Josh Herrin & Ducati win the 2023 Daytona 200

2023 MotoAmerica Superbikes – Daytona 200

Images by by Brian J. Nelson

Josh Herrin has won the 2023 Daytona 200, marking its 81st running, holding a narrow lead over Josh Hayes, Cameron Petersen, Hayden Gilli and PJ Jacobsen, all of whom finished within 1s of Herrin.

Herrin was at or near the front of the lead pack for the duration of the 200 and with nine laps to go it looked like a two-rider shootout between Herrin and his Ducati Panigale V2 and the Suzuki GSX-R750 of Mission M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante. Those two had seemingly broken the spirit of the rest and there was a gap back to third-placed Josh Hayes and the Squid Hunter Racing Yamaha YZF-R6.

A lap later, however, and Escalante was on the ground in turn one and out of the race after the pair came together. That left Herrin alone at the front, but with five laps to go the red flag came out on the 52nd lap when Teagg Hobbs and Jason Waters crashed together in the International Horseshoe.

The Daytona 200 rulebook states: “For the Daytona 200, the number of laps of the second race will be the number of laps required to complete the original race distance of fifty-seven (57) laps but shall not be less than ten (10) laps.” Thus, the race would end up being 62 laps and 217.62 miles.

Herrin, meanwhile, had been penalized six spots on the grid of the restart because of his altercation with Escalante.

The 10-lap sprint after the restart featured a horde of seven riders at the front, but it was Herrin at the pointy end when it mattered as he won the drafting war to beat Hayes by .070 of a second.

Attack Performance Yamaha’s Cameron Petersen was third, .140 behind, for a complete turnaround of how his day had gone with a clutch issue thwarting his progress in the early stages of the race. The clutch problem translated to Petersen being forced to pit three times, but he didn’t give up and it paid dividends at the completion of the 10-lap sprint.

Fourth place went to Disrupt Racing’s Hayden Gillim, who would later protest the results believing that Petersen didn’t actually finish third. His protest was denied. Gillim had fought back after crashing with 20 laps to go and remounting.

Celtic/Tytlers Cycle/TSE Racing’s PJ Jacobsen finished fifth and just .439 of a second behind Herrin. Jacobsen also got new life thanks to the restart after crashing and remounting on the 31st lap.

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Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Hobbs was sixth after his team rebuilt his crashed bike. Disrupt Racing’s Geoff May, TOBC Racing’s Danny Eslick, TSE/Truelove Brothers Racing’s Matt Truelove and Farrell Performance’s Jason Farrell rounded out the top 10.

Two-time and defending Daytona 200 winner Brandon Paasch was 12th after being penalized 15 seconds at the end of the race for a pit lane speed violation. Biothermal/Blake Davis Racing’s Blake Davis suffered a similar fate and was dropped to 11th in the final standings. Both riders raced at the front of the pack in the restarted portion of the race, but their penalties were applied at the completion of the race, per the rulebook.

Herrin’s victory on the Ducati Panigale V2 was the Italian marque’s second win in the 200 with Jason DiSalvo winning on a Team Latus Ducati 848 EVO.

Josh Herrin – Winner

“We were on I think after the final pitstop, and I had been seeing just different spots that I could overtake if I needed to,” Herrin explained of his run-in with Richie Escalante. “His bike was a missile, especially the first banking. I had to get a really good run out to get him into the chicane because he was really good coming out of the chicane. So, in my head I’m thinking, ‘All right, I’m going to struggle to do it if he puts in a good lap.’ That was one of the spots where I thought would be a possibility and it would kind of throw him off of his rhythm. With the last however many laps to go, I just saw an opening and wanted to try it. As far as I was concerned, I was there and had the line. I felt the contact and looked back. I didn’t see him, but I wasn’t positive if he had gone down or not. So, I kept putting my head down. When I came around the next time, I saw him out there flipping me off. So, I figured that something had happened. I was freaking out. My neck was destroyed just from sitting on the banking for that long. We didn’t put a pad, which we should have. I didn’t think about it. After 57 laps, your neck just sitting there holding it up the whole time, I was wrecked. When they added five laps I was panicking because at that point I knew it was going to be a sprint to the finish, and I didn’t think I had the legs to get the win. They told me Cam (Petersen) was a lap down. They told me Brandon (Paasch) had a 20-second penalty. I thought that I had lapped Blake Davis at one point, but it must have been somebody else. I was just super confused. I didn’t know if I needed to try to beat Cam or if I needed to try to beat Brandon. I didn’t know what was going on. I just had a lap where I said, “You know what? It doesn’t matter. I need to just try to win, no matter who’s there.” Because if for some reason the guys in the pit were wrong, then I’d be screwed.”

2023 Daytona 200 Results

REV’IT Twins Cup

Veteran Stefano Mesa made the most of his one-off appearance on the MP13 Racing Yamaha YZF R-7 to win Saturday’s REV’IT! Twins Cup race at Daytona International Speedway. Mesa, who was riding as a replacement for the injured Kayla Yaakov, topped Friday’s winner Gus Rodio by just .162 of a second after five laps of the Speedway.

Rodio, who won Friday’s REV’IT! Twins Cup race, was well clear of Trackday Winner/Blackmon Racing’s Jackson Blackmon.

Mesa failed to finish Friday’s race one with a mechanical problem.

Defending REV’IT! Twins Cup Champion Blake Davis finished fourth, a tick over six seconds behind Blackmon and just .358 of a second ahead of Cycle Tech’s Hayden Schultz.

The second race of the REV’IT Twins Cup saw Stefano Mesa take the win, 0.162s ahead of Gus Rodio, with Jackson Blackmon a more distant third, 6.322s off pace.

Blake Davis and Hayden Schultz rounded out the top five, although Joseph LiMandri Jr, Jodyu Barry and Darren James weren’t far off the duo in sixth through eighth.

REV’IT Twins Cup Race 1 Results

REV’IT Twins Cup Race 2 Results

Mission Super Hooligan National Championship

Team Saddlemen’s Cory West won the Mission Super Hooligan National Championship race on Saturday at Daytona International Speedway, but his Harley-Davidson Pan America failed to pass technical examination and West was stripped of his victory.

West’s misfortune was Indian Motorcycle/Progressive/Mission Foods’ Tyler O’Hara gain, as he inherited the victory with West’s disqualification. O’Hara’s teammate Jeremy McWilliams finished second today, a day after finishing third in race one. O’Hara’s win was his second as he completed a perfect weekend in the class.

Grey Area Racing’s Mark Price rode his KTM to third after barely beating Vigilante Racing’s Nate Kern and his BMW to the line. Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Stefano Mesa was fifth on an Energica electric motorcycle.

The Mission Super Hooligan Race 2 was again won by Tyler O’Hara, Jeremy McWilliams just 0.058s off, in the runner up position.

A distant third was Mark Price, followed by Nate Kern, with Stefano Mesa fifth.

Mission Super Hooligan Race 1 Results

Mission Super Hooligan Race 2 Results