Coghlan finishes fifth in Daytona 200

Kev Coghlan finished fifth in the 69th Daytona 200. It was the Scot’s first time on the famed Daytona banking and he was one of five riders to lead the race for ‘Daytona Sportbike’ class machines.

Even though he crashed his Yamaha R6 on the final lap, he was credited with fifth place, one lap down on race winner Josh Herrin (Yamaha) but only one place behind last year’s Sportbike Champion, Danny Eslick who has switched from his title-winning Buell to a Suzuki GSX-R600 for this year.

For Coghlan it’s a continuation of the great form he showed last year when he won the Spanish and European Supersport titles last year.

Here he reveals to MCN the story behind his brilliant Daytona 200 debut:
“This was my first time racing in the U.S. and I really had a great time.

“Everything was fairly late in getting put together so I have to say a big thanks to David Anthony and all the guys at Aussie Dave Racing for getting the bike built so fast and for putting such a good package together for me.

“Racing at Daytona was defiantly a new experience, running the high banking was incredible and made for a lot of drafting in the race. The slippery infield was fun too, until I launched it on the last lap!

“In the race I really enjoyed running in the lead pack in the first stint, and to lead the race before my first pit stop was great.

“We lost touch with the leaders after the first stop, not because of any problem but just because the factory teams were better equipped for really fast stops.

“For the rest or the race I just got into a good rhythm and counted the laps down.

“The second stop also went well and for the last stint I had a good 30-second gap, which went up to about 36 seconds by the end of the race. I did however manage to crash out on the final lap.

“I’m still not sure what happened, the rear just seemed to let go without much warning and next thing I knew I was being thrown up over the bars and landing with a bang.

“Having thought I had thrown it all away on the final lap I was relieved to find out that because I was the last rider still on the lead lap, I would still be awarded fifth place!

“I was really pleased with the result, having never seen the track, bike or team before and arriving at the circuit having ridden since November.

“I really couldn’t have expected anything better. The Aussie Dave Racing team was great. All the guys worked really hard all week and I have to credit them for the great job they did.”