Here is the promised last text on the 2009 Daytona Bike Week, a summary of the Great Adventure.

Moto123.com is on the scene
Bike Week at Daytona signals the launch of the biking season on the East coast, even if we have to wait another four weeks up here in the Great White North. Moto123.com had to be there, with your humble scribe and a photo/video cameraman in situ for five days. We managed to hit most of the traditional hot spots as well as ride three different new bikes over our first four days there. All this was reported on a daily basis, with more detailed reports on each machine to follow in the coming weeks.

Honda CBR1000RR

From Friday evening on, Honda Canada held a press event where we got to ride six different models - full reports to follow - on the street as well as at Roebling Roads, a fast race track four hours North of Daytona, near Savannah, GA. Let me tell you that the CBR1000RR was something else on the long straightaway!

For the record, we tried the Harley-Davidson XR1200 and 883 Iron, the KTM Super Duke, and several Honda machines: CBR600RR, CBR1000RR, Fury, DN-01, ST1300 CBR125R and VFR800, in addition to torture testing the new Brake-by-Wire ABS system.

People
Bike Week organisers want to turn their event into a family-oriented biking adventure, and it is working, as virtually every venue has been "cleaned up" and upward of 25% of the attendees are families. This is naturally a dream come true for the industry as it pulls new and very young riders into the sport.

Super Cross
Super Cross turned out to be The Event of the week, in terms of excitement as well as attendance. The Saturday evening race held at the Daytona International Speedway was an impressive event held before over 50 000 spectators, most of which were under 30 and looking for a fun two hours. What a market for manufacturers!

In the races, James Stewart dominated his heat before falling in the first corner of the final. Chad Redd went on to win while Steward climbed back from 20th to 7th at the finish, event without his goggles as someone had run over his helmet and ripped them off in the first corner melee.