There are a lot of things that will be different at the 74th running of the Daytona 200, March 14 at Daytona International Speedway, in Daytona Beach, Florida.
The American Sportbike Racing Association (ASRA) is sanctioning and running the race this year, whereas the historic race was sanctioned and run by AMA Pro Racing for the last several years and by AMA for decades prior to that. With that switch comes several rule and policy changes, and the most significant difference is that this year’s Daytona 200 will be run rain or shine.
“We will race in light to moderate rain,” ASRA President Kevin Elliott told Roadracingworld.com Wednesday. “We will use the same standard we use at any other race. If we start the race ‘dry’ we will stop the race for a tire change once the [rain] dots [on the pavement] connect, and that’s pretty standard. We’ll stop, let everyone make their tire choice, and we’ll restart the race. If there’s standing water on the track that we can’t deal with, then we will stop it. And we do have a contingency plan to run the race on Sunday morning, if we have to.”
For the last several years, if not decades, the race has only been run in dry conditions due to concerns for rider safety on the infield road course and wall-lined superspeedway banking. In fact, in 2003 rain forced the race to be postponed from Sunday to Monday (and in the mid-1990s the Daytona 200 was postponed an entire week). And as a result, since 2004 the Daytona 200 has been scheduled on a Saturday so in the event of rain the race could then be run on Sunday without a major impact on fan attendance.
“The people who I deal with at the Speedway were quite happy that in light to moderate rain we will continue to race,” said Elliott.
The current weather forecast from The Weather Channel calls for only a 20% chance of rain on March 14, but the forecast chance for rain on March 13 and March 15 is even greater, meaning there will most likely will be some rain in the area of Daytona Beach this coming weekend.