Daytona Preview: The 200? It’s Anyone’s Guess
The 82nd Daytona 200, Mission King Of The Baggers, BellissiMoto Twins Cup and Mission Tremendous Hooligan Nationwide Championships Spotlight MotoAmerica’s Daytona Bike Week, March 7-9
IRVINE, CA (March 6, 2024) – Welcome to the phenomenon that’s the Daytona 200. Sixty-eight riders will try to qualify for the 82nd operating of the “Nice American Motorbike Race,” two of these MotoAmerica racers are girls, and one among them is half of a married couple who will compete in opposition to her husband. Moreover, 5 completely different manufacturers of bikes will probably be on the beginning grid at Daytona Worldwide Speedway and 13 nations will probably be represented.
Did we point out that the race is 200 miles lengthy and options pit stops? And that three completely different tire producers will battle for bragging rights in one of many few races left in highway racing that doesn’t require the usage of one tire model?
Oh, it’s additionally value noting that the margin of victory previously three 200s was a mixed .108 of a second.
All these issues mixed make the 200 an aberration. It truly is like no different bike race on this planet.
82nd Daytona 200 – All In
The checklist of potential winners within the Daytona 200 is prolonged, nevertheless it should start with the defending race champion Josh Herrin and his OnlyFans Racing Warhorse Ducati Panigale V2. Herrin gained a drafting warfare to the end line of final 12 months’s 200 on his Ducati to beat four-time AMA Superbike Champion Josh Hayes by simply .070 of a second as 5 riders crossed the road separated by lower than half a second.
4 of these 5 riders from a season in the past will probably be again for one more shot within the 200, led by Hayes who will go to battle on his CSU One Remedy/J4orce Racing Yamaha YZF-R6 in what might find yourself being his solely race of the 2024 MotoAmerica Championship. Hayes has but to win a Daytona 200.
Cameron Petersen gained’t be defending his third-place end in final 12 months’s 200 as he continues to rehab his wrist harm and is specializing in being one hundred pc when the MotoAmerica Metal Commander Superbike sequence begins at Street Atlanta in April. Though the South African gained’t be on the grid on the Speedway, his Assault Efficiency Progressive Yamaha Racing YZF-R6 will probably be within the succesful palms of Xavi Forés, the 2023 MotoAmerica Supersport Champion.
Like Hayes, Daytona could be Forés’s solely MotoAmerica race with the Spaniard failing to land a trip for 2024 regardless of carrying the number-one plate because the sequence champion.
Hayden Gillim and PJ Jacobsen are the opposite top-five finishers returning for one more crack at Daytona 200 glory. Gillim will probably be Suzuki GSX-R750-mounted however for a distinct staff – Vesrah Racing – on this 12 months’s race. Ditto for PJ Jacobsen because the New Yorker will probably be within the race on a distinct bike and a distinct staff as he and teammates Kayla Yaakov and Corey Alexander will make their Rahal Ducati Moto Panigale V2 debuts on the Speedway.
With international riders aplenty, the checklist should begin with the three-rider YART-ProKASRO staff that’s the defending World Endurance Champion. They’re led by Italian Niccoló Canepa, who now calls Switzerland house, German Marvin Fritz, and Czech Karel Hanika.
Britain will probably be represented on this 12 months’s Daytona 200 by 13-time Isle of Man TT winner Peter Hickman and his PHR Efficiency Triumph teammate Richard Cooper.
There’s additionally a horde of 11 Canadian racers making the journey south, led by three-time defending Canadian Superbike Champion Ben Younger. Younger and his countrymen will probably be making an attempt to change into the primary Canadian to win the 200 since Miguel Duhamel in 2005.
There’s additionally an Australian entered with Tom Toparis making the journey to trip a ASTRO MAR Suzuki GSX-R750. Toparis, who completed tenth and 18th within the two World Supersport races at Phillip Island lately, is hoping to be the primary Australian to win the 200 since Mat Mladin gained in 2000 and 2001.
The MotoAmerica regulars talked about earlier will probably be joined by the likes of Bobby Fong (Wrench Bikes Suzuki); Stefano Mesa (Boulder Motor Sports activities Ducati); Richie Escalante (Imaginative and prescient Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki) and his teammates Brandon Paasch, Tyler Scott and Teagg Hobbs; Gus Rodio (Rodio Racing – Powered By Robem Engineering Ducati); David Anthony (Wrench Bikes Suzuki); and four-time Daytona 200 winner Danny Eslick (TOBC Racing Triumph) with any of them able to scoring victory.
Mission King Of The Baggers – Let The Battle Start
Sixteen of the very best Mission King Of The Baggers bikes will probably be ridden by the 16 finest King Of The Baggers racers at Daytona Worldwide Speedway this weekend with the championship set to start with two races on the Speedway.
Led by defending champion Hayden Gillim and his RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson Street Glide, there isn’t a questioning the depth of the sphere within the season opener.
And there are many new faces amongst the 16, starting with Gillim’s new teammate Rocco Landers, the 19-year-old set to make his Baggers debut on the excessive banks of Daytona.
Becoming a member of Landers in making his debut on the Speedway is three-time Australian Superbike Champion and Supermoto phenom Troy Herfoss, who will be part of one of many founding fathers of the category Tyler O’Hara (the 2022 King Of The Baggers Champion) on the pair of manufacturing facility S&S/Indian Motorbike Indian Challengers.
The Harley-Davidson Manufacturing facility Racing staff will once more function 2021 champion Kyle Wyman, the winningest Baggers racer with 12 victories (the following closest are O’Hara, Gillim and Bobby Fong with three wins apiece), and former Vance & Hines teamster James Rispoli.
Rispoli and Kyle Wyman gained the 2 races at Daytona final 12 months with Rispoli profitable race one and ending second in race two whereas Wyman had a DNF in race one earlier than profitable race two.
Saddlemen/Harley-Davidson will area three riders with former Harley manufacturing facility rider Travis Wyman joined on the staff by incumbents Cory West and Jake Lewis.
Andorran Rubén Xaus involves the Baggers sequence with a thick racing resume that features stints in World Superbike (together with 11 wins), World Supersport (two wins) and MotoGP (a podium end within the Grand Prix of Qatar) and he and his Feuling Elements staff have undoubtedly put within the effort and time with its Harley-Davidson Street Glide.
Fong, and his three profession Mission King Of The Baggers victories, returns for extra with the SDI/Roland Sands Racing/Indian Motorbike Indian Challenger. Fong is a confirmed winner within the class and the one MotoAmerica Superbike race winner within the Baggers sequence.
Others who’ve stepped up their packages for 2024 are Suburban Motors H-D/Slyfox/Trask Efficiency’s Jesse Janisch, Nowaskey Excessive Efficiency’s Danny Eslick, RydFast Racing’s Kyle Ohnsorg, Mad Monkey Motorsports’ Max Flinders, and Trask Efficiency’s Shane Narbonne.
BellissiMoto Twins Cup – Welcome To The Jungle
With a 25-riders sturdy grid, the opening spherical of the BellissiMoto Twins Cup sequence needs to be one other barnburner and will probably be so with out defending sequence champion Blake Davis, who will focus his efforts on the Supersport (and Daytona 200) sequence along with his N2 Racing/BobbleHeadMoto Yamaha YZF-R6.
As for the remaining, a lot of the gang is again for extra, together with final 12 months’s sequence runner-up Gus Rodio and his Rodio Racing – Powered by Robem Engineering Aprilia RS 660. Rodio gained three races en path to second within the championship, together with a victory in race one at Daytona final 12 months.
Rodio will probably be joined on the Rodio Racing – Powered by Robem Engineering two-rider staff by Italian Alessandro Di Mario.
Rocco Landers returns to the BellissiMoto Twins Cup after his six-win 2023 season netted him third within the title chase. Landers has switched groups and can race the brand new Suzuki GSX-8R for the brand new RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki staff.
South African Dominic Doyle stood on 4 podiums final 12 months, together with a victory at Ridge Motorsports Park. Doyle will race a Yamaha YZF-R7 for the Giaccmoto Yamaha Racing staff that may even embody former Royal Enfield Construct. Practice. Race. competitor Sonya Lloyd.
Final 12 months’s Junior Cup Champion Avery Dreher strikes as much as the Twins Cup class on a TopPro Racing Crew Aprilia RS 660 and Rossi Moor is one other MotoAmerica teen making a brand new house in Twins Cup, and he’ll achieve this on a Imaginative and prescient Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki GSX-8R.
One other to observe is 1-833-CJKNOWS Accident and Harm Legislation’s Kaleb De Keyrel, who returns to BellissiMoto Twins Cup racing on a Yamaha YZF-R7. De Keyrel gained the Twins Cup title in 2021 and has 10 profession wins within the class.
Ditto for Ben Gloddy who will get not less than a one-off trip for Daytona on a 3rd Rodio Racing – Powered by Robem Engineering Aprilia RS 660.
Wrench Bikes can be fielding a Yamaha YZF-R7 for former Junior Cupper Jack Roach.
Mission Tremendous Hooligan Nationwide Championship – A Baker’s Dozen?
The large information for the opening spherical of the Mission Tremendous Hooligan Nationwide Championship is definitely the bikes themselves as 11 completely different producers (and a complete of 13 completely different particular person bike fashions) will probably be represented within the area of 35. Who knew?
Let’s see. There’s not less than one among every of the next: Indian FTR1200s, BMW R 9 T, Harley-Davidson XR1200 Pan America, KTM 890 DUKE R, Yamaha MT-09 SP, Suzuki SV1000, Ducati Monster SP and Hypermotard, Energica Eva Ribelle RS, Aprilia Tuono, Buell XB12XT and Victory Vegas.
Making its debut at Daytona would be the Yamaha MT-09 SP, a three-cylinder bike that will probably be ridden by three completely different riders, together with World Endurance Champion Niccoló Canepa.
Canepa and the remaining should take care of defending class champion Tyler O’Hara and his new S&S/Indian FTR1200-mounted teammate Troy Herfoss, the three-time Australian Superbike Champion, Stefano Mesa on the electrical Tytlers Cycle Energica Eva Ribelle RS and Andy DiBrino on the Competitors Werkes/Grey Space KTM 890 Duke R.
DiBrino completed third in final 12 months’s championship behind O’Hara and his then-teammate Jeremy McWilliams with Mesa ending up fourth within the title chase.
Pre-Daytona Notes…
Josh Herrin earned pole place for final 12 months’s Daytona 200 along with his 1:48.741 set throughout the Time Assault qualifying session. Herrin’s finest was .254 of a second quicker than PJ Jacobsen’s better of 1:49.005 with Herrin the one rider to crack into the 1:48s. Tyler Scott accomplished the entrance row along with his 1:49.027.
The quickest lap within the race went to two-time Daytona 200 winner Brandon Paasch along with his 1:49.981. Paasch ended up eleventh within the race after being docked 15 seconds for a pit-lane violation.
Yamaha and Suzuki paved the way in entries for the Daytona 200 with each firms represented by 17 riders every. Kawasaki is subsequent up with 16 entries, adopted by Ducati with 10 and Triumph with eight.
Yamaha is the winningest model by far in Daytona victories with 27 wins for the reason that first Daytona 200 was held on the previous seaside circuit in 1937. The winner of that first Daytona 200 was Ed Kretz, who was driving an Indian. Harley-Davidson sits second on the all-time producer win checklist within the 200 with 16 victories, the final of which was Cal Rayborn’s victory in 1969. The third highest win whole goes to Honda with 11 victories with Jake Zemke the final rider to win on a Honda in 2006.
The primary Daytona 200 to be run at Daytona Worldwide Speedway was in 1961 with Roger Reiman taking victory on his Harley-Davidson.
The Daytona 200 switched to Superbikes in 1985 with Freddie Spencer profitable his one and solely Daytona 200 on a Honda. Superbikes have been featured within the 200 till 2005 when 600cc Formulation Xtreme bikes took over. The FX class ran within the 200 till 600cc Daytona SportBikes have been used starting in 2009 with Ben Bostrom’s victory on a Yamaha YZF-R6.
This 12 months’s 200 will mark the beginning of MotoAmerica’s third season of utilizing the FIM’s “Supersport Subsequent Era” guidelines, with the category that includes Yamaha’s YZF-R6, Ducati’s Panigale V2, Suzuki’s GSX-R750 and GSX-R600, Kawasaki’s ZX-6R, and Triumph’s Velocity Triple RS. Final 12 months, MV Agusta’s F3RR additionally made some appearances however there are not any MVs entered on this 12 months’s 200.
13 nations will probably be represented on this 12 months’s Daytona 200 so it’s value noting that Welshman Chaz Davies is the final non-American to win the Daytona 200 in 2008 with People profitable 65 of the 81 Daytona 200s.
With America main the best way in victories (65) within the Daytona 200, Canada is second with 5 wins – all because of five-time winner Miguel Duhamel. Australia is third on the checklist with three wins and, once more, it was one rider who gained the races – Mat Mladin.
Finland (Jarno Saarinen), Italy (Giacomo Agostini), Venezuela (Johnny Cecotto), France (Patrick Pons), New Zealand (Graeme Crosby) and Nice Britain (Chaz Davies) all have one win apiece within the 200 and are the opposite foreigners to win the race.
Sixteen Mission King Of The Baggers riders will participate within the opening spherical of the championship with two races slated for Daytona Worldwide Speedway. Eleven of these will probably be racing Harley-Davidsons with 5 aboard Indian Challengers.
About MotoAmerica
MotoAmerica is North America’s premier bike highway racing sequence. Established in 2014, MotoAmerica is house to the AMA Superbike Championship in addition to extra lessons together with Supersport, Inventory 1000, Twins Cup, Junior Cup, and King Of The Baggers. MotoAmerica is an affiliate of KRAVE Group LLC, a partnership together with three-time 500cc World Champion, two-time AMA Superbike Champion, and AMA Corridor of Famer Wayne Rainey; ex-racer and former supervisor of Crew Roberts Chuck Aksland; motorsports advertising government Terry Karges; and businessman Richard Varner. For extra data, please go to www.MotoAmerica.com and comply with MotoAmerica on Fb, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube. To observe all issues MotoAmerica, subscribe to MotoAmerica’s dwell streaming and video on demand service, MotoAmerica Stay+
