From a press release issued by Daytona International Speedway:

Honda’s Miguel Duhamel Chasing Record-Tying Fifth Daytona 200 By Arai Victory

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., (Feb. 26, 2004) ¯ Honda ace Miguel Duhamel will look to add his name to the Daytona 200 By Arai record book in this year’s 63rd Daytona 200 By Arai on Saturday, March 6 at historic Daytona International Speedway.

Duhamel, the 2003 Daytona 200 By Arai champion, will be gunning for his fifth Daytona 200 By Arai victory, which would tie him for most Daytona 200 By Arai wins with Scott Russell.

Riding the No. 17 new Honda CBR1000RR, Duhamel is one of the pre-race favorites. He expects plenty of competition from his fellow Honda riders Ben Bostrom and Jake Zemke as well as the rest of the field competitors in the 57-lap motorcycle classic.

“There’s going to be tough competition just from this (Honda) camp,” Duhamel said during the December Dunlop tire test. “Jake is going super fast. Ben is going super duper fast. We can’t count the other guys out either.”

Duhamel and Daytona International Speedway go way back. He has been coming to the “World Center of Racing” since he was a youngster watching his father Yvon compete on the historic 3.56-mile road course in the 1960s and ’70s.

The 35-year-old Duhamel, who resides in Las Vegas, Nev., won his first Daytona 200 By Arai in his first Daytona 200 By Arai start in 1991 and earned his other Daytona 200 By Arai victories in 1996, 1999 and 2003, where he outlasted his fellow Honda riders Bostrom and Kurtis Roberts in a thrilling three-bike duel to the checkered flag.

In the Pro Honda Oils Supersport, a support race to the Daytona 200 By Arai, Duhamel has won a record six times. But this year, he won’t be competing in the 18-lap sprint race.

Instead, Duhamel will race in the inaugural Lockhart Phillips USA Formula Xtreme At Daytona event on Thursday, March 4.

“Hopefully, we can get six in Xtreme,” Duhamel quipped.

Tickets for the Daytona 200 By Arai as well as the other motorcycle races at Daytona International Speedway are available online at http://www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com or by calling 1-800-PITSHOP.