Josh Herrin made history on Saturday at Daytona International Speedway when he became the first rider in Daytona 200 history to win “The Great American Motorcycle Race” three times in a row. It was also Herrin’s fourth Daytona 200 victory, putting him one win away from tying the all-time win leaders, Scott Russell and Miguel Duhamel.
Herrin won the 83rd running of the Daytona 200 by being consistently faster than his pursuers in the infield, especially late in the race. Case in point: With just six laps to go, Herrin ripped off a 1:47.879 lap on his Celtic/Economy Lube+Tire/Warhorse HSBK Ducati Panigale V2 to seal the deal. It was a new race lap record and just .046 of a second shy of Richie Escalante’s qualifying lap record from 2024.
The 57-lap race was red-flagged twice. Once when a brief rainstorm passed through the area after 24 laps, and again on the first lap of the restart when Get Fast Performance’s Jason Farrell crashed in turn one.
Escalante’s bad Daytona luck turned around on Saturday with the Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki rider finishing second to Herrin after running in the lead pack for the duration. When Herrin dropped the hammer, however, Escalante didn’t have the pace to go with him and once the draft was broken it was game over.
At the finish line, Herrin was 5.33 seconds ahead of Escalante, who had his hands full with his teammate Tyler Scott. Scott, who started the race from pole position, was also in the hunt from the get-go. His teammate beat him to the line by his teammate by a miniscule .008 of a second.
Fourth place went to Isle of Man TT lap record holder Peter Hickman, the Brit returning to Daytona with knowledge gained from last year’s debut. The PHR Performance Triumph team owner also led a few laps of the race. Hickman’s teammate Richard Cooper also had the speed to run in the lead group, but his Triumph suffered a mechanical failure that put him out of the race.
Two-time Daytona 200 winner Brandon Paasch rode his TOBC Racing Triumph to fifth, one spot better than his teammate, four-time race winner Danny Eslick, who was celebrating his 20th Daytona 200.
The British Truelove brothers, Matt and Harry, finished seventh and eighth, respectively, with Matt being the last rider on the lead lap.
Isle of Man TT legend Michael Dunlop rode his Milwaukee Ducati MD Racing Panigale V2 to ninth, with Bauce BARTCON Racing’s Joseph LiMandri Jr. rounding out the top 10 on his Yamaha YZF-R6.
Daytona 200
- Josh Herrin (Ducati)
- Richie Escalante (Suzuki)
- Tyler Scott (Suzuki)
- Peter Hickman (Triumph)
- Brandon Paasch (Triumph)
- Danny Eslick (Triumph)
- Matt Truelove (Suzuki)
- Harry Truelove (Suzuki)
- Michael Dunlop (Ducati)
- Joseph LiMandri Jr. (Yamaha)
Tyler Scott – Third Place
“Yeah. Our pit stops were really good. The whole Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki team did a phenomenal job this weekend getting those dialed in. Honestly, I feel way better than I did last year. I think the gap to first place was a little bit closer. The pace was a little bit better this year. Physically, I feel more fit with the bike going into the MotoAmerica season. I feel really good. I think the bike is 10 times better. Just right there after the second stint, we were actually out ahead of Josh (Herrin) at the last pit stop there. I made a few mistakes. Hit a false neutral. Just some stuff with the shifting, ran wide. Richie (Escalante) made some mistakes as well. It kind of bridged the gap for him to just put his head down and do them fast lap times. I just couldn’t catch back up to him.”
Richie Escalante – Second Place
“I want to start to say big thanks to my team, Vision Wheel M4 Ecstar Suzuki, working this winter also this week. For sure the bike is much better compared last year, but for some reason, I didn’t feel really good during the weekend. I just take time to have confidence with the front feeling. Today I made a big step. I feel super good, especially with the group in the beginning. Also the team is working really good on the pit stops. Same like Tyler said. I made a couple mistakes, too. Also Josh is super strong this weekend. No mistakes. Just go forward. More difficult to stay behind, but really happy to finish on the podium. It’s a special weekend, special race, and I’m happy to finish finally on the podium. But I need to keep working for the future. A couple things still missing. But I’m happy and ready, back to the superbike class.”
Josh Herrin – Winner
“With the way that the chicane is this year, I think it slows us down a couple tenths also. So, the guys have redefined that V2 for this year. I think Cam (Petersen) is going to have a good year on that thing. I’m honestly speechless. I don’t really know what to say. I know I said it earlier, but being mentioned in the same sentence as (Scott) Russell and (Miguel) Duhamel is special. It’s not something that happens all the time. It’s easy to say I want to go and get a bunch more wins, but if I could just be cemented in history with those guys, that would be amazing. Just getting the chance to be able to be on a good enough team to get a win three times in a row. I think not only that but now we also have the record for the longest gap from the first win to the latest win, because last year I tied Duhamel. So now this year we have the biggest gap, I think. Fifteen years. So, it just feels so special. I have so many people on the list to thank. Most importantly is the entire Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati USA team. Economy Lube and Tire, Brew Watch Co. Last week I put up a post on Instagram looking for some brands to come and be a part of our effort. The first person to reach out was Jonathan over at Brew Watch Co. It means the world to me. It was really cool to get that that late. I hustled super hard with Chris Kruzel at Drippin’ Wet to get the stickers done in time. I was putting stickers on yesterday for the final spots on the bike, which was the Binky Bro guys, Jamaica Bearings, and a couple others. Watson Services, Elite Seal. Just a handful of people that just made this program happen. We were told by a bunch of people coming into this race that they didn’t want us racing it, and we kind of just pushed through and did it. I couldn’t be any more stoked, leaving here with three wins and a couple new records for the books. Get to celebrate with my family. This will probably be one of the last races that poor Rachel gets to go to, because she’s got twins in her belly and she’s already ready to pop. So, this has just been an amazing experience. Like I said, I’m just lucky to be able to be in this position to even have a chance at this. I would have never imagined to get three in a row. So, thank you, everybody.”
