MotoAmerica had a tough first day at Daytona International Speedway with its timing and scoring system not working properly during practice and qualifying sessions for the 80th Daytona 200.
After a move-in day in which riders and team members waited in line as much as four hours to get their 2022 credentials, MotoAmerica riders and teams had to suffer through limited information from the series’ official timing and scoring system.
During Supersport Group A (the faster group) Practice One, approximately 10-12 riders had times appearing on the timing monitors in the media center, but some riders like Attack Performance Yamaha’s Jake Gagne and Cameron Petersen were on track and did not have their times appear on the timing monitor.
In addition, the live timing page on MotoAmerica.com only showed two riders with only one of those, Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante, having lap times posted.
The situation with live timing on the MotoAmerica’s website continued like that during Supersport Group A Qualifying One Thursday afternoon, but it improved somewhat on the timing monitors in the media center. Most of the riders had their lap times show, but Gagne was on track and neither his name nor his lap times showed on the screen.
But worst of all, the teams had no timing and scoring information transmitted to pit lane.
“We had zero information,” Attack Performance Yamaha Team Owner Richard Stanboli told Roadracingworld.com. “This is their first time at Daytona and it’s the first race of the season, so I’m willing to cut them some slack.”
Thursday’s scheduled on-track activities were delayed and had to be shuffled multiple times due to early morning rain showers and with more rain approaching in the afternoon.
That rain arrived at approximately 2:00 p.m. local time – while Supersport Group B (the slower group) was on track for their Qualifying One session.
The track went from dry to wet very quickly, resulting in several scary crashes. In one crash, Christian Miranda highsided at high speed while on the 31-degree banking of NASCAR Turn Four. Luckily, Miranda was seen walking away after his long slide down the speedway’s pavement, according to MotoAmerica Live Plus commentator Michael Hill.
No results from any session were posted to MotoAmerica’s website or distributed in the media center until 2:45 p.m., 45 minutes after the end of Supersport Group B Qualifying One.
Along with the combined Supersport Qualifying One results, MotoAmerica Timing & Scoring Manager Jason Kingham emailed a note that read: “Sorry for the delay, there was a huge issue with incorrect transponders and when we got all of the bikes into parc ferme we were finally able to sort them out. I will be issuing results for the other sessions shortly.”
The RCSX, Ricky CarmichaelDaytona Amateur Supercross, held on March 6-7 and the Daytona Vintage Supercross (DVSX) held on March 8 delayed MotoAmerica’s access to the track and its timing and scoring system, which may have contributed to Thursday’s problems.
