This just in from Damian Cudlin at Daytona:

Cudlin 13th After Daytona 200 Turmoil

Australian Damian Cudlin experienced a dramatic AMA debut in the 68th Daytona 200 under lights on Friday night.

Making his first official appearance for the Evan Steel Performance Racing Team, Cudlin figured strongly in the opening practice sessions at Daytona, running as high as 6th before encountering difficulties in Thursdays qualifying session, eventually starting from a disappointing 26th on the grid.

However Cudlin re-grouped and showed his gritty fighting spirit, steadily climbing the order as the race went on under the Daytona lights. With 19 laps of the race remaining a pace car interrupted the race, before eventually being momentarily red flagged. It was at this point when confusion swept the AMA paddock and the race turned into a re-started 18 lap shoot out. What happened after the re-start is still a mystery in most peoples minds, particularly Cudlin’s, who labelled the event “a joke” at the finish.

“What can I say? I don’t officially even know where I finished yet,” Cudlin quipped after the race.

“All I know, and being new to this series I don’t want to point fingers at anybody just yet, but I was right behind [Chaz] Davies at the re-start when everyone ahead of me kept racing under yellow flags. It was blatantly obvious that people were going forward, and I did the right thing and stayed in order. Now it looks as though I’m the one who’s been punished in the results for staying behind the guy in front of me… You can quote me on this….. this race was a joke.”

Despite being disappointed with the final standings, which revealed a 13th place finish for the young Aussie, Cudlin praised his ESP Yamaha Team and added that more was to come from his new crew.

“We did the best we could in pretty tough circumstances and I’m proud of the ESP guys for getting through this one in such good shape.” Cudlin said.

“We had a rollercoaster weekend but this is a good group of guys and I’m sure we’ll get stronger and stronger as the season progresses. This is only the beginning.”

Cudlin will make his next appearance for the ESP Yamaha Team at the next AMA round in Fontana.

www.DamianCudlin.com

Damian Cudlin at Daytona