That’s right, there’s a new Mr. Daytona in town, and with his fifth victory today he ties Scott Russell on the all-time Daytona 200 win list and now rightfully owns a share of that history-making moniker as well.

In fact, the 200, run this year for the first time on Formula Xtreme-spec 600cc bikes, turned out to be an all-Honda affair from start to finish, with DuHamel leading a Red Rider podium sweep that included Erion Honda’s Kurtis Roberts in second and Team Honda’s Jake Zemke in third with all three riders finishing at least a lap ahead of the rest of the field. And while Roberts, returned to the AMA series after a year of racing for his father, Kenny Roberts, on the MotoGP circuit, rode the wheels off his Erion CBR600RR and repeatedly swapped the lead with DuHamel well past the 25-lap mark, the majority of the afternoon clearly belonged to DuHamel.

So dominant was Miguel today that he made this grueling event look, well, easy, consistently reeling off laps in the 1:42 range and leading for 51 of the 68 laps to cross the stripe nearly 43 seconds ahead of Roberts’ #80 machine. Even Kurtis’s two-pit-stop strategy (compared to DuHamel’s three) couldn’t put a dent in the French Canadian’s lead. It also didn’t help that Roberts’ second pit went awry, adding to what ultimately became an insurmountable deficit.

“I was really pushing it hard,” said DuHamel from the winner’s circle. “Up until that first pit stop [on lap 21] I thought we would all regroup and be together for the whole 68 laps. I just put my head down and ran as hard as I could.”

And just how hard was that? Just for perspective’s sake, consider that DuHamel finished three(!) laps ahead of the ninth- and 10th-place finishers, Taylor Knapp and Simon Turner.

As for Zemke, last year’s Formula Xtreme Series runner-up and a pre-race favorite today, this was just not his Daytona 200 to win, even though he ran up front and battled both Roberts and DuHamel tooth-and-nail in the opening 15 or so laps.

“It was a long race,” said #98 from the podium. “From the very get-go I knew we were in trouble. Getting behind Miguel and Kurtis, we just picked the wrong gearing. We didn’t have enough gearing to pull the wind. And then in the infield, those guys with the shorter gearing were able to pull me off the corners.”

DuHamel, meantime, let everybody know he’d enjoy both his new Rolex (for winning the 200 pole) and new nickname before putting his head down defending his 2004 FX title and getting back into the mix in the AMA Superbike Championship.

“It feels great winning five," said the newly crowned Mr. Daytona — or would that be Monsieur Daytona? — as he gave due credit to his standout CBR600RR FX machine. “This year it felt like the Daytona 255. It seemed like it would never end. It’s amazing to have a bike that’s as early in its development as the 600 Xtreme is and do 200 miles on that bike at 180 mph. It’s quite a testament to how Honda builds motorcycles — for power and the long run.”