamel, Honda CBR1000RR Superbike, 1:48.475
3. Jamie Hacking, Yamaha YZF-R1 Superstock, 1:49.501
4. Damon Buckmaster, Yamaha YZF-R1 Superstock, 1:49.731
5. Aaron Yates, Suzuki GSX-R1000 Superbike, 1:49.935
6. Jason DiSalvo, Yamaha YZF-R1, Superstock, 1:49.988
7. Mat Mladin, Suzuki GSX-R1000 Superbike, 1:50.112
8. Tommy Hayden, Kawasaki ZX-10R Superstock, 1:50.577
9. Josh Hayes, Kawasaki ZX-10R Superstock, 1:50.977
10. Aaron Gobert, Yamaha YZF-R1 Superstock, 1:51.114
11. Aaron Gobert, Yamaha YZF-R6 Supersport, 1:53.157
12. Damon Buckmaster, Yamaha YZF-R6 Supersport, 1:54.006
13. Roger Lee Hayden, Kawasaki ZX-6RR Supersport, 1:54.328
14. Jake Zemke, Honda CBR600RR Formula Xtreme, 1:54.675
15. Tony Meiring, Kawasaki ZX-6RR Supersport, 1:54.987
16. Damon Buckmaster, Yamaha YZF-R6 Supersport, 1:55.829
17. Aaron Yates, Suzuki GSX-R600 Supersport, 1:56.235