Josh Herrin wins his 3rd consecutive Daytona 200, 4th total

From our friends at MotoAmerica:

DAYTONA BEACH, FL (March 8, 2025) – Josh Herrin made history on Saturday at Daytona International Speedway when he became the first rider in Daytona 200 history to win “The Great American Motorcycle Race” three times in a row. It was also Herrin’s fourth Daytona 200 victory, putting him one win away from tying the all-time win leaders, Scott Russell and Miguel Duhamel.

Herrin won the 83^rd running of the Daytona 200 by being consistently faster than his pursuers in the infield, especially late in the race. Case in point: With just six laps to go, Herrin ripped off a 1:47.879 lap on his Celtic/Economy Lube+Tire/Warhorse HSBK Ducati Panigale V2 to seal the deal. It was a new race lap record and just .046 of a second shy of Richie Escalante’s qualifying lap record from 2024.

Josh Herrin leads Tyler Scott and the rest of the field early in the race. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.

The 57-lap race was red-flagged twice- once when a brief rainstorm passed through the area after 24 laps, and again on the first lap of the restart when Get Fast Performance’s Jason Farrell crashed in turn one.

Escalante’s bad Daytona luck turned around on Saturday with the Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki rider finishing second to Herrin after running in the lead pack for the duration. When Herrin dropped the hammer, however, Escalante didn’t have the pace to go with him and once the draft was broken it was game over.

Said Herrin of his historic win, “I’m honestly speechless. I don’t really know what to say. I know I said it earlier, but being mentioned in the same sentence as (Scott) Russell and (Miguel) Duhamel is special. It’s not something that happens all the time. It’s easy to say I want to go and get a bunch more wins, but if I could just be cemented in history with those guys, that would be amazing. Just getting the chance to be able to be on a good enough team to get a win three times in a row.”

A six-rider pack with Tyler Scott (70) leading Danny Eslick (69), Herrin (2), Peter Hickman (765), Brandon Paasch (96) and Richie Escalante (54). Photo by Brian J. Nelson.

At the finish line, Herrin was 5.33 seconds ahead of Escalante, who had his hands full with Tyler Scott, his teammate. Scott, who started the race from pole position, was also in the hunt from the get-go. His teammate beat him to the line by a miniscule .008 of a second.

Fourth place went to Isle of Man TT lap record holder Peter Hickman, the Brit returning to Daytona with knowledge gained from last year’s debut. The PHR Performance Triumph team owner also led a few laps of the race. Hickman’s teammate Richard Cooper also had the speed to run in the lead group, but his Triumph suffered a mechanical failure that put him out of the race.

Josh Herrin taking his third consecutive Daytona 200 checkered flag, a new record. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.

Two-time Daytona 200 winner Brandon Paasch rode his TOBC Racing Triumph to fifth, one spot better than his teammate, four-time race winner Danny Eslick, who was celebrating his 20^th Daytona 200. The British Truelove brothers, Matt and Harry, finished seventh and eighth respectively, with Matt being the last rider on the lead lap. Isle of Man TT legend Michael Dunlop rode his Milwaukee Ducati MD Racing Panigale V2 to ninth, with Bauce BARTCON Racing’s Joseph LiMandri Jr. rounding out the top 10 on his Yamaha YZF-R6.

Story by Paul Carruthers, MotoAmerica
Photos by Brian J. Nelson