By Legends a plenty have tackled the Daytona International Speedway since it first opened in 1959 and the latest star name from outside the USA to tackle it is none other than 19 times TT winner Michael Dunlop.
Day one of the 79th Daytona 200 would see RPM Kawasaki mounted Dunlop steadily chip away with his pace around one of the world’s most famous, acclaimed, popular race circuits.
Following the first practice session, first qualifying saw the 31 times International Road Race winner more than mixing it with many a talented stateside competitor, on route to placing a creditable 17th quickest.
After sitting out Q2, the third and final qualifying session proved fairly productive for the Ballymoney racer who neared the sub 1 minute 34 seconds mark, recording a best lap time of 1 minute 34.337 seconds to finish overall 21st fastest.
His overall laps count from the timed qualifying stints stood at an impressive 21 whilst his aforementioned personal best lap time was 5.441 seconds down on the pace shown by pole position winner Sean Dylan Kelly.
Tomorrow’s Daytona action for Supersport, Lightweight TT lap record holder Dunlop gets underway with a warm-up session from 9:30 AM (Local time) with the 57 lap Daytona 200 race scheduled to take off at 1:00 PM (Local time).
Words by Stevie Rial #dontletfearcontrolyou
