Confusion, Controversy And Crashes At Daytona 200

The Daytona 200
is always a wild race full of surprises, but this weekend's past
race has to be one of the craziest ever. It ended with Ducati rider
Jason DiSalvo getting the win, but the finish was certainly not
without controversy.
Motorcycle tires were the talk of the day, as it appeared that none
of the riders were able to gain much traction. The track ended up
being much hotter than it was during the week's testing, and riders
were blowing out tires left and right, leading to some serious
crashes. Citing safety concerns, the AMA stopped the race on the
27th lap and mandated that all riders switch over to the
medium-compound Dunlop Sportmax D211 GP front tires.
That announcement was music to DiSalvo's ears. The rider had
previously been forced to drop out of the race after a cylinder
came loose on his Ducati 848 Evo's engine. With the lengthy delay
for the tire swap, DiSalvo's crew was able to get him a new engine
and put him back on the track. The AMA restarted the race as a
15-lap sprint - meaning that it would be 147 miles in total, not
200.
DiSalvo wasted no time in getting back into contention, and
eventually was able to fight his way into the lead. Just as he
crossed the finish line, another major crash happened behind him,
causing the AMA to throw out the red flag again. Initially, the
group said that the race would be finished according to the results
of the previous lap - which affected the podium standings. It was
then determined that DiSalvo and five other riders were able to
cross the finish line before the flag went up, so they kept their
spots, with the previous riders' results reverting to the previous
lap's standings.