New Zealander Graeme Crosby quietly emerged from pack in the 1982 Daytona 200 to unexpectedly win the race. Kenny Roberts was heavily favored, but his Yamaha OW54 GP bike broke early. Honda had its new FWS1000R four-stroke F1 bike in the field with Freddie Spencer and Mike Baldwin, but the nearly 400-pound machine started chunking rear tires at an alarming rate around Daytona’s banking. Eddie Lawson led briefly, but his factory Kawasaki KR500 had a transmission failure. All the while Kiwi Crosby played it cool with a steady throttle hand and took over the lead on his Yamaha OW31 just past the halfway mark and held it to the finish. Crosby became the only rider in history to win the Daytona and Imola 200s, the Isle of Man Senior TT and the Suzuka Eight Hour (with teammate Wes Cooley).

Graeme Crosby emerged as the surprise winner of the 1982 Daytona 200.