There's not much room to hide for a rider at Daytona. Going past the start-finish line and into turn one, everyone in the pits can hear and see the point at which the rider lets off the throttle. Akira Ryo, a WSC race winner and very talented rider, gets painfully exposed as he has been braking very early into one, despite being on a full works GSX-R Superbike. 

Ryo is making his first trip to Daytona. On Monday and Tuesday, he was routinely being passed by fast, and even not-so-fast, Supersport riders.

Think about this: as a rider flashes past the start finish at way over 150mph, one mortal who shall remain nameless said looking for turn one at Daytona is "like trying to pull into your driveway at 170mph". Turn one is taken in first or second gear.

The Hacker, Jamie Hacking, broke into the 50s on his first full day on a Suzuki GSX-R Superbike. He turned a 1:50.8. Quite impressive indeed. He celebrated by taking Kurtis Roberts to the local dog track races.

Why do they call Larry Pegram "The Worm"? 

"Actually, my sister gave me that nickname when I was a kid and it stuck," he says. "I used to always follow her around." 

Pegram feels quite good about the CompAcc squad now that they have full support from the Italian manufacturer. "Ducati gave us the factory 2001 Superbikes. Last year we didn't quite have the support, but this year we're the factory team. It should be good this season."

"Mr. Daytona" has whittled his lap times down to 1:51 flat, while still learning the 996 Ducati. He seems happier than he has been in years. 

Mike Hale has finished his Daytona project and declared himself pleased. After 20 laps on an older Ducati, Hale was in the high 1:51s. "I wish we could have had a little more time on it to dial it in, but it's cool. I think we were respectable. I'm happy." 

A glance at the machines Hale was riding indicated they were older mounts. One even had a gold frame, circa 1997, and the motors previously had some time on them as well. Considering the vintage of his mounts, Hale's layoff, and the lap times others were turning on a "green" track without an abundence of traction, Mike's lap times were pretty promising. Who knows what he could do with his own machines and a few days to sort them out?

"I want to be sure I say thanks to Tim Pritchard and Competition Accessories and definitely Dunlop," Hale said after Tuesday's pratice. Mike also indicated he probably wouldn't run tomorrow, as he had finished his allotted laps for the test.

Hale says he is eager to return to racing. "Aw, man, I love this stuff," he said.

1:53.6 on a Supersport machine. Just a handful of years ago, that would have put a rider near the top of the Superbike grid, and would be a decent race time today. But as a Supersport time? 

"No problem," smiled Eric Bostrom. "I was thinking, 'the boys have given me a pretty good bike.'"

That's half a second quicker than Roberts's pole time from the 2000 600 race. And Bostrom didn't even try the really fast front tire! Some 600 insiders are predicting 1:52 lap times for 600 qualifying in March, barring poor weather.

The Daytona security guards are shutting the Speedway down promptly at 6 PM, making a comprehensive and complete accounting of the testing times virtually impossible. 

ENDS