Thursday’s Superstock and Supersport final delivered two first-time Daytona International Speedway winners.

Jamie Hacking can finally call himself a winner at Daytona International Speedway after his thrilling victory in the Superstock event.

After coming up short so many times in tight finishes at “The World Center of Racing,” Hacking was able to nip Yamaha teammate Jason DiSalvo at the start/finish line by a mere .072 seconds.

“It’s been nine years since I’ve been in here,” Hacking said. “I have second place lined up there on the shelf, and now I’ve finally got that one to go up there in the middle of them.”

Hacking, riding in second place on the final lap aboard the factory No. 2 Yamaha, felt like he was in perfect position behind the leader DiSalvo.

“I was hoping he was going to play the cards like he played them and I took them,” Hacking said. “I didn’t think he wanted to lead me out of the chicane but he did. I ran out of the banking, let him go and breathed the bike a little bit.

“I’ve been in too many situations where I caught myself out trying to make the break too early. I left it as late as possible and ran him down pretty good. I dove down to the inside. If I had to take it to the dirt, I was going to the dirt to win this one.”

DiSalvo gave credit to Hacking’s slingshot move at the checkered flag.

“He just played the draft right -- Miguel Duhamel right,” said DiSalvo referring to five-time Daytona 200 By Honda winner who has patented the slingshot move out of the Daytona chicane.

In spite of an injured shoulder, Team Yoshimura Suzuki’s Aaron Yates made a daring last-lap pass to take third place in the season-opening round of AMA Repsol Superstock at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla., on Thursday afternoon.

“Thanks to my Yoshimura Suzuki team for giving me such a good bike to race out there,“ said the defending AMA Repsol Superstock Champion. “This is the same result we got last year here at Daytona and we came back to get the championship. So this is a pretty good start.”

Initially, Yates qualified sixth on the Superstock grid after posting a best time of 1:40.333 on his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000. Considering the Georgian is still recovering after breaking his shoulder at a test in February, he was pleased to be starting from the second row.

“I was trying pretty hard,” said Yates about his qualifying session. “My right arm is just weak. All it’s good for right now is turning the throttle and pulling the brake. I’m having a hard time turning the bike - the shoulder is really holding me up. I’m about a second to a second-and-a-half a lap off of what I know I could do. It’s just hard, because I know where I could be.”

In spite of the injury, Yates rode an impressive Superstock race. The Southerner got a good start off the line and then settled into a comfortable fourth place on his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000. Yates stayed put for the race’s 13 laps, then charged hard to take third right before the finish line.

“I was really giving it my all,” said Yates on racing with a hurt shoulder. “I’ve struggled all weekend and I was just trying my best to get the Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 around the track. I got a good start and I knew that’s what I needed to do to stay with the lead group and get as many points as possible. I wanted to hang with the lead guys, but I just couldn’t. But it all worked out, I was able to squeak by at the finish.”

Hotbodies Racing Mat Mladin Motorsports Suzuki rider Marty Craggill brought home a hard-won top-10 finish in his AMA Repsol Superstock debut.

In Wednesday’s qualifying session, Craggill posted a fastest lap time of 1:41.680 and carded a starting spot on the third row. “We were good with race tires, but not so good with qualifying tires,” summed up a happy Craggill. “The bike’s running great and since we race on race tires, that’s pretty good.”

In the 13-lap race itself, Craggill was slow off the line but worked his way up to 10th before the end of the race. “It was a good first race,” he said. “The GSX-R1000 is running really good and was strong in the in-field.”

Team owner and reigning AMA Superbike Champion Mat Mladin, was thrilled with his team’s season-opening performance.

“Marty did really, really well,” said Mladin, who took pole position in AMA Superbike qualifying earlier in the day. “Marty did a lot of work in the off-season to get into condition and I think it showed in the race. The whole team did a good job and this was a solid start to the season.”

SuperStock Top 10 Finishers:

1. Jamie Hacking, Yamaha
2. Jason Disalvo, Yamaha
3. Aaron Yates, Team Yoshimura Suzuki
4. Geoff May, M4 EMGO Suzuki
5. Josh Hayes, Honda
6. Damon Buckmaster, Kawasaki
7. Robertino Pietri, Suzuki
8. Aaron Gobert, Honda
9. Jason Pridmore, Jordan Suzuki
10. Marty Craggill, Hotbodies Racing Mat Mladin Motorsports Suzuki

Hacking continued his Daytona successes on Thursday with a runner-up finish in the Supersport race behind winner Roger Lee Hayden.

Hayden, riding the No. 95 Kawasaki, was able to break away from the competitive field in the final laps for the 1.609-second victory.

“The first 15 laps was a little bit of a struggle,” Hayden said. “I changed my gearing right before the race because I thought we had a pretty bad headwind. It really wasn’t the right decision.

“I couldn’t get by either one of these guys (Hacking or Tommy Hayden) by the stripe so I knew my only chance was to try to break away. Once we got into lappers, they were getting out the blue flag, and I was being a little bit aggressive.”

Tommy Hayden, the 2005 Supersport champion competing in his only 2006 Supersport event of the year, finished third on his No. 1 Kawasaki.

Yoshimura Suzuki’s Ben Spies rode his brand-new Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R600 to an impressive fourth-place finish in the season-opening round of AMA Supersport at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla., on Thursday afternoon.

Spies’ first real test with the new-for-2006 Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R600 came Wednesday afternoon during AMA Supersport qualifying. Spies qualified on the second row in fifth position after posting a best time of 1:43.217.

“The new GSX-R600 is a work in progress,” said an optimistic Spies after the session. “This is our first real shakedown with the bike and we’re still working on suspension settings. I think that qualifying fifth shows the bike’s potential.”

In the 22-lap race, Spies got off to a good start and ran with the lead group for the race’s entirety. He stayed in fourth for the whole race, battling regularly for third place.

“It was a good race and I’m happy with a top-five finish,” said Spies. “The new GSX-R600 has got a lot of horsepower but we’re still in development. I think the motorcycle has got a lot of potential and I’m excited about the rest of the season.”

SuperSport Top 10 Finishers:
1. Roger Lee Hayden, Kawasaki
2. Jamie Hacking, Yamaha
3. Tommy Hayden, Kawasaki
4. Ben Spies, Team Yoshimura Suzuki
5. Danny Eslick, Suzuki
6. Damon Buckmaster, Kawasaki
7. Geoff May, M4 EMGO Suzuki
8. Pascal Picotte, Yamaha
9. Alastair Steeley, Yamaha
10. Ben Attard, Kawasaki