It’s been a minute since it was easy to come up with five to 10 potential winners of the Daytona 200. It’s been a real minute since it was difficult to narrow it down to 15 riders with a shot at winning the legendary 200 at Daytona International Speedway.
But here we are.
Tasked with the job of doing just that, we’ve done our best to narrow it down to just 15, and we’ll be sharing that list of racers three at a time, in numerical order, over the course of this week. Since, at the time of this writing, there were 67 riders entered in the 82nd running of the 200, our odds of getting it right are… drumroll, please. One in 67.
So, without further ado, let’s give ‘er a rip. Remember this is in numerical order, not in the order from favorite to least favorite. Also, don’t shoot the messenger.
#70 – Tyler Scott – Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki
Tyler Scott learned a lot last year racing against the likes of veterans Xavi Forés and Josh Hayes. Turns out he was a quick study because by the end of the year he was the biggest thorn in Forés’s side with the youngster winning four of the last seven races to take second in the 2023 MotoAmerica Supersport Championship.
So, what of Daytona? Scott has proven he is fast, and he’s also proven that no one in the race will intimidate him. No one in the race has more racing miles than Forés and Hayes and Scott gave them both fits. Throw in the fact that he has a race-tested crew and a motorcycle capable of winning, and it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that Scott is one of the real favorites to take victory at Daytona International Speedway.
Scott put himself on the front row of last year’s 200, but mechanical woes took him out of the race after just 14 laps.
#79 – Teagg Hobbs – Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki
Teagg Hobbs showed flashes of brilliance at times last year, but he also showed some inconsistency in finishing fifth in the Supersport title chase in 2023. Hobbs finished sixth in last year’s Daytona 200 – 1.279 seconds from victory and on the outside looking in at the five-rider drafting war to the finish line.
Hobbs and teammate Tyler Scott push each other from within the same garage, but thus far, Scott has had more success. A win in the Daytona 200 would go a long way towards evening the score for Hobbs.
Hobbs has yet to score a Supersport victory, but he did earn three podium finishes in 2023.
#95 – Hayden Gillim – Vesrah Racing Suzuki
Hayden Gillim knows good and well that he wasn’t built to win a Supersport race at Daytona International Speedway. He’s simply too big. If there’s a drafting war to the finish line, Gillim probably won’t win that battle. However, he will most definitely be one of the riders in the hunt and somehow breaking the draft and getting a lead could land him a victory.
Take last year, for example: Gillim was in the hunt right until the bitter end of the 200 when he lost out on the battle to the finish line – by just .173 of a second. And he did beat one of the lighter “lightweights” in the form of PJ Jacobsen, but not the other three. Still, fourth was impressive.
Gillim will be back on board a Suzuki GSX-R750 with Vesrah Racing and will be pulling double duty with the Mission King Of The Baggers races. Don’t count him out.
