As John Kocinski pushes his Ducati to some of the fastest times during this week's Dunlop test at the Speedway, one can hearken back and reminisce about an earlier era when the kid from Arkansas won both the 250 Grand Prix race and the 600 SuperSport event on the same day.

The winner of the Superbike event that afternoon was a privateer, in fact the last privateer to taste victory in the prestigious Daytona 200, John Ashmead.

His tuner that day was Gary Medley, now chief mechanic for Kawasaki's Doug Chandler. Chandler was one of the favorites on that March day eleven years ago, along with Jamie James, Doug Polen and Scott Russell. Russell got drilled by a backmarker when his Suzuki stalled at the start, Polen holed a radiator during the race, and the list of top riders dwindled until Ashmead took over in front.

Legend has it that the Floridian didn't even know he won and had to be hunted down in the paddock to attend the victory celebration. Medley recalls the era.

"I remember working with John, and it seemed like we were having a really good year in 1988. Things were clicking pretty good, we were getting a lot of Honda support at that time due to the fact that they weren't racing a lot at that time. In 1989 we came to Daytona with a real good feeling. We were on Michelin tires, John was probably the top Michelin rider at that time. Probably only factory teams at that time were Suzuki. There was a few Yamahas at that time.

"Basically we just had really a good race. Polen, I think, lost a radiator or something at that time, even though it was factory guys that were involved at that time...some Suzuki privateers were out front, Jamie James was up there. Seemed like everything was really clicking our way, and John was really riding good at that point in time."

It had to be almost surreal winning the biggest race in America.

"We celebrated until Wednesday," Medley recalls with a big smile.

I asked Gary what John is up to these days.

"I see John every now and then, he calls me a lot, and he's in business with his brother building swimming pools. He had his share, he won a few. We beat the factories at Laguna in 1985, so really him and I had a lot of good times. Really, that was my learning curve."

The underdog performance got Medley and Ashmead noticed. "At that time we came on board in 1990 with Rob Muzzy and ended up staying at Muzzys. John got hurt pretty bad in 1990 and that's when Scott (Russell) started riding John's bikes and noticed that there was a little difference between his bikes and John's, and he ended up riding John's bikes for the rest of the year."

The relationship between Russell and Medley continued during those years at Muzzys, and now it stays alive with Doug Chandler. Medley is one of the most respected tuners in the paddock today.