{"id":34163,"date":"2021-12-17T22:26:44","date_gmt":"2021-12-17T22:26:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.motoamerica.com\/?p=34163"},"modified":"2021-12-17T22:26:45","modified_gmt":"2021-12-17T22:26:45","slug":"back-to-the-banking-a-return-to-daytona-part-5-1997-1999","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.motoamerica.com\/back-to-the-banking-a-return-to-daytona-part-5-1997-1999\/","title":{"rendered":"Back To The Banking, A Return To Daytona: Part 5, 1997-1999"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Scott Russell won his fourth Daytona 200 in 1997 in his first race on a Yamaha.<\/figcaption><\/figure>

With the news that MotoAmerica is headed to Daytona International Speedway in March of 2022 for the Daytona 200, we decided the perfect way to build excitement for the event would be to start digging through the history books and memory banks. Since Paul Carruthers is literally as old as the Speedway itself and covered almost 30 Daytona 200s as a journalist while working at Cycle News, it was a no-brainer that it would be him who would take on the task of trying to recall the good and the bad. And since we are the home of the AMA Superbike Series, we figured we\u2019d have him start his look back with the 1985 Daytona 200 \u2013 the first of the 200s to feature Superbikes \u2013 and go from there. This week, we focus on the 1997, 1998 and 1999 Daytona 200s.<\/em><\/p>

1997<\/strong><\/p>

Winner:<\/strong> Scott Russell, Yamaha YZF750<\/p>

Scott Russell won the Daytona 200 in 1997 for the fourth time in six years. Throw in the fact that he was second in the two he didn\u2019t win, and you could see how he was cementing his Mr. Daytona moniker. And his fourth victory was his easiest to date. After all, he didn\u2019t start at the back of the grid, he didn\u2019t crash, remount, and still ride to victory, and he didn\u2019t win a drafting war to the finish line. This time he led all but three of the 57 laps as there was simply no one capable of matching the Yamaha rider\u2019s pace on a warm and sunny March day in Southern Florida.<\/p>

The Turning Point: <\/strong>The turning point was simple really. There wasn\u2019t one. Russell was the fastest man at Daytona all week and he was the fastest during the race. And that turned the race into a rout, even though it was Russell\u2019s first-ever race on the Yamaha YZF750. He had them beaten before the 200 even started. \u201cIt\u2019s a little bit intimidating of course with Scott coming to the team \u2013 with him winning here three times,\u201d Texan Colin Edwards said after finishing third \u2013 again. \u201cI tried to put it out of my mind, but I think it still lingers.\u201d<\/p>

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