ell, another Daytona Bike Week is in the books. Rather than battling the traffic around town this year trying to get a little taste of everything, I spent most of my time at the Speedway. There were some really great moments this year, as well as a few that were not so great. Good or bad, here’s what I think Daytona 2006 will be remembered most for:

1. Some really close and exciting races in three of the four roadrace classes. On Thursday, Jamie Hacking nipped Yamaha teammate Jason DiSalvo right at the finish line in the Superstock race, followed later in the day by Roger Lee Hayden’s Supersport win for Kawasaki with only 1.6 seconds to spare. Two days later, it was the Yoshimura Suzuki team’s turn to put on a show. Mat Mladin outfoxed his young teammate Ben Spies in the Superbike race when he intentionally slowed down to let Spies pass him on the last lap. Mladin soon slipstreamed back by to take the win by less than a bike length.

2. Thor-sponsored Yamaha rider Chad Reed showed how much heart he has when he soldiered on in the Supercross event, just one day following a practice crash that dislocated his shoulder. Many thought he wouldn’t ride at all. Others predicted a mid-pack finish just to salvage some points, but the result was an inspired runner-up finish in the final! He surely made a lot of new fans with the courage that he showed at Daytona.

3. The first-ever race for the new Buell XBRR. There was a lot of pre-race controversy over the methods that Erik Buell used to create a legal machine for the Formula Xtreme class, but the bike was ruled to be legal and Jeremy McWilliams ran up in the top ten on one for much of the first half of the race until mechanical problems put him out. Not a great finish, but I’d say it was a great start of a new place for Harley-Davidson powered machinery in roadracing. And that should be seen as a good thing for the sport.

4. Not much more can be said about the decision by the AMA’s Ron Barrick to take to the track in a Pace Car during the running of the Daytona 200. I don’t know anyone that agreed with his reasoning not to red flag the race and restart the field in the proper order. One thing is certain, though, his decision will not be soon forgotten. Kind of like the easy ground ball that went through Bill Buckner’s legs in the 1986 Red Sox-Mets World Series, Barrick’s name will now be in the history books, but not for reasons he would have liked.

5. Once the green flag fell and the field went back to racing, Honda’s Jake Zemke sped to the finish and won his first-ever Daytona 200. He’s a great guy and a fine ambassador of the motorcycle sport. Except perhaps for a couple of his competitors that were stuck in the pace car dilemma, everyone was really happy to see him take the win there. Now he’s in the history books, and for the right reasons!

6. And then there was Travis Pastrana’s backflip at the Supercross on Saturday. Since he doesn’t campaign the Supercross series on a regular basis, Travis was required to run in a Qualifying Heat Race for the evening show. As he was winning the race, everyone figured he’d throw down some sort of “kicker” when he crossed the finish line, but nobody was expecting his now famous back flip. He didn’t quite get it all the way over and crashed on the landing ramp (see photos on page 37). He was unhurt and quickly up to wave to the crowd. Enjoy the photos, as there won’t likely be any more coming in future races. The AMA warned Travis that a permanent suspension would await him should he do it again. And that really was the right call for them to make. Freestyle MX is a great place to go see a back flip, but where you have other riders coming down off those huge Supercross jumps, you don’t want someone laying on the ground like Travis was briefly at Daytona. That’s just not the place.

It seems like the only way to sum up Daytona this year is with a line I know I’ve used many times: “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.” But that’s Daytona. Okay, so it’s only 11 months to Bike Week 2007!

Ride Safe.