Day two at the Daytona 2023 MotoAmerica event saw beautiful skies and exciting racing. The first competition of the day was race two for the Roland Sands Super Hooligans class.
After just missing a race win at his first attempt in this class on the day prior, Bobby Fong was ready to give it another try, hoping he could put himself in a better setup for a draft instead of being drafted.
Also looking for a better result was last year’s Daytona winner Andy DiBrino. Although running much faster lap times than last year, Andy was still unable to keep up with the 1200cc machines of the Indians and Harley Davidson ahead of him.
In an attempt to bring balance to the various bikes eligible for this class, the series decided to remove the minimum weight limit requirement for today’s race. So after removing the excess weight previously required on DiBrino’s KTM 890 R, the Oregon rider seemed to have a better chance at keeping the lead group in his sights.
As the green flag waved and the engines roared, drama quickly ensued. Kyle Ohnsorg experienced a heavy crash on lap one, which put his Roland Sands Design Indian FTR1200 out of commission.
The rest of the field made their way through the track unscathed, and it appeared the weight limit rule change was working for DiBrino as he was able to just hang onto the tail of the lead group on the fast Daytona straightaways.
On lap two, Cory West quickly slowed down and pulled aside checking his bike for a potential mechanical issue. As this looked to put him out of contention for the win, the number 91 rider Alex Taylor had a massive crash heading into the chicane along the back straightaway, causing a red flag stop of the race.
Fortunately for the Team Saddlemen Harley Davidson rider, West was able to keep his bike going and made it back to the grid for the race restart.
Once the track was cleared from the accident, the race was restarted with five laps to go.
DiBrino was pinched off as he attempted to move up towards the front of the grid, and was forced to push hard on the road course, hoping to get himself in a good position on the straightaways. However, as he attempted to make a pass outside on turn five, his front tire lost grip and send him tumbling into the grass. He was able to rejoin the race eventually, but could only catch up to a 13th place finish.
The pack out front pushed ahead as the sole Harley Davidson ridden by Cory West was shuffling amongst several Indian FTR1200s.
Bobby Fong was pushing for the lead when he was forced to retire due to a mechanical issue, an unfortunate ending to his Hooligans weekend debut.
With Fong out, the lead group was down to three riders. The Progressive/Mission Foods Indian Racing teammates Tyler O’Hara and Jeremy McWilliams sat back and followed West closely as the laps dwindled down, seemingly waiting for the final run out of the chicane and look for a drafting opportunity on the leader.
As the trio exited he road course on the final lap, McWilliams made a hard charge past West on the banking and tried to pull away.
He kept this lead coming out of the chicane, but the gap wasn’t big enough and Cory West quickly slipped past in the draft. McWilliams’s teammate O’Hara was able to tag along and pulled past the Irishman to finish in second place as West kept ahold of the victory.
Post race, a technical infraction caused Cory West to be disqualified and O’Hara was moved up to take both wins of the weekend.
Ryan Yearwood is the motorsports correspondent for SoBros Network as well as the pioneer and visionary behind SoBros Outdoors. Follow on Twitter: @OutdoorSoBro.
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