Former Daytona 200 winner John Ashmead has returned to Daytona International Speedway in hopes of racing in the 2005 Daytona 200 by Honda and eventually eclipsing Rick Shaw’s all-time Daytona 200 mileage record. “Yeah, that’s what I want to do,” Ashmead told Roadracingworld.com during CCS’s event at Daytona March 5. “I was hurt last year, so I didn’t make it.” “I saw that,” said Shaw, when asked if he knew Ashmead was at Daytona and looking to ride in the 200-mile AMA race. “We went out on track together this morning, and I gave him the finger the number-one finger not the other finger. This may just kick me in the ass to come back and do it next year.” Shaw, 56, had planned to retire from Daytona 200 action after 2004, but the possibility of claiming the record for number of Daytona 200 starts (23) from Warren Sherwood and the challenge of doing the race on a 600cc Formula Xtreme bike drew Shaw back to the “World Center of Racing” in 2005. Shaw currently holds the Daytona 200 mileage record at 3365.48 miles. Ashmead currently has 2821.41 miles, a difference of 544.07 miles. While age is in 41-year-old Ashmead’s favor regarding his pursuit of the mileage record, 56-year-old Shaw will attempt to qualify for this year’s Daytona 200 on a well-prepared 2005 Yamaha YZF-R6 while Ashmead will attempt to qualify on a 2005 Kawasaki ZX-6RR that still wears the stock exhaust and bodywork. “Yeah, but Johnny always has a way of stepping up,” said Shaw. “He’s won the damn thing, so he knows what it takes. It’ll be fun.”