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2023 MotoAmerica Daytona 200 - FULL RACE

Mar 18, 2024
The Daytona 200 just saying those words evokes memories of some of motorcycle racing's greatest non-Crown champions from the first Ed Krets on the beach in 1937 to 2022 winner Brandon Posh in the High Banks, some of the biggest names. in racing have filled Victory Lane over the years, Roberts Lawson Schwans, Rainey Aladdin and Hayden, just to name a few, but two are at the top of the all-time leaderboard with five wins each, Miguel duomel and Mr Daytona Scott Russell, but this weekend history calls for one. The pilot in this field has done it four times. Oklahoma's Danny Esslin Kenny will join the elite at the top or New Jersey's own boat will make it three in a row with three pass winners, five Moto America Medallion Superbikes regulars lining up and a host of incredibly fast

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s. contenders prepare for battle, no one knows who will be crowned

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champion, the world center of racing is doing it again for the first time in history and it's happening right now, on a sunny day in Florida, the stage is set for the Daytona 200 here at Daytona International.
2023 motoamerica daytona 200   full race
Speedway, one of the most unique motorcycle

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s in the world, here in Daytona Beach, Florida, hello everyone and welcome to the broadcast. Stand. I'm Greg White, joined by Jason Pridmore. Now Jason, this race is exciting. Kicking off the season here in the US is the Daytona 200. It's unique, but JP, why is it so unique? Well, it's so prestigious because of the amount of history you have here. Who's who of names that have won this race, Greg over the years and last year when we were here the weather was good. It was cold, it was raining, it's the exact opposite this year, we are looking at a great field of drivers and any of the 15 guys can really walk away with the win today if circumstances favor them as for the Daytona 200, here are some of the things they do It's so unique that it's a solo endurance race, so it's 57 laps and there's only one rider per bike.
2023 motoamerica daytona 200   full race

More Interesting Facts About,

2023 motoamerica daytona 200 full race...

It's a two pit stop strategy for most teams but Jason drafting on the high banks is something that just isn't done, it's cool and it's an AMA Pro Race but it's not a Moto sanctioned race America, which means we have a tire war, which means Bridgestone is here, Farrelli is here, which is one of the last four years and Dunlop is chasing it, yes, absolutely, and when you look at the Run, yes the year past. We had four runners make it to the flag last year, those runners were Brandon Posh, Sheridan Mariah Cam, Peterson and Josh Hayes, and as we watch this in these replays, you can see that Brandon Posh just played his cards close to his chest all the time he fought for this position. off the last baking shift he was able to get Camp Peters to the line unfortunately Greg we won't be seeing Sheridan Marias this week he fell Thursday morning and broke his ankle so he won't be here except the rest of the players. they're here and they need some revenge and they want some revenge and of course we saw those four drivers get to the line there and that was after two pit stops but Jason this year the field looks deeper and a lot closer .
2023 motoamerica daytona 200   full race
The prestige of Daytona. 200 I think he's definitely back, we have five Superbike riders from our Moto America Championship that are here in this race, we can't leave this guy out, Brandon Posh, three-time winner, four-time winner, he's going for number five and you sit here and watch. Josh Herron again 2010 was the last time he won this race. The return. He had bad luck last year. Camp Peterson was the first time at Daytona last season. He lost by half a bicycle length, so he went back to Richard Stamboli and that strike team. We can't forget this guy, Josh Hayes, who is looking for victory number 87 and has not won on the second day of the Daytona 200.
2023 motoamerica daytona 200   full race
He's coming back from an injury that he suffered last year at Barber, if you remember, so again, Danny Essling, here's our four-time winner, Brandon. Posh, sorry I only had a three, but Danny Essek is back, he's in that group and add to the list there are a couple more guys who will be looking for PJ Jacobson Richie Escalante Ty Scott in the front row Chavi Flores who comes from the World Cup. Superbike is a matter of who is who today and who can win this, so let's take a look at the pit stops because this is unique, at least up to this point, we will have some pit stops in the United States mode this year, but Jason, your double.
World endurance champion, here are the rules, so the pit lane is 60 kilometers or 37 miles per hour and tell us the rest of the rules. Well, you have six crew members that can finish, you have one dedicated to that tire fire extinguisher, tire repair and you have You get it, you're allowed pneumatic tools. Now, Greg, the key to these pit lanes, those pit stops are also the drivers in the laps and their laps, their fuel strategies. There are other things we look at when we look at our screen right now. that's not there and they're such a big play.
I've been watching the drivers come out of the pits here this week like their hair is on fire because they have to prepare for when they come out of the pits and it's just as important as when you see that hole on board is that you get to your crew as quickly as you can. You can as a driver, it is important that you stay calm and collected and do your best not to scare your crew when you come in because that race can be winning right there in the pits, going fast is important, but everything happens in the pits. , in this race we will go away and back more than the Daytona 200 here in the center of world racing.
The prestige of this race is definitely, we are hearing that a number of foreign riders right now, including some who have been competing in this series before, are paying close attention and watching things here and, you know, let's look back very quickly, the Last year it was Monsoon. like here for the most part, uh, what a difference a year makes. I mean, this is the best possible condition and that generates even more energy and enthusiasm for these writers and much less for the crowd. I think all the Riders know it too. the track will now be in perfect condition and they look at all the other classes to see their lap times and see how the track is since last night's train, every class so far has gone faster than yesterday so all these guys know Even though it rained last night, the track is in perfect condition, it's not too hot, the temperature is perfect, so I think everyone knows it's going to be a good race right now, it's just that the butterflies are biting, they know the race will start early soon.
You know you're worried about so many different things, having a good start, not making a mistake, you know, my throws are going to be good, the team is ready, so you start thinking about every little detail right before this race, but when the lights are turned off. You leave all that behind, yeah, that's the time to compartmentalize, right?, and it all comes into that focus, uh, to pursue it and do the work here, and you know we were sitting there and we saw all these writers. He looks very serious, but then you're talking about butterflies and all that and then you have a picture of Danny Essler, who's winning four times, smiling, laughing, talking and joking, understand he's been here before, that doesn't mean he's not here. as close and focused as anyone else, he's there, he's just been here before he's been there, he's done that and I think some guys like to lock in and stay really focused and some guys like to keep it loose because they get two, they put in too much. pressure, they get too nervous, so Danny has a lot of experience, especially here at Daytona, he's a four-timer, so I think he knows exactly how to play this race.
Good look at Hayden Gillum, who was proving to be a really stable, really fast runner and I have a feeling about him. I think he's going to have a really good trip. He has a good chance that he was very fast this week and he is also making the race. so there's a lot of guys we're talking about how deep this field is and I have a chance for them to do it, it's time to take us back to the math TV booth with Greg and Jason welcome back to Daytona International Speedway as The Daytona 200 is just seven and a half minutes away from starting, which means we have the opportunity to bring in the third member of our broadcast team, Hannah Lopa, who is on the grid with our polesitter Josh Sharon.
Hi Hannah, it's a beautiful day. For some races here, Greg White, I'm with Josh Herron, three championship titles to his name, but for the first time I'll be racing with that number one plate starting from pole position, no less, Josh, how has this racing season prepared you? super sport and the championship? for the task at hand today, oh, it's nice, I mean we have, this is the third time we've been to Daytona with this bike, so it's the only track we've been to more than once, so It's been good just getting information and also having Chavi here.
This is the first time I've had another guy on the same bike who we can relay information to. Set it up so we can make some improvements that I think helped. a lot, but yeah, getting a Laster, all in the V2, is pretty impressive, we're going to move up to the V4 for Superbike this year, so I'm ready to go out and have fun, we're all chill. here having a good time and I'm ready to make it all work. There's a longer pre-well than normal, so it's a little strange for us, but I'm ready to have some fun and try to get this V2. above, it would certainly be the icing on the cake for Josh Herron as he moves up to Superbike walking down the grid here passing Tyler Scott making his 200 debut at just 17 starting from the front row, but I want to check in with his teammate Richie Escalante Richie, you made your debut in the Daytona 200 last season now again with the same team but on the 750, what are some of the notable differences between these two machines?
Yes, this year is completely different. My team Bishop William Forrester Suzuki from Mission Food. I am working wonder

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y to prepare for this race. I have two days of testing before this race and also during the weekend I feel amazing, so all my team is ready. I'm ready and yes, I have the experience behind me for last year's lunch, so yes. The plan is to try to enjoy the long races and I am super happy. I'm really happy to represent Latin America, so thank you and thank you. It's lucky for Richie Escalante. I'm definitely in a good mood as we move forward. the grid, one more writer, I want to check in with Josh Hayes' passing here looking for that all-time wins record, but no walk around the grid would be complete without talking to our defending Daytona 200 champion, Brandon Posh, while you put on the gloves here, Brandon, what?
Is it going to take you to do the triplet? The 3p would be undeniable. No one can have anything to say after that, so we'll try it here. Just stay calm and patient and see how it works. The race is going on, there are a lot of good runners this year again, as there were in the last two years, so I don't know in their 200, anything can happen and we just try to keep our heads down and keep going, so best of luck . there, Brandon, actually, anything can happen, Greg, yes, it's a 200, it's a long race and let's take a look at Jason at Daytona International Speedway because this track is not the most complex track we have on the circuit, but it is demanding, it's demanding, it's demanding.
The machine more than anything is not a real physical track and, you can see, there will be a lot of drafting here. Greg goes down to the turn, a unique little area that we start here, we actually start in the pit lane as we go down to turn one, which is international. The famous horseshoe spot will be interesting on the first lap through that fast turn in the infield, we'll talk more about that as the race goes on, get back on the bank there and turn six all the way to that east bank towards Greg. the chicane and then back to the West Bank and it takes you up to the tri-oval and you know, at the beginning of this race we'll see probably 15 riders in that draft leader, so it's good, Brandon just says, I just have to try.
To get to the front but also keep your nose clean, lap number one at the chicane is going to be very interesting. This guy is trying to make history. We are three and a half minutes from the start of the race. It's a

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Daytona 200. One comes back. One of the things that's interesting to me is that you have these long setups for these big races of any kind, these long pre-race festivities, yes, they have the umbrellas out there, but the Riders come out and they know what you're doing. I know it's the 200th and then they sit down and then they sit down and yes, they interview them and people walk by, but it must distract them a little to be able to concentrate a littlehere before this.
When you start the nerves take longer to set in when you're on the grid, yeah you know you're a little nervous before the race but once you get on the grid it's just you, the team and you're like focused and that's when you get really nervous and you know they have a lot of time to think about it, a lot more than normal, so for a lot of guys and then there's also a warm overload and all that falls into place too, so, uh, a lot These guys have a lot of time to think about it.
You could tell the interviews were getting a little shorter as we got closer to race time. The pilot is concentrating a little more, so we're not far away. Know? although just when you decide that I'm going to turn pro and then end up competing in one of the absolute Elite races in the world, you really know that you're going to be a little more attentive to yourself. A little more under the microscope, a lot more demand of your time , but you understand that yeah, you go into it and then you know you want that time to thank your sponsors and all that and show your face, but now it's so close. off to the race, that's all anyone's thinking about, the bikes are heading out for their installation lap and that means it's time for us to get back to the math booth and GW and JP, the Daytona 200 is presented by Bridgestone tires.
Bridgestone solutions for your ride and by Pirelli Tire Pirelli power is nothing without control welcome back to Daytona Beach Florida in the center of world racing as we take a look at the starting grid for the Daytona 200 I'm Josh Aaron I'm Paul PJ Jacobson and Ty Scott then we have Danny esslick Richie Escalante and Hayden Gillum there in row two, shot back, three cams Peterson Josh Hayes Jeff may Posh T Cobbs doing a great job in his debut with that team and then a little further back in row five Full angle shot before as Blake Davis Ben Young from Canada Carl sotis and Taylor Knapp Ben young Superbike Champion there last year for his Irwin Jason Waters David Anthony Miranda and Alex arango back to row 9 Greg Camille Holland danoa Lewis Darren James neck Vincent lavillian and Jason Farrell and as we pass this back bridge I think it's very important to take a look at those first two rows, we hope to have a group and the Daytona 200 is really famous for just groups of drivers who come together in races.
I can see the first five rows for Be honest with you when you look at Blake Davis, uh, he's going to start outside row five, everyone from that forward, 15 people there, I think they'll be the ones you know that's where the winner will come from, uh , you. I know it's great, we talk about it every year here, that it takes a little bit of luck to win this race, because there are so many other facets of this race that come into play, you know, with the pit stops and things like that, and just getting out to a good clean start, getting those first four or five laps under your belt and finding that clean spot where you can ride.
A lot of these guys have raced each other. You look at someone like Josh Herron. I think he's going to be a tough one to beat this year. I think that team has learned a lot. He is the defending champion of that class last year. He has time on this motorcycle, so there are Escalante people. You know you look at the vision well. M4x Star Suzuki. The team has made their GSXR 750s better prepared, better prepared. They have come to this race. They look much stronger, much better. Chris Ulrich has done a tremendous job with that team.
They have two young guys in Cobbs. and Ty Scott, who knows? Ty is starting on the front row, it really is anyone's race and obviously we're talking about a race that can be won and lost in the pits, but it's also up to the drivers after those pit stops to have a critical lap and make sure they go. as fast as possible and that's based on a lot of experience from a lot of riders, the fact that they've been through this before and no one more experienced than that number four in the middle of your screen, the squid.
Hunter racing the Yamaha R6, that's Josh Hayes going for an all-time record 87 professional Super Sport wins in his career. I also love this guy, Hayden Gillum. I mean, there's another guy, Greg, who's been writing a lot of different bikes, but he's been fast here all weekend and he's going to be the guy who's going to be in that draft leader as well, so we're looking forward to seeing this, they're getting getting ready to go when the lights go out, we are a 2023 Daytona 200. and the racing action has begun and it looks like the number one player, Josh Herron, makes a good launch and will lead us to turn one.
Now it's a matter of keeping your nose clean and trying to get through these curves. You can see the runners trying. to find a position in the back, but here goes the heron, yeah, he's doing a good job, he just gets a here's where you have to stay clean, like you say, things can get stuck here when they get into the international horseshoe, They all look like them. You're going to get over that, okay, and then you're going to get into this really fast first Kink lap. You see Heron with us, right behind him, PJ Jacobson.
You can also see it in yellow right outside essek now. pass by him there and I think a Tecalante or Ty Scott there in the fourth Brandon Posh buried back there looks like he's in ninth or tenth place right now trying to get that third title, but he's a four-time 200 champion Daytona Miles. Danny esslick in third place in that tobc race Triumph under the bank, they go for the first time It seems that DJ Jacobson is going to withdraw from the draft, he had an ocean to take the lead, but Herron on his Ducati V2 is doing a great job. to wave him off as they head towards the first time at the pajama chicane like they heard him say he's been running alone all weekend some of these guys have teammates PJ and Drew but he's been alone all weekend .
I ran into his dad this morning over coffee and he was talking to me about that, that he's been doing the Times just to see how things are going and then you know he's going to experience that draft and look how quickly it goes. passed. At the chicane on that first lap, you'll now see these other four bikes behind him approach the back of PJ Jacobson as they head down toward the trioval for that first lap. It's always fun to lead the first lap here, not the 200th. but the big ones are the 57, Cameron Peterson on the attack bike, in part of the screen as you can see two riders just passing by PJ Jacobson on that bike Celtic teitler TSC racing Yamaha R6, so there is no need to panic in these early stages.
Because you're a couple of bikes behind isn't going to define your 57 laps and that's the worst part, we have a smoking bike in the background. I saw Greg, but you're right, you know you saw that the first five riders had kind of gotten away a little bit and, uh, Hayes and Gillum have now pulled up to the back of them with Posh right behind him and, uh, you know, the thing is even if you're in tenth place right now if you're back to Carl Sotes it's a great start for him, by the way, at number 60. There's no reason to panic, but They are going to drag you down this slope.
You can be about two seconds off the fastest pace at Daytona and you can write. going into these major drafts, you see, Camp Peterson has a big horseshoe in the second horseshoe, there he'll lower it and sort it out and, uh, PJ Jacobson right behind him in fourth place, but and you know Danny Elsik in this one moment when he crossed the line he was almost sitting behind Heron in the draft so you know he was being taken out of that chicane Josh Herron on the warhorse Ducati New York hsbk racing machine and you can see even Heron got a bit aside before we saw the camera P of course this is the only time all season we will see Cameron Peterson on Pirelli brand tires which of course support the attack racing team so Danny esslick to the point, there goes the tlbc running back and he will take the opportunity Josh Herron, of course, Jason comes.
I spoke to him after the supersports championship about him, he got the go-ahead that he was going to be in superbike for the rest of the season and Josh set out to lose some weight, get fitter and he. He looks fit, I mean he's lost over 20 pounds since the end of last season trying to keep some muscle mass on so he can compete in a medallion Superbike later this year, but it's all about this one, PJ Jacobson goes on the outside and will take over the place. At the moment, this is where you'll see, you know, for the first 20 or so laps, just wait for pit Windows Greg to be around laps 18 to 20, 21, 22 somewhere in there, everyone will have a little different strategies. . some of the bikes some of the teams with two or three riders have to make sure their guys don't come in maybe exactly at the same time so you know it's important now for these guys to see what's going on here.
It looks like Camp Peterson has his arm up and doesn't seem to be happy about something, so keep an eye on the camera Cameron Peterson, the 45 on the blue machine with those bright yellow numbers that he's starting to back away from. So what is going on? Something is happening with him. It could be the possibility of Cameron Peterson pitting. There's Josh Hayes at number four on the screen, so all eyes are on the attacking performance of the Yamaha R6 of Cameron Peterson, who was on a revenge tour after losing by seven. milliseconds last year started to recede although the fight is still going on which is a good sign but while we wait to see what happens with Cameron Peterson at the helm is PJ Jacobson Hannah lopo what do you have on the 66?
Greg last time. The PJ that raced here was in 2011 and he's never done the

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200 miles, so really the main goal for the start of the weekend was to try to reacquaint himself with the track and the little nuances of this went to Rolling to break down Getting used to the 600 again feels very different to the superbike he was used to riding all last season, but he has a lot of experience in endurance racing, he did the Suzuka Eight Hours in World Endurance, so he's no stranger. to these pit stops ahead. Up here at one point, yeah, he's referring to Roebling Road Raceway, where a lot of teams went and tested early last week and he's got a great team in the TSC team there that will help support those. pits, uh, pit stops for him, they're a team that's obviously won the Daytona 200 before, but you know, Greg, you could see when he came out of that back, considering the big lead that PJ Jacobson had and, uh, It just doesn't take much for these guys to come close to the back, he'll find himself third now as he descends into that international horseshoe.
This is, you know, Hayden Gillums, right there with Josh Hayes and Richie Escalante, so right now, when you start watching him, Richie. Escalante turns around at 49-5 to our lead group, our seven lead guys are in the chamber of 49. Peterson continued to turn around so we'll keep an eye on that again to see what was going on, there could be a case where Cam just decided, okay, it's a little spicy on the front, you know, maybe I'll fall behind. You saw Brandon Powers do that last year really well, but you know, it's a little concerning right now for Peterson. as you can see he's just losing a little bit of ground, we put out a yellow flag in turn five so waving the yellow flag means there's an incident and it looks like it's chubby Flores, oh unfortunately for spanier Chavi Flores in the war. horse hsbk racing Ducati New York machine has to park that V2 so his race can finish as it doesn't look like he'll be able to get it back and that's a shame because it certainly spoke to me about how iconic it is.
Daytona 200 is for European racers and he really wanted to have a good result here. Yes, in Europe right now there are so many runners talking about this race and they would love to come back here at some point, whether it's in the middle of their careers. or in the end just to try to get to these high banks at Daytona, but you know, the worst part of this, Greg, we saw a smoking bike earlier, if you remember, the worst part of this now is that he has a teammate and Josh Herron. and you have to think that the bike builds are very, very similar, very, very similar, so you know, this is now going to be something that we're going to have to keep an eye on a little bit more closely and make sure that we don't see smoke coming out of that either. bike, another pass for the leader Danny Esslick goes to the point around Josh Herron PJ below goes the Mission Vision m4x Star Suzuki wheel from Richie Escalante who we talked to earlier, that's number 54 In the third bite of your screen is Josh Hayes, number four, who, if you remember last year, with the same bike, the Squid Hunter Racing Yamaha R6 had to come from the back of the grid and we saw him in the same position for four or five laps. he was right in this group leader Cameron Peterson Jay just look back there he's in the back of this group he took another look over his shoulder I think there's a problemwho is trying to diagnose on board, it could very well be Greg, but I think he also realizes that this group in front of him is not going anywhere, there is no reason to stress or stress or stress about the bike or doing anything so, you just want to try to find a comfortable place to get in, none of these guys will be able to do that. run away from each other so you know this is again where these in the turns are going to come into play, that's very important, also, Cameron Peterson recently had arm pump surgery, yeah right, and there could be a case where I want to say this is not the most physically demanding track, but you might as well be playing on it, so you're trying to rest.
I mean, again, just speculation on our part, as we have another pass for the lead. You are joining us. This is the 81st edition of the race. Daytona 200. and Danny esslick number 69 in tobc racing, it's a Triumph 765 triple, so we're in our second season, our second year on Next Generation motorcycles, you've got a Ducati V2 in second with Josh Herron as the rider, it's a 955. a triple 765. you have a 750 cc inline four and a GSXR 750 from Richie Escalante. you have a 600cc inline Fort cylinder from Josh Hayes and PJ Jacobson. There are bikes from all different manufacturers, with different displacement sizes, all controlled to create a level playing field and that's what you're seeing on the high Banks of Daytona, yes, let's give a shout out to T Hobbs doing a very good job in ninth place right now, you can see him come into the flat in the background, he's running around the In fact, the same lap times were 50.3, but he got to 49 and he's got this big group here, there you go, the first T cops race on this GSXR 750 is doing a really good job right now holding down these eight leading riders and has Ty Scott. behind him right now, if those two guys come together somehow and help each other out, that will be helpful, but that gap will need to be closed slowly but surely, so I'm very impressed by the 79 right now as far as it would.
It will be his first Daytona 200. I think Jason, when I talked to Tiki, said that he actually has a lot of laps here during his young career. He lives right at the end. They ran this race in 21 as a privateer. It was a family effort. He got ill. This year he's really hoping to be in the top five, yeah, thanks Hannah for that because I wasn't sure if he'd really done this race before, but you know, because of the level and the team he has now, this is a completely different experience for he. And he'll probably get a little excited to see himself starting to attract these guys again and he just has to keep a level head like we know he can and try to keep working on this to get Danny into the chicane. on lap number six of 57.
Nice little wheelie that Triumph spins in the middle of that chicane that really looks like there's a bump in the transition when you go through the middle of the chicane and Danny is able to spin it. inside, yeah, pretty good, so here goes Aaron, all the way down the bank, he doesn't even need the draft and he passes too much. The most important news is not only the temperature but also the fact that there is not much wind blowing. It's gotten better over the course of the day and now we go into turn one and another lead change and Josh Hayes is a victim of P.J Jacobson, so it's the Yamaha R6, those two are going at it.
Ken Peterson also on the Yamaha R6 is still there. PJ looks for some real estate, he's always funny, he shoots out through the chicane and even does it. I noticed it early in the race, as he goes through this Kink, he shoots to the left. -side of the track as they enter the next horseshoe, he looks for the bike and fits there, he will shoot out. You saw him go around the outside of Esslic early in the race, but you know PJ probably put his head down by that time across the box he opened that big gap he realized he couldn't escape so that's what you do Greg from Every once in a while you want to shoot and see if you can escape breaking that field and he kind of wasn't able to do it and he realizes that he's just biding his time, he bites his timing, be patient and go from there.
Danny has a can. Heron are the two guys who have continually stayed ahead. our lead group on the high banks of Daytona, we will pull away when we return, we will have more racing action from the center of the world of racing with 50 laps to go. Fury is struggling on this front. group and taking a look here just looking at some of the most recent moments, you know that Richie Escalante set the fastest lap of the race so far with a 149-562 on the last lap that he just did. TIG hot moved to 149-6 so he's definitely catching these guys but Roger right now we've got a break seven guys up front and then you've got Cameron Teague and Tyler Scott Bach behind trying to gain ground yeah ha It's been an incredible trip by Tate Hobbs, he caught these guys alone. and now he's in the group, it's a great ride next to him, he's a little bit behind, but I think if he can keep doing what he's doing, he'll be on top of it before the first stop, yeah, and obviously we're looking at this group leader.
Pretty much what we expected, no one really tried to make a breakaway and as you said Roger, it will be one of those races where you just run and run and run, passing the defending champion in the sixth big race. More to come here in Daytona, welcome back. at the Daytona 200. There are 49 and a half laps left in the race in our first stint. Now, Jason, we talk about these stints because it's before the first pit stop and we expect the first pit stop window to open somewhere around lap 16 or 17. Teams are talking about going in on lap number 19. and then in the second stint they will try to extend it to 20.
What do you see, Jay? Yeah, right during our commercial break, I was looking out our window and I saw Camp Peterson coming down outside. Teague Hobbs was then going into turn one and I thought I saw some corner workers running there, Greg and I, and I don't see him back there behind T Cobbs now, so maybe he ran straight or ran away, here have. He was watching. Out the window I could see him coming out and uh I saw a bunch of corner workers running so he's gonna go in a little too deep sometimes Greg you go in there and you catch a false neutral and that might be what Following with him, he may have gotten a false neutral and opened up, but yeah, something is going on with Camp Peterson, so you're right, he was trying to diagnose a problem while staying in that League group that Teague Hobbs had given him achieved.
They were at the back of this group and, yeah, big problems for camera possibility early Thursday weekend when they were here. Cameron Peterson said they weren't at the top of the timesheets because they were having some changes. problems, so that could be part of the problem, but up front in this leading group you have Danny Esslick's 69, number one is Josh Aaron, who takes the spot. 66 is PJ Jacobson. #54 is Richie Escalante and it looks like Brandon Posh has joined. our group and starting to move up, so the power is really white Craig, he is really white, excuse me, yeah, no problem, so Heron will rejoin.
I don't think it's too much drama, so it seems like Josh Hazel Lee is like that. that and he's going to do what Josh does, he likes it. Josh loves to lead races, he loves to just get out there and try to wear people down, you know, talking to him all offseason, coming back from this broken ankle, he's been been working really hard to try to improve your physical condition as much as possible. I mean, Greg, I was still wearing a walking boot and getting on his bike and going out and trying to do some easy rides trying to get back on track. the shape he needed to be in to come here and this is what he's going to do: he's going to try to get out in front and stretch this rhythm through the frame and try to get Gap and T Cobbs behind these guys, so he's showing me right now he also has a lot of pace, this young man as we talked about before, but Hayes took out Gap, he has Escalante behind him chasing him and then it looks like we probably have Danny esslick there.
Biden, his time there in fifth place, Escalante's writing, so you can see Greg, you can try to get away from people and it's just too difficult and talk to Hayes a little bit earlier. I know he talked to us a little bit about that pace and I'm not sure if he has enough pace to come out of that draft down the line so we'll see how that plays out for the four and the pace you're talking about is really just the pace on the bench for Hayes. Of course if you are a Daytona 200 fan you know that Josh Hayes in 2008 got to the finish line first and unfortunately was disqualified and that means the win went to Chas Davis and Chas Davis is the last of our winners not Americans. and that was in 2008.
So Richie Escalante, if he can pull off this big win, would be the first non-American to win the Daytona 200 since 2008 and right now Mission Vision m4x Star Suzuki Rider Rich Escalante is leading us. With 48 laps left in this race, Hayes was looking for a way around it, but Jay was right in front. I saw the first glimpses of traffic on the laps, yes, and that's one of the things we talked a lot about last year. There were times in this race, Craig, where you got into the back markers on the third lap of the race and Moto America did a good job of closing the field a little bit.
Now we're on lap 11 and both guys are doing a tremendous job. to get out of the way, they know that a freight train of bikes is going to pass by and it's a horrible place to be if you're them because you know there's going to be six seven eight cyclists trying to get by as fast as possible and you can get stuck there a little bit, but that's all part of this race and being lucky enough to be able to catch guys in the right places at the right times and you can see this field is separated a little bit.
He climbed to the front and Jason after last year feels much more prepared for this year. Despite a full season in the Superbook, he said that he started training specifically for this long race. On December 1st he had a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year and then went back to work. On January 1 he lost about 10 pounds so he could feel light and small enough to fit on these high benches. This is his first experience with the 750. He said the power delivery has a superbike-like feel and it really writes, it really fits. his driving style said he is a super sporty guy at heart, he feels very comfortable, he understands this track and its strategies after his experience last year and then you add the relationship with the team, oh it looks like we have a writer down , guys, yes.
Looks like 474 fell off trying to get a number, a name for you for Greg and, uh, l474 is Camille Holland from the Czech Republic at Boulder Motorsports blue garage racing, that's a Pentagoli V2, lose that part front there. going into that second horseshoe but maybe a little out of line also glad to see it's okay so go back to what Hannah said you know it's funny because Escalante jumped from Super Sport to Superbike and it's a bit of a game different when We're there and you know thousands require a little bit different writing styles and things we've seen Richie obviously very, very successful in Super Sport over the years, winning races, winning championships there, etc., so the fact that he went into a mode. of trying to lose pounds while losing the front wow wow, that was, you know, catch him again, catch up with Mark, I had nothing to do with that Rider in front of him, he just lost the front going in there, he was able to get it going .
I noticed the other day when I was watching Rick how bumpy the infield seems to be, it's a little bumpier in places, and for these guys, if they tune out a little bit, they've got to go. He passed someone who might be in the spot he hasn't been all weekend and, uh, and they might hit some bumps out there, it didn't take him long to pick them up and he'll pass Josh Hayes again as he they direct downwards. that right away, yeah, it looked like a sitting duck compared to that GSXR 750. from Escalante, so the group has settled into sort of eight riders if you just join us on the left side of your screen doing the wheelie it's Rich Escalante who is our leader, he's up in the lap traffic, some of the racers you see higher up there, so it's Escalante who's leading on the Suzuki GSXR 750, which is a Mission Vision m4x Star Suzuki Squid wheel Hunter racing Josh Hayes number four trying to get his first Daytona 200 win, but Jay is like that, it's too early to talk about that, we'll really see what happens in the pits, yeah, absolutely, and I think just I'm looking to see Greg, who is being left behind there through this.
Little traffic we've had, looks like we got the first five and sixboys. I see PJ there and it looks like Brandon Posh and T Cobbs lost a little bit there and you know when you're when you're going through the box, you want to be the first guy up to some of the tail Enders, you want to be the first guy next to him and you hope you can get through them clean enough and then get new ones. people and Greg. I'm looking at our box right now. I see Cam Peterson rolling down pit lane as Josh Hayes tries to get up the inside of Escalante in that second horseshoe.
He will make that pass. You know, Hayes understands that you know when. You start to see some traffic ahead, it's really key to be the first one there, so you bring it back to the front and there's Camp Peterson, they're putting fuel on the bike and doing what would look like a normal pit stop. and you can see he's gesturing there, it looks like a downshift, like he's not in gear, maybe he's not putting into gear, you'll see that or chatter like that, but that's not quite chatter, that was, yeah, that was more like him. looking towards the shifter and gesturing that it might have something to do with that second bike on your screen is Escalante on the 370 270 sorry your turn traffic is a bad place to get caught and the turn traffic blue flags fly for the lap Although the traffic indicates that the leading group is closing in, but the person who took the biggest lead, at least for the moment, looks like the 69 of us, like all the wild guys.
Posh again, JP just hangs back, that's what he does after Heron. He hasn't fully recovered to the front since he went wide and spun a couple of laps ago, but again, this is the drama-free Daytona 200 as Aaron simply passes by four bikes and will take over that spot at 179. miles per hour 181 by Hayden Gillum is probably the biggest racer of the group, so disruptive racing driver Hayden Gillum last time by the line 181 miles per hour he is on a medium weight displacement motorcycle at an incredible speed and me love to see Hayden Gillum just play the patient game right now again, he's been through it and probably thought about it.
Okay, everyone in front of me has led this race, every single one of them, Posh looks back. TIG Hobbs wasted a lot of time somewhere. Greg, uh, on that running pass to the back markers, he was about three seconds slower than Posh in front of him on that lap, so at some point. In line there he got lost in traffic and, uh, but, Hayden Gillum literally hung out with Posh in the back of this group and Jason Hayden Gillum had a lot of laughs here this weekend between the two classes he also is directing Mission King of. the Baggers that you will have at the end of this race, as far as a disruptive team goes, you have a very close relationship with them, they have worked together a lot, the communication is really efficient and you have a lot of trust in them, so the back and forth coming between his bagger and the super sports bike doesn't really make a big difference for him.
He can change gears easily. He is a very versatile cyclist. He's written a lot of different things over the years, so keep an eye out for him. Yes, there's no doubt that Hannah is versatile and there's a good look at him right there on that orange Florissant bike in the background, breaking up the races leaving a really big mark on the Moto America Paddock. Now, Greg, I think they have a rider that they really trust and believe in and you know we will continue to see him get results this year, he will be a player and some other things and some Superbike things as well and Hayden Gillum has a lot ahead of him this year.
I'll be racing thousands of actions in Medallion Superbike and Mission King of the Baggers and then some of those weekends I'll be doing all those races in one weekend, how would you like to have to race a Bagger after doing a race 200 miles? I don't know, good luck again, good luck, it'll probably get easier, easier, I don't know, we'll see, so Jay, we're getting here on lap number 14. This is when the teams start talking about the opening from the pit window. There's probably some activity on Hannah watching in the pit lane where crews are starting to prep the tires into place, maybe getting some of those pneumatic tools in place.
We expect to see quite a few of these racers come in around lap 18 to 19. I don't think anyone is really going to make it past 20, it's Josh Herron on bike number one on the hsbk racing Ducati warhorse New York entry arrives to the top for the moment with PJ Jacobson right behind him in 66 on the Celtic teitler Cycles TSC racing Yamaha R6 of course PJ Jacobson full time in Motor America's Medallion Superbike class this season and it looks like Tyler Scott he's going in, he's in, he's actually with Greg, yeah, so they're buying a tire and I'm trying.
To tell you the truth, he doesn't look like a guy who's ready to get back on a bike. I'm really curious to know, GW, why he was so far behind. This guy qualified second. We know he has pace, but he hasn't really been close. away in the first half of this race and they're going to go ahead and look at this a little closer Anna Tyler is talking to her team the bike is refueled new The Tigers shift ready to go Tyler is still sitting on the wall like this who is communicating with the team, but it seems like they are pushing the bike out of the pit lane.
I'm not really sure what's going on. I will get more information and update you, keep an eye out for Hannah for the teak too. Hobbs, because I'm really curious, he was running 49 and 50 very consistently and now that he's doing 52. I know that he's now driving his own victory on his own, but you know, I hope this doesn't happen again. a problem. We'll see that for him and you'll also see our lead group launch into turn one, there Escalante, on the inside of PJ Jacobson, but you know, all these guys are starting to think about the pit stops coming up.
We'll stay away from the Daytona 200 when we get back. The stops will be fast and furious. You don't want to go anywhere. I will tell you that this group up front are absolutely Fast and Furious. Josh Herron had that. A small mistake on the international horse, you went too far, came back and fought aggressively to get to the front. Obviously he wants to run up front, but one of the big stories here, obviously, is that Camp Peterson came in second last year, very close and fighting, yeah. he's been in the pits with a pit stop, we were talking about that before we went on air, but Roger Black Mark is now starting to play a big role as well.
We saw Brandon Pasch lose before, he came back into the group and there was Well, it could have been a disaster for Josh Herod and the leading group. Yes, you can see the leaders who are trying to pass as aggressively as possible to see maybe if they can get a lap or get between themselves and a couple of others. guys and see if they can, you know, crack that draft if possible, but I think it's going to be tough, but the lappers will be a part of this race and of course Tyler Scott in the pits as well.
The stories continue back at the MAV booth, welcome back. to Daytona International Speedway, we're in the middle of the Daytona 200, we haven't had a Jason Pridmore pit stop yet, but we're getting close to that first pit stop, something that could really ruin someone's race if the team doesn't it does. I can't get that bike up and down as fast as possible, the leading group at the front remains the same, it's Richie Escalante who leads Josh Aaron Josh Herron has had the fastest lap of the race on lap 10 at 149 flat currently this group leader circulates in the mid-150 range as P.J Jacobson comes to the top of the pile with Danny Essa's 69, who won this race four times right there, Josh Hayes is still in the mix and Hayden Gillum right behind, although he's two times. back to back winner Brandon classy yeah and he's just going to camp there as you can see this is a great draft when they get to the line it gets tight when he gets to the bottom here when you get to the platform and he's going to just stick his nose in there so Escalante can respond and raise the bench a little bit because that will make PJ move up the bench.
It's amazing, you know Greg, when you're there, you can feel people recruiting you when you're there. tucked in and it feels like you're being sucked back you know and that's probably something that Escalante felt, you can feel the air around you disturbing the motorcycle and it makes the motorcycle move a lot so with the aerodynamics of These bikes now , over the years, they've gotten a lot better, but still, if you're where PJ is right now, you're pushing that air and everyone else will get a big draft out of that well. Looks like Ty Scott has been out of the race Hannah, what do you know about what's going on with Ty Scott?
Greg. We saw him come in and while the team was prepared to change tires and refill the bike, it was actually electronic problems that caused it. to re-enter pit Lane, the data Engineers review the things he did he took off his helmet and gloves, I'm not quite sure if he wants to go back out. I will keep you informed. PJ Jacobson had quite a lead and Jay, this could be an indicator. Also, when PJ tries to put the hammer down and get some distance to make a pit stop, we'll be keeping an eye out as we've seen the Riders do that in the past, so Jacobson leads from Esslic Escalante and into High Banks.
Here comes Josh Aaron, not much space very close to that wall, but still able to pass, he moves into third place, so it looks like everyone in this league group is going to take another turn and are credited with the lead for that turn. Richie Escalante in turn 50 in turn one and I'm going to tell you there are some bumps when Herring opens up a little bit. Escalante forces the issue, but the Ducati seems very stable over the bumps, yes it does and you know this is what we saw last year from here and then they ended up asking that's what was underneath.
Escalante gives him a small gesture of apology. All these guys know that they are not trying to divide each other into the parts of the picture. of this track, so, but Heron, if we think back to Greg, I think he ran half a lap too long last year and ran out of fuel. He was coming out of the chicane. I remember seeing him along the apron trying to get that bike back in. We're in the pits and we're in that window, like entering that window, right? We're on lap 17. You're going to start seeing it between laps 18 and 21, that's where I fill up all these runners.
We start to enter the pits, so what we will do is pay attention when they come out of the chicane. You'll start to see cyclists signal to cyclists behind them with a leg or an arm, unless these guys know. Hey, we're getting ready to go in and it'll also be interesting to see how many of these guys are following the same strategies going down the slope. Escalante 19 liters of fuel, the maximum allowed in the Daytona 200. So that's what they have. To play, in addition, once they reach the line when entering the pit lane, they have to reduce the speed of the motorcycle to 60 kilometers per hour, most of these motorcycles are equipped with speed limiters in the pit lane, the most that I've seen coming out of the chicane and that's caused a little bit of a gap to Escalante Escalante is down, this could be something where you could see the 54. duck down towards pit lane, looks like it's going to stay under Greg, no, he'll stay, yes, he is, he's going down to pit lane, Greg, so there's one of the first of our leaders, the 54, going down to pit lane, now he's got to put that thing on the speed limiter of the pit lane and go down to the end of the pit lane, and this is something that you and I talked about before. the strategies on where to actually position yourself in the pit lane, yeah, I think it's important for a lot of people, especially last year when it was colder, to be as close to the pits as possible to keep the maximum amount of heat in the tires because on the way back is critical, so the left side of your screen is Richie Escalante and the pit stop, how quickly will this happen?
The right side of your screen is the leader and you can see that Heron has his arm up, PJ has his leg out and most of us Now Jason we're waiting for fuel and now Escalante is getting back on the bike on that wheel Mission Vision m4x Star Suzuki and will leave the pits as quickly as possible. Now this is where it comes into play. I saw both Hair and PJ, they will both be able to take advantage of the advantage they will have if they pit together, if they are pit and their teams prefer to make big pit stops, they will be able to link up again.
When they come out of the pits to work together, Greg and that's the key. Escalante arrived a lap before them. He will be there alone, so he will have to try as hard as he can on this outing lap. Make sure that when he comes back, he will have a dance partner to go with from last year. Escalante at the first pit stop had some problems and lost that toe, right? We saw it and I think Max leans in. running together for most of that Fairway race back so look for the 66 and the two to get downthe cant as they go up the cant.
Now look for those guys to come down and get into the pit lane and for our top-notch staff here who We kept an eye out for the Escalante pit stop. We have an estimate of 14 seconds, so that's the benchmark currently. If you can beat that time in the pits, a lot of that time is waiting for the fuel to go down to the bike, so here come three riders. the pits Hayden Gillum is the other driver of that disruptive racing team and I'll tell you Greg, this is the longest part of the race for them, you come from doing 180 100 170 180 miles per hour on these banks and now you have to reduce the speed of the motorcycle until reaching slow speed.
Hayden Gillum is going to find his way to the pits quickly first Hannah, you're in the pits, tell us what you see when these riders enter the The Ducati team is ready to welcome Josh Herron as he's just trying to maintain the pit speed limit lane. Here it comes, ready, waiting for you. That single-sided swing arm makes changing rear tires a little easier. Ryder is off the bike, but. the most important thing is that the fuel has enough fuel in there and it is done quickly, you are almost done refueling, the rear tire is on the front tire, you are back on the bike, a great pit stop from the Ducati War Horse team that has, which has pit terms.
Stop-start Josh Herron got a little lead over Hayden Gillum and a little lead over PJ Jacobson. Jacobson appears to be a good distance away from catching the draft, but the question is what happened to Hayden Gillum's 95 and how he is doing. this is going to affect your surroundings, yeah, there's no doubt that these guys from the warhorse team did a tremendous job putting out Heron's number one and this is where I talked about before in our stand-up at the beginning. I said these guys have been coming out of pit lane, here's the real love now with the TSC team also coming in, currently it's in, I was in grade 11, when I come into the pits, they're going to get that rear axle, they're going to lower the stand and There's a very experienced team down there, you can see it, they're down towards the end too, but if you saw how quickly Aaron came out of pit lane, he went around those cones at full tilt, the heat is already in the tyres, the track is hot.
So that will be a big advantage last year. When the track was cold, being in the place where Hayden Gillum was before would have been a big disadvantage and, with that, now that it's warm, it's not so bad. Josh Hayes. Danny will now go down to the pit lane and these two will be able to as well. to connect and you can see that Hayes looks over his shoulder and he can see that he has someone that came in with him and that's going to be key. 17 seconds was the pit stop for Heron 14 for Escalante we had on the clock.
Here comes Josh Hayes to the Squid Hunter pit and Hannah is down there again. Josh Hayes is closing in on the team right now. They are ready to catch him. Lots of experience with pit stops last year. They changed the rules. You can refuel and do. the tires at the same time that definitely helps efficiency Josh is hydrating a little bit seems pretty calm the team is moving very fast the tires are fueled it's ready and Josh is on the way, they hit each other to get one of these two with a lot of experience are going to do anything to ruin Craig, especially across the draws as we see it, so when we meet at this moment, Brandon Posh is still leading, he hasn't come looking for the three-time champion.
Come in, number 96, he apos;s supposed to be hanging around leading somewhere outside the chicane right now, here comes the last of our group of leading riders, so it looked like slick was also down to 14 seconds when this whole thing gets sorted out after this last moment. of pit stops let's see who's where you can see in that pile of timing on the left side of your screen where Josh Herron is some of these writers like young May hasn't been on yet Taylor Knapp is another one so "Everything that will take care of itself once the riders get back on the banking and start crossing the timing loops.
Well we'll be able to see it as soon as Brandon gets down and I can see his legs. He's coming into the pits. I'm watching to see when Escalante crosses the finish line because right now he's ahead of these guys and we're going to be able to see if Escalante with that quick M4 pit stop. Hey, that's a good pit stop for them about three seconds faster. Brandon Posh now comes with his team, he's coming to tobc to see if they can make a nice clean pit stop for him. They're putting the slick in. Brandon looks like he's not in a hurry, they practice this a lot, he got Robert Ward in the crew chief position here the tires are on Brandon's back on the bike, a great pit stop from the tlbc racing champion, a couple of seconds, a couple of seconds longer than Danny's I would say, but a nice clean race or a nice clean pit stop, a great shot from the top of our team and I just saw Escalante cross the stripe, he's got Danny right behind him, he's got Josh Hayes right behind him, so look, Brandon Posh probably you'll waste some time with these three guys. is his leading trio right now, so let's go to and you can see there's Josh Herron right behind and there's Posh coming out of pit lane.
Now it's important that Brandon doesn't get too angry, he has to go out and hang around here. he sees those four guys he wants to put behind him, he's got a new tire, but again, Greg is now going to have to push for his own win, so the next period might prove to be a little more difficult for Brandon in the sense that I also have to be careful with this overlap, these three are all linked together. Escalante Hayes, they have a small gap right now over Herron, who will do everything he can to catch him when he breaks out over the yellow paint on the eggs. from that second horseshoe, you can really see Josh Herron's physique as you can see that lead group up there and that's an extra two or three seconds in the pits, even if he had an equal lap because we know Josh Herron can do it. but that could be the difference in this second position on how hard Heron has to push and again Greg, we have lost what we lost three of our main protagonists in Chubby Forest Camp Peterson and Ty Scott, now look at the pit stops, what? who do we have? lost that was in that group leader Greg.
I don't see Hayden Gillum very close and I don't see PJ Jacobson very close, so those are the guys that maybe didn't have the best lap or the best pit stop and now we're going to have a lot of work to try to get that time. get back to these three four five guys up front and the thing is with this second stint that we'll see at the Daytona 200 as we get to our next pit window. It's who will be able to extend the speed the most, the bike that uses the best fuel makes the difference because if you think about it once the observation lap starts, the bikes can't refuel, so you've actually added two laps to the 19 laps that They gave these bikes to get there, so now PJ is getting back behind Brandon Posh, which will actually be hugely beneficial for Posh and PJ if they can close that gap.
Josh Hayes just ran the fastest lap of the race. at 48-6, what I think I see now is Heron, even though he has to make up about 1.8 seconds of the first three, I think he has the pace to be able to do that if Brandon didn't have PJ. with him I think it would be a lot more difficult and you can see Hayden Gillum right in the back, he's like in no man's land, yeah, hanging out is a very good term, I think this guy has the pace to attract these three. very difficult and this is when you have to try not to be too frantic, try to catch that leading group again and come to terms with him, Hayden Gillum right now, especially being one of the bigger guys who doesn't have someone to support him. help.
The draft with him will be a little tougher, so we'll see if he can close that gap with those other two guys. I think we're going to have four in front in a matter of three laps and the other three could have done it. a little problem like these drivers in the Daytona 200 on that first lap of 57. Now, once you get on the track and the light goes out and you start racing, the nerves start to disappear, the same applies to these teams. who are in the pits after making the first pit stop, the second pit stop tends to be much more comfortable and there is time to recover in the pits, so for riders like Hayden Gillum who is in seventh place, P.J Jacobson and Brandon Posh, opportunity to try to make up the time and there is also the tire strategy, don't forget that last year the tobc team with Brandon Posh did not change tires, they only added fuel, so they saved a lot of time in the pits and that ended up winning the race, if you remember the amount of laps he did on those Pirelli tires last year, Brandon Posh was pretty incredible, but don't you think a lot of that was due to how little he abused them?
They were dragging him around the benches and he was being patient in the box and I think that was something that really played well for him and that's a strategy that teams are now going to have to start engaging in if they're like that. way back so now we're looking at 48-3 for Josh Herron last time by Greg so he's now just 0.8 of a second behind Hayes so like I said those front four guys are now disappearing in the distance to these two and that's what they have even though these guys are going at the same pace, they are not getting closer and that will be the problem Josh Herron of 48-3, yes, the fastest lap of the race, I want say.
He's doing that, yes, qualifying faster and qualifying on new tyres, but with that full load of fuel when they're in qualifying they're not doing that, it's that bit of anxiety that you almost feel like Heron is thinking I have to put him in. . Almost two laps of qualifying right now to try to close that gap once he gets there, he can be a little patient and his team will go down and figure out what we can do to be a little better next time. Pit stop to give our guy the best chance of not having to fight so hard and wear down my tires early in a stint to get him to the finish line.
The Daytona 200 continues to race, the racing action coming your way in the first round. of pit stops for key players has come to an end according to our tracking Richie Escalante had the fastest and unfortunately for Hayden Gillum, as you see right now, he is struggling due to a slow stop at this stage, but to do things that they're ketchumaya right now Michael is one Josh Hayes just a couple of laps ago set the fastest lap of the race now Josh Herron has since taken it from him but hey they said I'm going to do a relentless 57 laps and make them stay with me so I'm doing it, but this beat is incredibly good.
I think it's because it's much cooler today than during qualifying. Yes, much cooler today. You know we're seeing incredible lap times and you talk about those pit stops and Roger, one of the drivers. that he didn't have the best pit stop was Brandon's number 96, patch the defending champion here and he's been given a speeding ticket in the pit lane. Now we don't know if that's a trip or a time penalty, but there is a speeding violation. for uh for Brandon plash and he has to serve the penalty, yeah, and that's going to really hurt those chances when we get back to the MAV booth and Greg White welcomes you to the world center of racing here at Daytona International Speedway as the Daytona. 200 is right in the middle of the race action and there has been some drama, we have had Chavi Flores Cameron Peterson and Ty Scott out of this, we are seeing the four in the lead group Richie Escalante leads the way in the 54th.
Josh Herron made his way to the back of Escalante in doing so, he has the fastest lap of the race at 148-2. Danny Eslick is there and Josh Hayes PJ Jacobson is behind Hayden Gillum trying to find a way to close the gap and Jason the 96 from Brandon Elegant has been fine, he has a speeding violation in the pit lane while we wait to see what it will be, a minimum of 15 seconds added to the time, yeah, that'll really hurt it, huh, until now. As it goes, we'll have to take a look at it and, you know, see what Moto America does as far as that speeding penalty goes, but you know Greg, one of the interesting things about this.
We had four riders at the front last year. One of those four in this group is Josh Hayes, so we've seen the other three guys when we said Cam Peterson is out. Posh is not in this group and unfortunately Sheridan Rias did not enter. to join us today after an incident earlier this week he was injured so Hayes is back where you would expect the number four to be and he has done a very good job so far, I mean at the topof the hat for the Squid Hunter team. Also, I'm not a regular in the super sport class all season, I come to the Daytona 200 and do a great job of preparing for the race as well as these pit stops, and when you think about it, when I've been, I've been keeping an eye on the timing screen and it's gone from about five seconds where PJ in fifth was behind to seven seconds, so some of that could be traffic, but more than anything, you've got four riders picking and coming back to write and that's when you arrive. a group like this as fast as these four are, as it seems like Danny Essex is losing touch with him, isn't he just a little bit now?
Danny Essex is losing touch a bit Jason taking a look at these front three here Josh Herron and Josh Hayes have a lot of laughs throughout their careers Richie Escalante doesn't have much time looks like someone is making a pass to take the lead here is Josh Hazen Karen is right behind him like I was saying Richie doesn't have a lot of experience running up front with these two guys so you know it's definitely going to be different, it's a little unpredictable but talking to Richie as we get closer to the halfway mark Of this race, they told me: what did you do to prepare for something like this? an endurance race, he said he practiced on a cart track, we're a little bigger than a cart track and we do 30 laps at a time, making sure he does about a hundred a day, so he's definitely feeling physically fit for the task, but Josh Herron and Josh Hayes certainly aren't making it easy for them right now, yeah, no, that's exactly right and you can tell that that could be a punishing thing on a kart track doing so many laps and holding on so long .
You know, Daytona Greg has never been a super physical place because I think you have to try to take care of your equipment as best as you can and you know, but again Escalante comes from Superbike because you can see Danny like he's definitely lost touch with these, it's 490 49-0 and 48.6 for Hayes which Danny esslick's last time is at 50.4, so PJ Jacobson and Pausa are at 50.3 50.4 respectively, they are now down 8.2 and 8.3 seconds back, so Now Greg is starting to look as if we had a three-horse race for the lead. I'm just trying to see what's going on with Danny back there.
To see why he maybe he's just there to set the pace. Yes, it is very difficult to say. And if you follow our timing and scoring pylon on the left side, you can see that Cameron Peterson, who had to pit early in the race, is in ninth position and doing 150.6 lap times. what PJ Jacobson and Brandon Posh are doing in 5th and 6th currently as we wait to find out when Brandon Posh will add his 15 seconds to his time and be evaluated at the end of the race is what we're told Jackie okay so there have been three drivers so far, so it's critical to get that bike to Pitt Lansing, so there's 32 laps left in the Daytona 200, Richie Escalante's 2023 edition, which seemed to be. the strongest coming out of the chicane for the whole race, makes this Gap and then you have the number one game for Josh Sharon, number four, Joshua Kurt Hayes, yeah, Heron just loses a little bit of time in the middle of that chicane, looks like a couple of Other bikes are very comfortable going over the paint on the first right and stay under any bump that Heron is hitting in the middle and, uh, Hayes, Hayes himself is nice and tight in the middle of that chicane what we saw.
Danny Essek referenced that earlier on the show where we were talking about how that Triumph turned Hayes and Escalante into doing a lot of that kind of thing where Heron just lets him run a little bit in the middle of the chicane and he just wastes a little bit of time. Mission Vision m4x Star Suzuki wheel that's a GSXR 750. that's Richie Escalante War Horse hsbk Racing Ducati New York Josh Herron of New York in the pentagoli V2 against the tried and true Yamaha R6 of Josh Hayes in that Squid Hunter racing machine a well-prepared motorcycle Hayes looks over his shoulder to see what's going on Richie Escalante, of course, the first non-American driver to possibly win the Daytona 200 since 2008's Chaz Davis in the past there are still so many laps to go and a variety of lap traffic to deal with, you know, Josh Hayes, he'll be there thinking about you, you know, he's got a lot of experience, right?
I mean, he's been around so many times, in so many places and, uh, you know. Right now, Hayes just wants to sit there, stay on top of the two in front of him, do everything he can. We have three different manufacturers running first, second and third, which is really fun to see Suzuki Ducati Yamaha there and who. better than being on that Yamaha than Josh Hayes with all the experience he has and, you know, look at how he looks over the shoulder ring. I'm sure he's getting some positive signs on his board for Danny and he's probably wondering why that is.
He went up a little bit, but he has his head down and he has to try to stay with these leaders as well. The Squid Hunter team on M14 both had tremendous pit stops, so you know he'll know his team is capable of catching him. in and out of the pits Hannah Jason, you are absolutely right and Josh Hayes feels that one of the most crucial aspects of this monster race is getting out of the pit stops very cleanly, talking to him a little bit that you mentioned in At the beginning of This race, the broken ankle he suffered during the offseason crashed that bike at Barber and it was totaled, so they rebuilt this bike from the ground up, but to the same specs as last year, he learned a lot of Wise setups.
Racing some of the Moto America rounds last year, that really improved the overall bike this weekend. He watched last year's race several times and said he could see that he wasn't aggressive enough in the frame, so it's definitely part of his strategy. there's also some traffic there that when you're hanging like that all those guys were able to get through but you know when they went to that second horseshoe but back to your point Hannah, you know it's Josh UA Gonna Learn I I I think the good thing about it is that you know I get to see him a lot at Chuckwalla and at Valley Raceway and the thing is he asked me a lot of questions about my ankle during the offseason because I've had a similar type of injury, he's been able to really fix it and take care of it and I think he did a really good job. job taking it easy when they told him to take it easy and now they are going to hang him, although this is a big problem right now for Hayes, these two guys in front of him made it through the laps cleanly and now he is in the chicane and gets late, so now we'll see Hayes run a lot of laps alone this weekend.
I saw it. was the first one out on Thursday morning, let's see if he can close these two laughs on the high banks at Daytona, the draft and maneuver a couple of Next Generation bikes and you can see Josh Herron's head bobbing on the draft hit. that's very standard as far as what happens, take a look at the Bobble, it wasn't so much a bobble. I think Heron was trying to make the decision, yeah, I could see they just hit some bumps, but he was trying to make the decision to go. for the inside of the outside, he chose the outside, which is a very natural thing and then you know the writer across the street probably heard it there and didn't want to get in the way, etc., so it's not a big deal for Josh.
He's probably had that happen a few times in his career, as far as appearing on the back of someone I'm talking about, Josh Herron, right now and this is where that happened the last time you can see Greg, he made a Really good job shutting that cat down, isn't it right behind them when they come out of that second horseshoe? On the right side of the screen are Hayden Gillum and P.J Jacobson, so Gillum was able to overtake PJ for fifth place. Brandon Posh T. Cobbs' cameraman Peterson Jeff can return to 10th place with Matt True Love doing a great job, Taylor Nap, Ben Young and Blake Davis with Jason Farrell a winner of last year's race in the super class Moto America sport.
Farrell in 15th, crawling into the turn chicane straight traffic on the road again Escalante trying to find the best line to take that will just close those three back and that's all you need and Hayes is probably thanking that guy right now and saying, "Okay, that's good now." I can sniff out the two guys in front of me and try to get him behind them and, like you say, kill him now that the battle for fifth place is almost 10 seconds in, so they've been losing there. About five or six seconds back initially, Greg and now it's 10 and Hayes is right behind these two again.
We'll probably meet two or three more runners here this lap, just across the field, Hayes. Right there Jay, the only thing we haven't seen from number four is any bench fights, he always Hayes blocks the back, okay, he did a good job, I'm just keeping the bike on the track so you can see it. almost like he skipped a gear or something, or put a gear or a false neutral and they jumped together, you see how he went to the side and you saw him trying to shift the bike on the exit of the corner, that made me He says maybe that He had a bike between gears and they caught Jason Farrell, who right now is in 15th place.
He's going to be a little bit tougher guy to pass and he's going to look, it's a pretty smart move on his part. Saw the Blue looked up and you'll see here, Josh goes in there, he's probably trying to get it going right now and he fell off, maybe too much now, if he looks at the left foot, he will if I can't see it, but The thing is, He tells me he was fishing a rig or he got stuck between the rigs or something and he has to do that job again. Greg to try to get back up.
Jason Farrell looks over his shoulder. and say goodbye to these guys, yes, but Farrell has a pretty fast Kawasaki ZX6R and that could help Josh Hayes if he can get around him and close this gap. It seems that Cameron Peterson attacks. Yamaha is in the pits. He was in ninth place. The question. What gap does he have to stay in the top ten? One of our early favorites in the race, Cameron Peterson, unfortunately had a problem early in the race, he had to pit early and lost a bit of time talking to the team, as we believe. could be something that can be done as a moving topic now that they've realized the whole situation from the beginning here we have Richie Escalante and Josh Herron Jason, we talked about this and I think because of the pace that we've seen from Josh Herron during all weekend, it was definitely a favorite.
Josh Hayes is still there, man, it's like I love Josh Hayes, I really do. I think it's amazing that he can keep getting these guys back and he's doing it alone. You know and you know that he just has that experience again where everything is okay. I have to get through the chicane a little faster. I have to close this bridge. This gap back to these guys. He ran that great time in 50.1, so he only lost three tenths. a second even with that Bobble you saw down there in that first horseshoe, so the four of them were back behind them, so the three leaders, Escalante Herron and Hayes, gave chase as we approached our second window pit stop.
Take a break when we return with more Daytona 200 racing action. But we're definitely seeing the old saying, traffic give, traffic take away, play out beautifully, uh, because traffic has played a big role, but all in all we come back to these three. I have done well and truly The Big Break, yes, it is a really cool race, this is an exciting game of high speed chess, as you just said when we are looking at these three different manufacturers, as well as Roger with Suzuki, Ducati and Yamaha, these new next generation rules are once again giving us great racing and this race is not disappointing, no not at all, these three of us definitely think about the first pit stop, you see, Hayden Gillum, he lost a lot of time and then there is a pit stop. but he's doing faster lap times than the leaders, so, you know, if a red flag comes out or something, he might be a guy that could get back into the mix on this, but right now we've got three guys, I don't think than none.
Those three will run away, but you see the lappers coming towards them and you know it's easy to make a mistake, you want to hurry up and pass that lapper and try to get a gap, but the risk is worth the reward if you go down. yes, you just mentioned Hayden Gillum, he has now caught up to Danny Eslick and passed him as has PJ Jacobson, so this little trio is now the second trio on the circuit. Greg, if something goes wrong at the front, this is also the fight for the podium, there is a long way to go in this race, but there is a lot of distance between these three, yes, I mean, if they can work together and if Someone up front, you know, has a little Bobble thatstops everyone and runs into a large mass of traffic, something like that, they could be right. on that uh but Gillum has been impressive because his pit stop was pretty slow and he just put in relentless laps like you said Roger and you know Brandon Posh gets a penalty but he beats PJ he beats Danny. esslick is back to fourth place and is giving everything he can, yes he just has to keep the level up and then maybe at the next pit stop, hopefully they won't make that mistake and anything can happen.
I know, oh, big time, from PJ and we're I'm going to send him back to the Mad Booth to pick him up moments before returning to the box section. P.J Jacobson lost forward JP, he is down. He literally he was thinking to myself seeing it, he was thinking, oh, he's still wearing that outside. line a little bit and we saw Heron get caught on that benefit and that's exactly what happens here, you're going to get lost there just a little bit, maybe a little bit of leverage and you hit some bumps, this is what can happen and PJ Jacobson goes down ?
Another of our top contenders will be eliminated from this. You can see that Hayden Gillum and himself caught Danny Esslick in that battle for fourth place and you see that Brandon Posh also manages to pass. PJ Jacobson drops to second horseshoe and that will be his race. I think he will come back to the front if you are new to motorcycle racing. We call that accident that PJ Jacobson had a typical low side accident or when we say lose. Josh Herron goes to the front on his number one War Horse hsbk Racing Ducati New York Ducati V2, the first time in his career, as Hannah told us before that Herron has been able to race with the number one plate and the only time this year that we'll see him on his bike, as we think anyway, because he's moving up to go back to super by class, of course, the former Superbike champion in his own right, you see.
That little look over his shoulder from him, yeah, that's it, did I get by that back marker better than these two guys behind me? You may see him push very hard before getting on this bank because if he doesn't he feels like no one is recruiting him again. we saw him go 48 what did he do what do you do before 48-2 and I think he did 48-3 catching them yes, you knew it in the Dr. in the two laps before him catching it was 48 3 42. He had to run and catch up with these guys and That little Gap, while it doesn't look like much on TV and can close quickly, is another one of those things where if you can get through the chicane or over that. next uh tail Ender is a little faster and a little easier, that will help you.
Now these guys will try to work together to catch him. They will run into the chicane. Greg and will try to close that gap. so they can go back to the draft of the one and he'll be held up here at the chicane Greg, yeah, unless the 270 takes that different line, yeah, exactly right, so that wider line that Heron had to take to try to go around that turn. traffic and it's closed, what I was going to say about Escalante Hayes is not helpful in the draft for Escalante because Hayes can't get there, so if anything, Hayes is dragging Escalante back because he is so far back in the draft. but all for not doing it because the middle of the chicane in Escalante is there again, now this is what helps Hayes to have a draft of two bikes making a big hole in the air and there goes the Yamaha R6 that is placed behind its competitors.
Who is going to lead turn one? It will be Escalante when they get to 292 which is virgus and that will also be a bad place and you can see that Josh has been hanging a little bit, he will have to go on the inside and take a tighter line, Yes, good. I did some text training with Hayes before the race and we always make a couple of jokes about things that I said, hey, I'm going to bet my money. Yes, I think we know that some luck has changed. Today with the twin cup class, Stefano Mesa did a great job for Melissa Paris and that and I was thinking things might change.
Josh says I don't know if I have the bike under me to move down the line. He says I don't know about that, I just saw him be able to get into that draft of these two in front of him and stop next to them across the line so you know for me look where Hayes is on the right. now he's been able to step back and recover, he's been able to recruit these guys and time things on the Greg line, where I think it could be instrumental for him as the laps start to slow down, so we're starting to get into that area where the People are going to start thinking about Pit Stop Ops again in what's probably five laps, so look at the traffic coming down towards the chicane and Hayes is going to be way behind at this point.
Greg will have to have two guys he will have to make do with and the leaders are up front and separating the 103. Alex Arango is just ahead of Hayes. In fact, he has had good speed. He's 20th. He's done 155. ... A Rango came out of our second qualifying group, so there are so many riders trying to get into this Daytona 200 that they split them into two groups and Alex Arango was one of the riders. faster, so Hayes is now left hanging out to dry. a little bit and now Hayes has a lot of work to do JP, you're not lying about the range bike Josh followed him from the chicane to the finish line and was able to pass him as he came down. one so arango with good speed as he's in 19th place right now uh and now we'll see again if Hayes can pull this peg and catch up to the two in front of him.
Hayden Gilman runs strong in fourth place eleven seconds back. he has Eslick with him and Posh right behind him TIG Hobbs May 7 May 8 Matt True Love He is now inside the top 10 and 9 and Taylor Knapp does a very good job in 10th place, top of the top for the best Pro Motorsports team putting that bike under a Rango in Corral Springs, Florida, so Hayes now really has to start pushing the issue. We wait for the cyclists to enter. 23 laps left. Our pit window will start somewhere around 18 to 17 laps remaining. It depends on the teams' strategy also depends on fuel consumption.
I mean, teams want to stretch it out as long as they can to have the freshest tires possible towards the end. Also, Jason, the longer you can go after the second pit stop, if you can manage it. 17 laps to go versus 18 or even 16 laps less fuel you'll have to put in the bike, that's exactly the right thing to do and you know this is it again. Do you take a risk like Posh did last year? How good did the tires look? The technicians of these drivers are looking at the tires in the first store and observing the drop in lap times.
Could someone try it and not change the tires? You know, it would be very, very unlikely that these top three. Guys have to be willing to take that risk, but that's a risk they'd have to take if they were a guy I didn't think they could recruit or if they've lost touch, it seems like Hayes has lost a little bit. There's a little bit of contact right now with these guys in front of him and it looks like he's going to catch someone in turn one again too, but Josh Hayes that lap 48-4 to Escalante 48-6 to Heron 49-0 to Hayes so Escalante right now is trying to put in a big effort before this next pit stop to try to get some sort of Gap.
He won't be able to do it over Heron and now they've really dropped Josh Hayes from behind. He takes the leaders with 54 leading the way, one and behind him is number four, also Jason. I want to mention that we talked about Tire Wars and these top three racers in this race are on Dunlop. Dunlop hasn't won this race in five years. They've heavily developed their Daytona tires specifically for this class, so I know the team under the Dunlop canopy is smiling right now, but there are still plenty of laps 21 and a half left as Escalante looks for grip to climb. bench Aaron gets into the crease to relax Jake this bench is crazy as they hit top speeds at over 170 miles per hour, it can actually be relaxing for a cyclist right?
He definitely can and you know these two guys, they know him. between us very well and as does the majority of our field. They know each other's idiosyncrasies, as Heron will return to the interior of Escalante in what has now become a two-runner race in front. Remember, Greg, we started with about eight runners. I think at the front of this if it is for our first pit stop and that has just started to eliminate some of the other guys due to whatever the reasons are, but you know, the thing now is that these two guys once go to your board and every time you are in second place you will see that you have a big positive number on your board.
Back to Haze, now he'll probably be around plus two or plus three when they go through that. inside the box next time we'll look at the lap times looking at 49.5 490 49 8 for Hayes driving his own win so Heron right now when he comes across the board they're going to come out of this left here and you're going to go down to this international horseshoe when they come out of this curve, well, now it will be Escalante since Heron is too deep. Craig too deep there, that's a big mistake, so now you'll see that it's probably I'm going to say plus three or four on your board or plus two at least back to Hayes and you'll notice that they're starting to separate him a little bit, you can focus a little more on each other, don't forget that Escalante was our first in Our best drivers pitted, so the question is when they will have.
Escalante had a great pit stop, he had a 14-second pit stop, then Heron came and had a 17-second pit stop and had to recover quite a bit. a little bit of time, I think the question is Jason, how much fuel is used when you power your own air versus when you're in the draft? Is it a conservation if you are in the draft or not and how much tire? It fits you? We saw him having to chase and do these lap times that were below what he qualified for pole position so it's kind of a combination, yeah you can save some fuel and I think that's what Posh did so well. the last time. year he was able to conserve a little bit he was able to take care of his tires a little bit the mistakes that you see there when you see Josh Herron running a little deep in the Horseshoe those are the ones that you want to try to eliminate as best you can because now he has to put his head down to try to catch up to Escalante once again Richie Escalante has a good advantage on the banking as he crosses the line, there will be 20 laps left in the Daytona 200 and one bike down, no, it's Hayden Gillum's 95.
Both leaders look, this is at the chicane, but it looked to me like both leaders were coming down to pit Lane Greg and I'm going to take a look at it when they pass Richie. Escalante and Heron are in the pits. Hayden Gillum falls in the middle of the chicane. Greg, so our two leaders are walking down the pit lane together and taking the pressure from these teams right now to make sure they can get their driver out first. Here comes Escalante. They haven't even put the gas in yet, but he goes back and forth. The fuel is in his hair and left part of the screen.
The Ducati team is getting to work. There goes the fuel. Now, of course, where Escalante's team is, it's further down pit lane. Are you going out together? Looks like Heron might have an event. He's trying to get it going. He loses another second or two, but it has to be heroin that leaves the pit first. There goes the pit lane speed limiter released by. Richie Escalante, so the Herons got a big advantage in the frame. Now we will see who did their job better to get out of the pit lane. Now it is a very narrow hole.
I loved how Herron got out of here last time and you. We're going to see that he's going to run that right knee along these cones, Craig, as he passes by there that's only about six feet wide, so yeah, he's going to look back and right now he's thanking his team under his helmet for that amazing pit stop. and he's going to go out and this guy we've always met at the start of races with new tires, this guy knows how to score the laps early, we'll get a direct indication that we'll be able to look at our splits and see exactly what he's earned at this stop in the pits Josh Herron set sail for the last part of this race we think the pit stops are over for this guy, he has 19 and a half laps left, we will see how he does in the On the other hand, well, we talked about how the team can set the difference in these endurance races with the stops and I'll tell you what, that War Horse Racing Ducati NYC team just uncorked a beauty, Michael, yes, that was poetry in motion that arrived. together they came out a couple of seconds apart and you have to say that Josh Herron got that start to get into the pits.
Lane Nail, didn't it look like it was on Rails Escalante? A little cautious as we now see the third rider of that. Lead trio Josh Hayes heading down to Pit Lane now it's their turn, not out of this Roger, but this, the Squid Hunter team that got a nail, yeah, they gotta nail this and you know Josh is going to make up a lot of time to coming out of the pit lane in those first laps, that's where he stood out throughout his career, sowhich you know is a little behind, but with the lappers we've been talking about all day, you never know what can happen, there are still 19 laps left. so you just have to stand there and watch something happen and Josh needed that stop because clearly his tires were gone.
I think they were gone because he had to make up that space from the last pit stop and he was alone, so he's pushing his own. and you know that pit stop was great. I think the team wanted to prove something. They didn't win that pit stop challenge last night. You're right. Yes, it seems there are problems for tlpc in front. Danny esslick and he waited. He had to set that record, he seems to be gone, let's get back to the guys to take us through the final 19 laps here and more to come at the Daytona 200.
Frantic pit stops are made as Danny Essler comes in and his team tobc had problems. It was difficult to get him out of the pits while we were on the break. Josh Hayes came in, he was in third place and they also had a nice clean pit stop, so Danny Eslick as the team was trying to get those axles and Jason and the front wheel set up. and you could see it, I was a little scared, as a driver you know you're literally 35 seconds away when you come out of pit lane to go back up to over 100 miles per hour, so you want to do it.
I'm sure everything feels good and comfortable. You saw him looking over the front of that bike, but I'm looking at Heron Escalante from his lap and there was a two-second gap for Heron over Escalante on that lap, so there's that. the two seconds that can make or break you and we're getting a good look at Esslic right now he keeps shaking his head, he knows what he missed in the pits but it happens here doesn't it? I've seen it so many times where those pit stops are crucial as I can see that Brandon Posh just came into the pits as well, you can see that young man is in the pits like Davis is in the pits and there's also the 96 bike that we're on. looking at the aerial shot the tobc racing team check it out again this one looks good as you can see the axle goes to the right in a nice clean stop for Brandon Posh so he goes to the pit speed limiter lane, of course, has 15 seconds. penalty added to your time at the end of the race as long as you don't exceed pit lane speed this time Susie crosses that line, it's game on Jason, what are you seeing now with the lap times?
I just studied this like while you were talking, Greg Escalante has his head down and is going 49-1. Herron scored 50.2, so Heron probably had a problem with maybe a back marker or something. We've seen him be able to run 48 now that he knows that Escalante has I chased him again now it's going to be a chess game until the end of this race who will be able to best conserve their tires and run out of that chicane on the last lap. I think what I've seen so far Escalante is extremely fast in the middle and out of that chicane, so he'll be able to put that in his back pocket and have some confidence, it'll give him a lot of confidence knowing that he's been able to.
Run Josh Herron's number one down. It's amazing that we see the g6r 750. PJ Jacobson returns to pit lane, so we got that bike back up. Didn't he pick up that bike again? We don't see it at our peak. 20 at the moment so he got the bike back on, he probably already pitted once, now he's back, this could just be a routine stop, although maybe he didn't come back on Greg, not sure why you would have thought that . They probably would have changed tires and stuff before but man no real problems with that bike it doesn't look like PJ sees that the leaders are coming to the triovel right now like PJ.
The team fires up that bike and takes it out again it will go another turn down. There are the two leaders on the screen on the right. You saw the two leaders pass quickly in turn one. Heron opened up a little bit again down there in turn one. and we've seen him do that a couple of times, as well as the long horseshoe race with 17 laps to go, we're just amazed at the fuel economy both riders get from their bikes and feel like they can keep going. 20 laps with confidence on those Dunlop tires, they're both coming off the seat a little bit, I saw that outside the horseshoe there and here, a little outside turn one, but you know they'll know now.
We've got what they've got, let's look at Josh Hayes right now, seven and a half seconds back. Hayes came in third and you've got Posh 24 seconds back overall for these guys and we know he's going to get a penalty like You said Hobbs is in fifth place right now, Greg and then you've got Jeff. Camp Peterson Taylor may sleep with Gillum with true love. Some of this will continue to change a bit as the pit stops work themselves out. There are 17 laps left until there are more penalties. evaluated by time and score of the last pit stops fluria wow Blake Davis I see there on the screen Greg, he got one, too, right? uh Damien gigoloff also with a penalty, there's Jeff may coming in and you heard Jeff may before the start of this race saying this could be his last Daytona 200.
We've seen Jeff leading Superbike races in the past. It has been a very long career for Jeff May and this could perhaps be his last pit stop. the Daytona 200. There the 99 takes to the track with 16 laps remaining in the 2023 edition of the Daytona 200. Back to our top two Richie Escalante on that Mission Vision m4x Star Suzuki wheel, the only appearance for him this year in this next generation super sport category as he continues to fly the flag in the super bright class at Moto America, just like the driver behind him, Josh Herron, and for Josh Herron, if he can win this race, Jason won it in 2010.
The driver who has the biggest gap in years between his first win and his most recent win is Miguel Dumel 14 years since the first time Miguel won it to the last time he won it for Josh Herron if he can do it. It will be 13 years from the first to the last. Let's go to Hannah Greg, as you guys mentioned at the beginning of this race. Josh Herron lost almost 20 pounds from last season for this race, specifically by riding a lot of mountain biking without making it to the finish line. He weighs so much that he feels better on this bike and even on the superbike for next season.
He has been working quite a bit with Roger Hayden as the new driver coach. He said Raj is very detail-oriented and very passionate, so he feels lucky to have someone. out there looking for him and helping him all weekend and Roger Hayden, of course, part of our Moto America Live Plus team, which you can make sure to visit modemerica.com and get a subscription to Moto America Live Plus for the season with video on demand and all the race action, including qualifying practices offered during each weekend of the Moto America Championship. Moto America live. Also, now the Gap to third place is tremendous back to Josh Hayes, who is doing his best to push his own air, but Jason as we continue. with these laps it's not over yet, there are still 15 to go, but for Josh Hayes looking to break the all-time wins record, it's starting to slip through his fingers, it's a bit and I really think it was the last quarter of his last stint where, to be honest, he had a run of bad luck going through some of the back markers and the one with the two guys he caught in the chicane there was really the breaker for him and you know you saw him fight and you continued to fight to try to get back with the leaders, but at that point, when you lose the draft and you lose your toe around here, you lose a lot of time, the two guys that are going to work together, um. and that's ultimately I think what cost Hayes a little bit in this race and you saw there's PJ Jacobs at 66 right behind Josh Hayes if you just join us, PJ Jacobson, who you know would be a front runner in this race, crashed. or he crashed at the beginning of the race and is a lap down.
PJ is currently credited with 19th position, so Josh Hayes climbed the bank in third and would enjoy a Jason podium without a doubt, but there is only one position that Josh Hayes likes in his Advanced stage. and that is the first position. I'm glad you said that. You know that and knowing Josh he's going to be back for another two or three years trying to win this race and like I said he stays in shape and you know when I've got guys like these two, these two will be at the top end of our super grid bites this year at Moto America, when we head to Road Atlanta in about four weeks, we'll see Escalante and Heron in Superbikes and, uh, you.
I know they are young guys who are still working hard, obviously a Superbike champion and Heron is already a Super Sport champion. He's won thousands of shares, I think the championship too, so if you look at someone like Heron right now, he's still at the top of his game. so Josh Herron leads the way from Richie Escalante to the frame when we come back there's 14 laps to go in the Daytona 200 you don't want to miss a moment of the action you know through that legendary international horseshoe you run open there's a little There's little seam there, almost caught Josh Herron, caught PJ Jacobson, so you still have to keep an eye on the track itself, but Roger very quickly explains to people why inlap and outlap are so important on it.
He stopped well just because you can make up time. You know some guys are going to be a little sketchy because they have new tires and you know if you can accelerate right away, maybe you can get two or three seconds. The first two corners when you come out, so it's really important and you see what Josh Herron did. He was really good there and he also came into the pits trying to get to that 50 miles per hour as late as possible, but also that risk as you could. Risking a penalty in the pit lane and we've seen that happen so, as is everything in racing, it's all about risk versus reward and right now Heron and Escalante are Aaron and Escalante have actually risked perfectly at this stage , there are still many races ahead.
The battle at the front continues during the Daytona 200 edition to 2023 and the number one plays Josh Herron on the hsbk warhorse running Ducati New York pentagonally B2 on top of the banks and below goes Richie Escalante, the driver from Mexico in the Mission Vision m4x Star Suzuki GSXR 750 wheel, so we have two different engine configurations, two different manufacturers, same tire brand, Dunlop, two different countries, two different levels of experience on the high Banks of Daytona, Jason, there is no Doubt and you know I'm sitting there. And you know, we've seen it for so many years, we've seen both the euphoria and the heartbreak in this race.
Craig and these two guys have now broken up and you know, it seems like when you get to this position you just got to know the guy you're with very well and they've all tested each other, everyone knows where everyone's holding back, everyone knows what have underneath them when it comes to their competitors in the draft and how their bikes are performing and now it just becomes a matter of strategy where you know you don't want to let go of the guy in front of you and when is one of them decide to sit on top of each other, when does one of them decide, you know, there's a big problem. enough advantage Greg, wait, wait, can people still do that?
Jay because I remember a 750 Super Sport race between you and Ben Spies and watching them on the bank going so slow they almost slid off the bank, yeah, well, that. It was the last lap on Ben and he knew me pretty well, even though he was young, the thing is, once again, we come back, there are so many different ways to win this race, I mean one of the most amazing. I was once Scott Russell, you know, falling in the international horseshoe race and crashing into his bike. The iconic image of him picking up the bike, uh, or jumping on his bike, picking it up and coming back and winning, will always be something I still don't do.
I don't think he did, but he was very good around here and he understood things that people know when you talk to people, they're like Scott used to be able to see the air or something around here, you know, and he was just very good and You know, it's a matter of strategy who has the advantage here, for example, who would you bet your money on? It's very difficult to say because everyone has tested each other in the same way every time they cross that testing oval that they are thinking about. for themselves okay I think I can cut it down the line and you can see Harem with a very late downshift there they actually now shift there so maybe it just didn't get going it's good to see he was able to fix that stuff. but yes, in terms of strategy, you simply think about who has the advantage at the moment and it is a difficult game and we have 12 laps to go and keep in mind that Ducati has only won the Daytona 200. in 2011 with Jason Desalvo and that was a race that actually only lasted 42 laps with a green flag and in which we had an extended red flag, they weretime ran out, which was very unusual because this Daytona 200 was run by the people here in At the Daytona International Speedway you have to go 200 miles, so for that day that situation is very unusual, so this would be the first time that Josh Herron can achieve this victory without a Ducati as one of the Daytona 200 that travels the full 200 miles.
For Richie Escalante Jay, this is the thing when you know you've watched Richie Escalante race for many years, as we have Josh Herron. What defines both runners is aggression. I think we see it on the last lap if it's because the pit stops were made, my concern is fuel consumption. Both drivers will also have to do 20 laps with the Full Sail tires wearing down, so the question is whether anyone sees a crack, just a little bit of daylight, as Escalante now saw. I came back and saw this distance. It's a matter of I'm going to try as hard as I can to try to make that break.
If you look at what just happened this lap, Richie is so good in the middle of that chicane and he leaves Heron behind. about three, four to six bike splits in the middle of the chicane to the exit, so I think, in my opinion, Richie has a little bit of an advantage once he gets to the chicane, whether he decides to be second or lead. I just watched him go through the chicane and in fact there is a big mistake again by Heron in the international horseshoe and these are the mistakes that make his nasta work a little harder to catch Richie again but Escalante finishes me off demonstrate. that he can lead from the chicane to the finish line, so man, so many herons go deep again, Greg, he's in that second horseshoe, he'll go over those bumps and now he's pushing, he's a little frantic trying to reach Hannah.
Jason Ritchie said that he felt like he had a pretty good pace on his own in many of our practice and qualifying sessions, including this morning on a green track. He was happy to see himself reach 48 alone. He believes he has the rhythm. try to get away, but he said he'll wait to really assess the situation, obviously I think he was hoping to be in a little bit bigger group here at the end with him and Heron, it's just a waiting game. Richie knows what he needs. You have to be patient to achieve this when you look at the leaves.
Hannah, after a practice session or after qualifying, each rider will review them and you know it's on paper. Greg, right? We can literally look and see. people we think about, but it always gets eliminated and you start to see little problems with different writers and things we always think there will be 15 riders at the end, there never is, as Camp Peterson heads back to the pits again, a frustrating day. for the attack team obviously and himself, but here you go on the left side of the screen. Heron Kenny passes and it looks like he can, but everything will focus on getting out of the chicane, so Heron has now shown that he can.
Draft last new hair and I'm that guy that never goes away and that's what I've always liked about him, the tenacity of working his way to the front, I mean, 42 48 2 and 48-3 essentially by himself . Yeah, to get the rhythm back, I mean there aren't many riders who can do that. In fact, we haven't seen anyone else capable of doing those kinds of times and he never gives up and that's what you love about him. where this lead just started, even though Jason was through the chicane, yeah Josh Herron was taking a much tighter line on that lap, he basically took Richie Escalante's line, so I think Josh is still out there trying to play with how can I get over this.
The climb has gone inwards and will push the issue as Aaron is really struggling with some grip by the time the bike really starts to move under heavy acceleration. Watch when he comes off the bank. Take a look at that back. Dunlop and let's see where he is, he's just got a little bit of movement, not compared to Escalante, but let's see what Heron does when they get to the chicane because I think he slowed it down halfway through the chicane, but very slightly slowed it down a little bit. a little tighter in the middle because I couldn't see that one, so that's a good catch for you because that's exactly where and you know that's the thing: he's Savvy.
He's going to know what he has to do and now he's going to lead. the chicane. Now let's see if he keeps it a little tighter in the middle. You know, again, you can see Escalante's bike turn much better in the middle of that chicane. and to me you have to get through that chicane as well as you can see how early Escalante can get out of the draft when they come out of that chicane, that's the push that is just get through the chicane and get out of there, yeah, but the chicane that the line of closed finish is not on the slope, it is where they are coming to now, so Heron can pass and Lead crosses and right now these two are crossing, try to pass right now if that were the end of the race.
You wouldn't even know who was leading, yeah, it was Heron by four thousandths of a second, which would have been almost half of what the race finish was last year for the driver on the right, Brandon Posh, who is I think. Esslic, isn't he there? I think he's the only one with white, yes, yes, he's in fourth place currently. Brandon Posh Josh Hayes along the way somehow, so we'll have an idea of ​​96 when he arrives and crosses the finish line. because he's currently one lap away, he's 19 and a half seconds away, he's 35 seconds behind the two on the left side of the screen, our battle for first place and another 15.9 behind Josh Hayes, so, Except for some disaster for the first three, it seems that Brandon Posh is I will not be able to repeat and a little traffic in the laps, yes, for Josh Herron, the door opens for Escalante like a hair and once again looking for grip on the part rear, yes, but it got into the dirty stuff a bit due to the action. that he had to take to get past that, to get past Greg's back mark, so you know, he wouldn't really look at that too much, it's going to be a little dirty out there and he'll get that thing.
It turned on and I think Heron was expecting this Rider to uh, he thought about going down inside of him for a minute and then it seemed to me like right now he wanted to lean under him, he was waiting for the guy to lean over and it just never happened so he ends up coming out. in that dirty little place. You can see things light up, but there's one guy who's comfortable doing it sideways, that's him, so again Escalante with a good run out of the chicane. Now we are arriving. In that place Greg there are eight laps left to see how much traffic there is, they are going to divide the traffic from that bank towards the trioval choosing different lines as the laps continue to decrease there are eight left until 54 which is in the rest of this field wow oh Escalante with nowhere to go and a surprise move from Heron man and enough to clear Escalante and he falls and he's not happy about it, yeah, yeah, that's not good, there he wants to go back. to the bike, he'll try to pick it up and uh we're going to have to look at it and see if you know it looks like the handlebars broke and well it looked like an electronic system the dashboard and right there it is uh I.
I mean Josh was on the bike and he turned around and was in front of him. I mean, that sounds like a racing incident to me. Here goes the hair and the interior of the Escalante is a little wider than normal. I mean Heron is looking around the bend and he's right next to him. I don't know, Jay, your decision, no, it's hard to watch, you're actually going to see these guys looking up on the screen, now Escalante visibly upset there on the right, like he should be, and you. I know there are eight laps left to finish in one.
I have mixed feelings. I mean, I can see both sides of this right now. You know you're trusting the guy around you, especially at that point, it's a race, I mean, flat. It's a race and Josh actually did something really bad. It's hard to say. Escalante. I didn't think he was on the width, so, yeah, these guys have been through that and they do 40 laps together. You know, Jay, you and me. I've been doing this for a long time and often when a rider feels like he's a little hot, his natural reaction will be to go in, yes, and they will, but they'll look up. to see where the other guy is, sometimes I don't know, I mean, look either way, we're in this situation we're in right now, which means Josh Herron leads the way over Josh Hayes and so, that's going to move Brandon.
Posh into third place and Teague Hobbs, who's been on a great run, will be working his way up to fourth place, yeah, it's, man, it's. I'm a little shocked, if I'm honest with you. about what just happened and you know from the angles that we've seen that Heron made the decision that he wanted to go down the inside and pretty early and he had made a very late downshift there, but we've seen him do that as well. You know, it's hard to call that anything more than a racing incident, it's just that I think these two riders have settled into a rhythm, they're not going to pick on each other, they're going to leave it up to the tall Banks to decide. the race and it just didn't happen that way, okay, we're going to take a break when we come back, we're going to have our last six laps.
Richie Escalante had a great race but he went out early. We'll find out how this finale ends, we'll take you to the checkered flag after this, it looked like it was going to be a tire battle until the end of this one with Josh Herron driving with abandon and looking like Richie Escalante. driving with controlled aggression, well Josh Herron makes the big move to inside contact and Escalante goes down, he's under review but at this point it's Josh Herron in front for over 20 seconds back to Joshua Hayes back to the MAV booth completely alone. The high benches are Josh Herron's number one plate on his War Horse HSP K racing Ducati New York pentagoli V2 after an incident with leader Richie Escalante, those two were going back and forth throughout the race and are two lines converging on sixth place. it's Cameron Peterson who is actually a lap down, he's attacking Yamaha and Peterson has a lot of pace to keep up with Josh Herron so he's not in contention right now but Cameron Peterson Jason do you think Peterson Are you interested in letting loose?
I do not want to say. Yeah, I mean, yeah, he'll want to and he realizes that he probably won't be called Heron and Heron. There are two things that Aaron is going to do, he is going to be looking at this board and we have these big pylons here, so he is going to look. that camera's not running, you know, as close as he is, he'll realize he's one lap down, so Heron will realize that Camp Peterson is one lap down, so you know, he's still I'm, I'm still in a bit of shock. I can usually go black or white in situations and it's definitely gray for me.
I'm more disappointed, I think, than Greg in the fact that we had a tremendous race. Going to the front he really wanted to see how it would develop and now we are not going to have that opportunity. We're talking about the incident between Josh Herron and Richie Escalante that happened a few moments ago on the front lines. Richie Escalante ended up in the gravel trap, it's Cameron Peterson, of course, back there, as I mentioned, Jay, let's take a look at what's going on again, yeah, so if you look, he's in there real tight and they're going to touch him. here, so that will be enough. where Heron is going to open up, I think Greg is on the tee here so you know, you almost need to see how far away Heron is, but that could also be because they touched it and this will be the the the hole the M4 hole is the M4 no, no, that's the Heron part, yeah, okay, yeah, so they're down there talking and you know it's, uh, it's just a bad situation that you know, with Heron we've seen Heron run from wide open there. several times and he went a little wide on the exit, but there is a normal line that he would normally take on that corner, so Escalante saw it because in that replay we clearly saw that Ante was trying to lift him up for a moment. he saw it because he knew Heron was there now the thing is you get up and wait okay I'll let this guy go through the only thing that makes me lean towards Richie's favor is because Heron still made contact with him even though Richie got up the bike, so again it's one of those things where people are going to look at things, people are going to have hundreds of different opinions about what's going on and yeah, Heron has gone deep in there a few times, hasn't he?
So? So, and that could have been the case again, so yeah, but what we do know is that the North American amafim have that incident under review right now, so the incident between one and 54 is under review once we know what. Your decision is one we'll let you know, but for now it's Josh Herron's number one dish leading the way. He has 23 seconds on Josh Hayes. In fourth place, he has another 35 seconds or another 11 seconds behind Josh's Brandon Posh Teague Hobbs, who's best finish has been sixth in the Daytona 221 in fourth Hayden Gillum in fifth and Cameron Peterson, who is just behind Josh Herron in sixth place ahead of Jeff may Taylor nap Blake Davis Danny esslick Ben young Jason Farrell Matt true love in 13th Jason Waters up to 14th and Richie Escalante, so Escalante will still begetting tires, it will all depend on what leader Josh Hayes does, yeah, I don't think anyone will go. to get there in 10 laps they're obviously going to be beaten even if the tire's a little bit worn and, you know, the t-cobs on that front row, well done by that team with everything they were dealing with and probably last. 20 20 minutes give or take 30 minutes the fact that he's in the front row gives this guy a real chance.
Josh Hayes was 23 and a half seconds back, so this gives the number four a chance to win this race again. The revs are high at the red light. It's over, so here we go with the restart of the Daytona 200, race number 81, and it looks like Brandon Posh will take us to turn one, Teague Hobbs in second, Josh Hazen third and a couple of bikes from disruptive racing right back there. fourth and fifth, yeah, that would be, uh, I'm trying to think who the two of them are. I know that's Hayden Gillum, hey, that's Jeff May, that's exactly right, yeah, so you see these guys getting into the international Posh horseshoe over Hayes right now, I think.
Gillum simply forced his way or entered that third place, so they head towards the vast Kink. I'm looking for herons there in sixth place right now, it won't cost you anything to be able to run up to them. These guys up front as he goes around Jeff May towards that second horseshoe, so we already had 52 full laps as you heard before and now it looks like we're going to hit 62. So for the first time on this restart, Brandon. Fox takes us to the bench Josh Hayes trying to get some momentum going into the draft for that triple Triumph, we'll see if that R6 has some legs and the fact that there are five guys still in the lead, those are the five that were.
Kind of a look at Heron Hayes Posh T cops and Hayden Gillum are the five and you can see here that Heron is there as they're probably going to put him in second or third when they go into the chicane so he's right here behind Posh. T hops back in third Haze up to fifth place now, now I can get a taste of what it's like to run up front with this group on that Vision m4x Star Suzuki wheel. There shouldn't be anything, the good thing is that there shouldn't be any traffic. Greg, for 10 laps of this race, this guy should have a clean race to the checkered flag, so T Cobbs leads the Daytona 200 over Herron's boss, right behind Hayden Gillum.
Aaron is going to try to go on the outside as they go down into turn one and make that pass and he does, now he's going to try to get his head down through this section of the infield. You can see Cam Peterson there now too, so Heron comes out of that penalty on the grid at the front. T Cobbs does a great job, he's not really hindering anyone, he's Cameron Peterson looking over his shoulder. He is in a bit of a strange situation as a cameraman because he wants to go to the front and get up there, but he realizes that he has one lap less and he doesn't want to be there.
He starts off messing up the guys who are trying to make a run for the win and you can see he had some pace there, he wanted to go around the inside of Hayes and try to give Josh enough room to slow him down in that horseshoe. but right now Heron is in the place he needs to be, he wants to be and now it's up to these two GSXR 750s to try to run him over again on the high bank, they go now, let's see. who has the draft and the pass, you can see that it looks like moves are being made for fifth place on the right side of the screen and now for third.
So Posh, who had early pace on that first lap, the only thing we don't know Jason and This is really the unknown right now with the number of laps we have left in this race, who has the tires under them, that's right, because What did you do during that whole period, even if you were alone, did you abuse those tires and how? Was it heat cycle? No, it's exactly fine and you can even see Brandon's bike. I could sit moving slightly on the bench right now and looking to see if Hayes can recruit Camp Peterson and Hayden Gillum and it doesn't look like he could really be there and you can see that Cam has a bike under him right now he wants to go. and challenge the front right now with these guys you see, Heron and cam Peterson are going to try to go around the outside.
I have another Faller who looks like number 103. He had a good career. Pro Motorsports' top racer came in at 18th place and unfortunately will be left out of it. We saw him before in the race with a good and fast motorcycle. The second part of the chicane again, that's where. We saw Hayden Gilman, man, what kind of work did Hayden Gillum do to get his bike back? Stay on the lead lap earlier when we saw him roll over. Incredible, yes, very good, so Cameron Peterson, one more position and he will be released, that is the 45 we have.
We're talking about the blue and yellow R6 performance attacking bike and we'll see him in Moto America's Medallion Superbike class as a regular this year and keep in mind we saw Cam pit for the third time so he's sure got tires newer under him than the guys in front, so I'm sure everyone knows where everyone is and if Heron sees Camp Peters to go buy it, it won't bother him too much, other than it's a deal where if the camera puts in frontNow look what happens here. I'm curious to see if Heron tries to attack him entering the chicane or if Cameron even tries to advance Aaron into the chicane.
I like the fact that I'm seeing that the group is starting to be able to stay together a little bit. Hayes has fallen back from almost sixth place moving forward, we haven't really been able to see Hayden Gillen move forward at all, right? Don't you know that he is he? Probably also in terms of size, the biggest competitor, I don't think in this group, I mean the Posh brand, really tall, tall, yeah, as well as Hayden Gillum Gillum, who has a lot of careers ahead of him, has a little bit more weight than Posh, criticizes Hobbs and Hayden Gillum there as they make it big and Jeff loves watching it.
Jeff can also run in that lead group. Camp Peterson moves up the inside as Heron opens up again, so now Cameron Peterson, who is a lap down, breaks loose so that the race leader is still number one, behind Heron at number four. Hayes is in second place with Brandon Posh in the tobc win, he is in third place for anyone thinking about it or asking, you have to remember Greg, this race was about getting rid of the flag. Once again, Camp Peterson would get back to that lead lap, so it's still very important for this guy to get to the front of the pack and try to lead across the line to try to get back to that lead lap in case he Another incident occurred and I would put him back on that lead lap for any kind of restart and also Tire Works would be back where it looked like Dunlop might have had this race in the books and now with Brandon Posh in the mix and Jeff.
He might be out there running on those Pirelli tires too. You can see Cameron Peterson starting to try to get away from everyone. He really doesn't want to be mistreated. He's just trying to run at his own pace. I think Jason, it's a better plan for Cameron Peterson. Now he could see that Heron is going to try to get under him here and he does. He makes that pass. We know when this race started, when this restart started, we showed Five Guys on that lead lap, so right now on our screens we're showing Camp Peterson in second place, but I think he's a lap down, yeah, he definitely was. one lap back when we had timing this morning with the red flag, unless they came back on the last lap, yeah that's not it, I still wouldn't do it.
Is there any difference in that particular situation, so here we go Greg, what do we have six left now? Karen takes over Josh Hayes at number four trying to find a space that was awfully close Cameron Peterson looking an inch higher inside looks over his shoulder and sees a lot of things, oh Josh Herron with his foot out of the stirrup, not sure what was it about, well they're so tight right now so it's five and a half laps to go. Josh Herron leads the way we know. that he's in the number one spot, he's on the lead lap, as is Josh Herron.
Our timing and scoring shows Cameron Peterson in second place and it looks like this on our screens, but Jay, we're pretty sure he was one lap behind. he has so much grip on the start, this is Camp Peterson that he can almost run past these guys, he has a little chat. I can see him going into turn six, but he's able to spin the bike back under the guys in the middle. of the corners just because of those newer tires that he has because of the last pit stop that he had to make, so you can see the pace that he has right now, now let's see if Hayes can enter the dual bike draft .
Posh is trying to see Posh's bike moving again, even coming off that bench you can see it just wallowing slightly, so Jason informs us that due to the way the situation was resolved without going into too much technical detail, the position is position, so Cameron Peterson is leading this race, so what we see in our time and score is correct, so Cameron Peterson has a chance to win the Daytona 200, just like anyone else, so Cameron Peterson is down, Josh Herron is up. top Brandon Posh on the Triumph trying to get the 3p is Ducati versus Triumph versus Suzuki versus Yamaha Dunlop versus Pirelli with five laps to go in the Daytona 200M the race extended after a 52 lap red flag so Hayden Gillum now he steps up to where we expected to see him get there before Hayden Gillum won't be afraid to stick his elbows out either, as we know, and he's solidly in that second spot while Hayes is being dragged back here a little shaky.
What happened there? Craig, but Josh probably returns to seventh place. Look, there are now four Horsemen going to the front. Hayden Gillum, looking down, goes down the inside of Heron, his hair and opens up a little on that quick turn. and now Hayden Gillum leads the Daytona 200 for the first time. Amazing, we've seen T Cobbs lead Hayden Gillum lead Brandon Posh Josh Hayes Cameron Peterson Josh Herron PJ Jacobson has been in the lead at one point, now we have four guys, we have a serious breakaway, although now it looks like these four guys here they're trying to get away and away from that the rest of that battle and just like last year we had four riders up front we have four more again for the 81 running here so the guys behind are going to do their best to try to catch up with the T-cops who are trying to drag them away.
It seems like you've done a good job. Hayes is again close to the exit and is able to climb onto the back. Hobbs, but now he'll need that bike in front of him to get him closer to those other four bikes when they arrive this time Greg, it'll be four coming down Cameron Peterson oh look at the aggressive move across the bank for the interrupted races of the 95 Hayden Gillum, there goes Herron, good draft and pass maneuver, man, everyone is back together, so four Rider Breakaway didn't last long, the benches here at Daytona allow us to keep the races as close as you want and I think that's what you saw.
The T-cops brought Josh Hayes back to this group and now Hayes starts going to work. He looks like he's out of Brandon Posh, posh, as we saw last year in Gangrag, he was very comfortable. being in a passing position gives Hayes a little approval gave him a little room there Hayden Gillum on that GSXR 750 Suzuki leads the way on the Yamaha R6 the 600cc machine Cameron Peterson attacks the Yamaha performance and there there's Heron number one on his Ducati V2 and let's call 22 Blake Davis, what a great job to see you, our twins cup champion there in this battle with these guys, he just ran a 50.7, so obviously he's using exactly the Same tubes as these. guys because it's in this mix, so the 22 on Blake Davis is doing a great job right now of providing this experience with all these guys that you've probably been watching compete for the last two years in some of the biggest classes to the ones Blake Davis is going to school.
Here a little and see what it's like to run up front with all of them drafting a pass in the chicane to the point that goes to Cameron Peterson's 45 in the Revenge tent looking for the victory after missing it by seven thousandths of a second in his first. Daytona 200 race last year, but Hayden Gillham, who has yet to run another race after this one, the Baggers Mission King is trying to get in front right now and actually looks comfortable leading this race , but look how many runners are behind. the chance to win this Riders at The Fray Fort White on the bench with three laps to go, it's time to start formulating your plan and it will be Cameron Peterson leading us to turn one, Josh Hayes behind, in four places, just behind by Josh.
Herron then Cameron Peterson in the 45 Hayden Gillum in the95. Josh Aaron, number one, hits Josh Hayes, they got close there, yeah, no harm, no foul. Brandon Posh falls behind in fifth place. Have you seen Posh do this last year, the question is. has the pace, who has the tires after the red flag, two and a half laps to go, Blake Davis in 22, behind PJ Jacobson in 66. He could come out of nowhere, he's behind that group, Jeff It could also be that Aaron is fighting for that rear grip off the banking, but when that Ducati goes into Full Sail, we know it's got a lot of grunt, but look at the gap Cameron Peterson is putting on the field at the time Jason you talked about that, he came. with a late pit stop due to his early race issues and we have to speculate that Cameron Peterson has the newer tires in the field, certainly he has newer tires.
I think he was only there maybe five. laps six laps on those tires where everyone else had been there for a full race almost and you know it's going to pay off and you can see now Hayden Gillum doing the best he can, he'll take it back to the caution here and to the side of Hayes. in the draft of those two behind and they're saying wow, wow, that's a big speed difference, he's not crossing the line? It was Hayden Gillum leading it with two laps to go, Josh Herron trying to get around the outside and Cameron.
Peterson, he opens up, he's going to lose a couple spots and he took Brandon Posh with him. Blake Davis is in third place, oh Blake David, this is in third place. I love seeing it thermal. Blake Davis runs in from Lynchburg Virginia Blake Davis, number 22. He's racing some of the best in the world, but a big job with a lap and a half left and this extended Daytona 200, an affair that's now scheduled to last 62 laps , five more of 57 in a restart race, the last 10 laps is Hayden Gillum who leads the way with the number 95. Borough Kentucky in the disruptive races Suzuki GSXR 750 part of the next generation motorcycles the old school Yamaha R6 the Triton true the torque benchmark for all bikes in the next generation category the Yamaha R6 prepared for attack performance Wow, Blake Davis, for the breakthrough at the rear, gets behind these two guys.
Double drafts will put you in second when they enter the chicane. Now you will see if he can pass that attack. R6 in front of him. Cam Peterson horses he knows. This time he comes to the White Flag, looks over his shoulder and sees that he has retreated a little. Now you've got him lining up three wides that will help Herron while he gets the draft, take that Ducati to In the end, it might be a little early for Heron to do that just because let's see if these other guys can back up on that Ducati Hayes that he's now showing some speed as he descends towards the platform.
The white flag is flying, here we go, the final. lap of the Daytona 200. Brandon Posh is there too, two time winner Josh Aaron hasn't won it since 2010 Hayes has never won it Blake Davis, are you kidding me? I love it, it's great to see him doing this and Hayden Gillum. Also and there's probably a guy, oh Cam, he went in deep, you can see he was trying his best to stop the bike. You saw R6 chattering right in front, he was trying to stay away from Hayes' back, everyone is trying to box in. in a position Greg that will put them in the most advantageous spot in that race as Hayes looks to get down the inside of Camp Peterson for that second horseshoe doesn't make it look like who's coming Fourth place Brandon Posh slides down the inside of Blake Davis and has placed in exactly the same place it was this time last year.
The chicane is going to make the difference. Josh Herron hasn't been the strongest driver in the chicane throughout the race. Can he make it? Look who's inside. It's Josh Hayes as he drives toward the bank. Haring turns towards the edge of the bank, so now it's Josh Hayes leading the way. They will take us to the chicane, who will have the last braking and wants to lead the exit. chicane go five open Blake Davis down on the bottom here goes Josh Hayes now they'll sit down and break for the chicane who'll want to take the spot Josh Herron Josh Hayes feels like he has to lead from the front, he's going to try to get through the chicane, look at the Gap, look at that Gap here and he lost the case now, that will be enough.
I don't think so because here are three very fast motorcycles behind him, but Hayes is there. starting to stop it, we don't see any big movements behind it, but they are trying to time it perfectly. The checkered flag awaits. Josh Hayes does nothing but daylight in front of him. Has he done enough? Here comes Josh Herron around the inside and outside goes Brandon Posh to the checkered flag and Jason Bridmore is Josh Herron who wins the Daytona 200 by seven hundredths of a second over Josh Hayes Brandon Posh in third Cameron Peterson fourth Hayden Gillum in fifth Blake Davis will be credited with the sixth place PJ Jacobson and seven Tea Cobbs in eight Jeff on May 9 and Danny Essling place intense wow, how close do you like that Josh Herron played that to perfection after being penalized with six sand points in the reboot Heron was able to achieve another heartbreak for him Brandon Posh always finds his way back to the front camera.
Peterson was there, but there's that run where you know Heron went through the middle of the chicane and you like to say he lost the front and went sideways on the exit. Hayes wanted to get out of there, that's probably what he thought was going to be his best shot and he ends up getting so close. Let's take another look at the end Jason, this is what seven hundredths of a second looks like as they pass by. Look at the space Hayes had, but man, the freight train is rolling, yeah, and everyone behind it is trying to get to that spot right now.
Posh is probably thinking it's going to be a repeat of last year, but here it can. pass and pass, so that's as close as you want, here's what it looks like at 178 miles per hour and on the horse. war hsbk racing Ducati New York team and ducati's second win in 81 years at Daytona and first over full race distance, we'll find out what that race was like and more when we return from this break as Josh Herron and that Ducati NYC bike from War Horse Racing are in celebration mode here, look at the fist, wave to the crowd, an incredible finish Here, looking at the monitor, the top six covered by less than two tenths of a second, Roger, simply incredible and as you watched this unfold race, it seemed to me that Heron's strategy from the beginning was to be aggressive to get to the front. everyone chases him and that red flag comes back and he wins with so much time.
I thought Hayes had it with that chicane run, but Heron had enough, yeah, he had enough and I mean coming into the race, you know, working with Josh. I was talking about how he wants to be aggressive, but the main thing is to try to tell him that it's a long race, be patient, don't get nervous and even with that red flag that they took away a 23 second lead, I mean that's going to work for him. Sting with five. There are turns to go so here in the main communication, Batman, it could have been anyone's career, that was crazy and Blake Davis, what a career, what a journey for Blake Davis, that was incredible, yeah, it was just see him just eliminating people and getting closer to you.
Guys, I mean, Jeff can sometimes look like he got to second or third place, yeah, in the first turn. Danny esslick, crazy T. Cobbs looked like he had a really good race goal and then he had to stop the bike at one point and that's what he had. I left the order just a little bit, but it is amazing and wow, you can imagine the celebrations that will take place there. Josh Aaron just turned it around. Look, there is a celebration exhaustion for all ages. There is no doubt about that second victory. Josh Herron joins that group of multiple winners in the Daytona 200.
He earned it, there's no doubt it was a very close race, but I'll tell you, you know, talking to Josh Hayes when he came. I got ready for one of our coffee and cream and Hayes segments. I asked him about his line, that tight line through the chicane and he said don't talk about it, I don't want to give it away, eh, but he said it's smoother. and if you make the right approach, you get out of there so fast and it seemed like that race had it all for him. I think that was Josh's only chance.
We were really watching people draft on the line, you never really saw him making a move on the line. He hit like he was being picked out of the pack, so I think for him his best chance was what he did, yeah, and it was a bicycle length away from working perfectly, you know, he had to drive there and I think one thing It was that I wanted to spend there. Really quick too, yeah, to force the other guys to try to get a really good job, so they could make a little mistake and it looked like it was going to work out perfectly and only Josh barely got into that draft and then that.
Was that? Now the question I have is when we look at those replays, you can see that Josh Hayes was like three four feet from the double yellow line and that's where Josh Herron went. Do you think if Josh had to go here and I had to go around the outside, that would have made a difference, who knows, but when someone comes with that much speed, you know, at greater speed, I've seen it done both ways, yeah, that was absolutely amazing, I mean Cameron Peterson, uh, you know, basically. delete the full apps from the album and give it to Cameron Peterson with those new tires, he was in that mix too, uh man, I'm telling you I saw Josh, they had a picture of him coming into the pits while they were looking at Josh.
Herron here, uh, he's really celebrating, obviously, but Josh Hayes came into the pits with his arm in the tank and he just walked by and just did the old wrist flick like, well, you know what you can? Yeah, I mean, he did everything he could, yeah. I mean, it has that sting of being so close to using the Daytona 200 and thinking you had it, yeah, it's so close to the mark that you probably think I have it and then the next thing you know, yeah, I have it, I have it. I didn't get it, uh, and then PJ Jacobson, uh, you know, took him out early, uh, I just came back, stayed with him, fought after he got that red flag, restarted, top five finishes, yeah, and I do not know what.
It happened with my screen here, maybe Blake still got the penalty from him possibly and Brandon Posh that's shown at the bottom of the screen cycling 22-96 with the 15 second penalty. I don't know if that's accurate, so yeah, the new pieces are I'm going to finish from 12th Blake Davis to 11th, but regardless of whether they're both really cool, oh you don't get on the podium, yeah, I mean, I think Brandon here he just wants to win or else it really doesn't matter to him except for Blake. boy, you've got to have some confidence to get out of here, no joke, I mean, the speed he was showing, the racing ability he was showing was excellent overseas, the Daytona 200 is brought to you by Bridgestone tires.
Bridgestone solutions for your trip and for Pirelli tires. Pirelli's power is nothing without control this is how the first edition of the Daytona 280 ended Jason Fredmore, it was Josh Herron seven hundredths of a second, that is, 0.070 seconds faster than Josh Hayes and let's not forget that Brandon Posh, who he finished third across the line, had a 15 second penalty, so he moved. to 12th place so here's a look at our final five finishers in this order it was Heron Hayes Cameron Peterson in third place Hayden Gillum and PJ Jacobson and let's go to Hannah who has our winner Josh Herron Josh Herron her champion of the 2023 Daytona 200, Josh.
The crazy development of events takes us through that restart that you started from the Seventh, how you were able to get to the front and what was your strategy to really use that draft and come out on top with this victory, yes, that was it, that was I wasn't expecting there to be a 10-lap restart with four laps to go after all that hard work with the team to get those good pit stops, um, get past Richie. I was just trying my best to line them up and get, uh, get something good by the end of the race, it's unfortunate that he fell, I never want to do that, but you know we got our penalty, we started seventh, it was very difficult, I didn't know who was on the lead lap, who.
I wasn't on the lead lap because they told me some guys had penalties and some guys were lap back so it was a really strange race so going into the chicane I knew my only chance because Josh was kind of a sitting duck. did. I have as much power as a lot of these guys, so my only chance was to try to give him a gap coming out of the chicane and it ended up working out perfectly. I couldn't have timed it better. I have to say a huge congratulations to the Todo War Horse hsbk competing with the Guardian York team, they worked so hard last year, it was so terrible to lose a race that way and, you know, I'm super grateful tobe here, super happy to finally get a Rolex next. trying for 15 years, a big thank you to the cool fans and slim Alpine Stars uh insta360 Rye helmets Alpine Stars Leathers to everyone involved in making this program work.
It's a dream come true to finish the uh Super Sport Championship with a bang like this. and now go ride that 240-pound, 240-horsepower v4r from pole position to Daytona 200 champion Josh Herron, guys. Incredible, what a way to finish this race. 10 lap sprint race and Jason used to get a Rolex for pole position, now you get one for winning, yeah. and that will be a nice little addition to the trophies and things that Greg has and you can see you know he's still the King of the Wheelie, obviously, but you know getting that Rolex and winning here at Daytona is always special.
It wasn't without drama, this race will be talked about for years to come about the race restart and everything that happened, but one thing we know for sure was certainly entertaining, the Daytona 200 was done again by Frankford and his team Jason, thanks for joining us see you next year

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