KurveyGirl.com brings you the results of this weekend’s events.
Editorial Note: MotoAmerica Supersport/Daytona 200 Qualifying Two (Q2) will take place Friday morning and then the top 12 riders from the combined qualifying times will compete for the top 12 grid positions during a special 15-minute Time Attack session Friday afternoon.
More, from a press release issued by MotoAmerica:
Herrin Snags Provisional Pole For Daytona 200
Ducati’s Josh Herrin Fastest On Thursday With Pole To Be Decided In Time Attack
DAYTONA BEACH, FL (March 9, 2023) – The first day of qualifying for Saturday’s Daytona 200, sponsored in part by Pirelli and Bridgestone, got rolling on a sunny Thursday at Daytona International Speedway with Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC’s Josh Herrin earning provisional pole position, with pole to be decided in tomorrow’s Supersport Time Attack
Herrin’s best was a 1:49.043, which was a second faster than the 1:50.088 that earned him pole position a year ago. While last year only one rider broke into the 1:49s during qualifying, so far there are six riders in the 49s.
Second best to Herrin is Disrupt Racing’s Hayden Gillim, the Kentuckian .409 of a second adrift of Herrin and just .007 of a second ahead of Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante.
Two-time and defending Daytona 200 Champion Brandon Paasch was fourth with his 1:49.477 on the TOBC Racing Triumph and Squid Hunter Racing’s Josh Hayes rounded out the top five. Celtic/Tytlers Cycle/TSE Racing’s PJ Jacobsen, who led the morning session, ended the day sixth and was the final rider to crack into the 1:49s with his 1:49.805.
“The morning session I was a little stressed out because we had an issue with some of the quick-change stuff on the front-end, so we lost about half the session removing something in the front,” Herrin said. “In the beginning of the second session I just wanted to work on riding by myself, but when I came in, I was a bit down because the rest of the pack was about .7 seconds quicker than me. But I knew I did the lap by myself but still, when you see the time on the screens, you just get fired up because you want to be in the front. After that I got a draft off Xavi (his teammate Xavi Fores). I used him for the draft at the beginning of the lap so he could get a tow on the flyer. It helped me get that time. I’m really happy, the bike’s feeling really good and I’m looking forward to the opportunity of getting another win.”
Daytona 200 Q1 Results
- Josh Herrin (Ducati) 1:49.043
- Hayden Gillim (Suzuki) 1:49.452
- Richie Escalante (Suzuki) 1:49.459
- Brandon Paasch (Triumph) 1:49.477
- Josh Hayes (Yamaha) 1:49.737
- PJ Jacobsen (Yamaha) 1:49.805
- Tyler Scott (Suzuki) 1:50.124
- Sheridan Morais (Yamaha) 1:50.253
- Xavi Fores (Ducati) 1:50.283
- Teagg Hobbs (Suzuki) 1:50.404
About MotoAmerica
MotoAmerica is North America’s premier motorcycle road racing series. Established in 2014, MotoAmerica is home to the AMA Superbike Championship as well as additional classes including Supersport, Stock 1000, Twins Cup, Junior Cup, and King Of The Baggers. MotoAmerica is an affiliate of KRAVE Group LLC, a partnership including three-time 500cc World Champion, two-time AMA Superbike Champion, and AMA Hall of Famer Wayne Rainey; ex-racer and former manager of Team Roberts Chuck Aksland; motorsports marketing executive Terry Karges; and businessman Richard Varner. For more information, please visit www.MotoAmerica.com and follow MotoAmerica on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube.
More, from a press release issued by CSBK:
Young inches closer to top-12 shootout, Vieira nears provisional top-half after Q1 at Daytona 200
Daytona Beach, FL – Bridgestone Canadian Superbike stars Ben Young and Elliot Vieira continued their strong start to the Daytona 200 on Thursday, completing competitive Q1 sessions for the Bridgestone BPM Yamaha team at Daytona International Speedway.
The Q1 session offers the first chance at determining grid position for Saturday’s race but not the final opportunity, as the times will be combined with those from Q2 on Friday morning and then adjusted for the final top-12 “Time Attack” shootout.
Young previously managed to go 19th fastest out of 52 entries in the morning practice while Vieira placed himself 30th overall, a respectable start compared to their more experienced American counterparts at Daytona. Vieira and Group B went out first in those sessions with Young and Group A afterwards, but they traded places in qualifying with Young out first.
The reigning Bridgestone CSBK champion continued his familiar pace in 18th for most of the session, but managed to put in a late charge at the perfect time as he jumped to 16th just moments prior to a red-flag stoppage with a time of 1:51.346 – less than two seconds off two-time defending Daytona winner Brandon Paasch and only a hair behind top MotoAmerica Superbike star Cameron Petersen.
It was ultimately Josh Herrin who blitzed the group with a time of 1:49.043 to place himself on provisional pole, with Young only 2.3 seconds behind. Crucially, the late heroics also placed Young just 0.7 seconds off Max Angles in 12th, with the top-12 from the first two qualifying sessions advancing to the “Time Attack” superpole shootout.
“The pace is good. Honestly, we probably could have been top-five if this was last year,” Young said from the BPM Yamaha garage. “At one point I was running with Danny Eslick who’s won this thing four times, so I don’t think we’re far off where we really want to be. We still have a few problems to sort out on the bike, but we’re mostly happy.”
For reference, Young’s time would have placed him sixth through Thursday a year ago, and just 0.033 seconds off eventual winner Paasch in fifth.
As for Vieira, the former Guyanese champion found himself near the front of Group B for majority of his session, despite battling through serious brake issues. He managed to find a near full-second improvement in the end with a new best lap of 1:57.190, good for fourth in the session and 29th overall out of 52 riders, but is confident his pace could be much faster if the team can resolve the braking problems in Q2 on Friday.
“The front brakes are just giving us a lot of trouble. It got worse in qualifying, so we need to eliminate variables,” Vieira said. “Fixing this – we could be talking seconds. The pace is there.”
Running well inside the 110% cut-off from Herrin at the front, Vieira will aim to get the bike closer to full strength on Friday before the 57-lap final on Saturday afternoon.
Behind the provisional target in Herrin, it was Hayden Gillim who went second-fastest through the Q1 sessions and 0.409 seconds off the time to beat, with Richie Escalante completing the top-three from day one at Daytona ahead of Paasch, Josh Hayes, and PJ Jacobsen. Group B was topped by Alex Arango, who slots in 22nd overall.
The other former CSBK competitors in action at Daytona included Darren James in 27th, Vincent Levillain in 30th, and Alex Coelho in 32nd as all three appear set to make the 110% mark for Saturday’s race.
The Bridgestone BPM Yamaha team will now await a hectic Friday morning, as Young returns to the track for Q2 at 10:10 am ET with Vieira immediately after at 10:50 am ET.
Full coverage of the Bridgestone CSBK duo’s efforts will continue on the official CSBK website, while live video can be found on the MotoAmerica website with Live+.
More, from a press release issued by Ducati:
Josh Herrin top of The Pile As The 2023 Daytona 200 Kicks Off
Herrin leads after Thursday’s track action with Xavi Fores an impressive ninth on his Daytona debut
Sunnyvale, Calif., March 9, 2022 — Current MotoAmerica Supersport Champion Josh Herrin (Warhorse HSBK Ducati NYC) bought the heat on the opening day of track action for the 2023 Daytona 200 at the Daytona International Speedway.
The Georgian native played it cool in the opening session, only completing six laps as the Warhorse HSBK Ducati NYC team sorted a few issues with the front-end of his Ducati Panigale V2, but come first qualifying, Herrin used all his experience on the high banks to rocket his way to a 1:49.043s lap, time, some 0.409s clear of Suzuki’s Hayden Gillim and Richie Escalante.
Herrin completed 15 laps for the day as he used his competitors as yardsticks in the drafting challenges that are intrinsic to a fast lap of the iconic 3.5-mile venue.
It was also a successful day for the 2023 MotoAmerica Supersport debutant, Xavi Forés. The man with the most international racing experience in the 2023 Daytona 200 field shaved an impressive 3.5 seconds off his lap time between sessions one and two to finish the day in ninth overall, the Spaniard completing 18 laps for the day.
Herrin’s time means he’s the man they’re all chasing as he goes for back-to-back Daytona 200 pole positions when Qualifying 2 starts at 10:10 am EST tomorrow, March 10, with the all-important Time Attack that will determine the grid positions scheduled for 1:15 pm EST.
2023 Daytona 200 Qualifying 1 Top 5
P1 – Josh Herrin (Ducati) 1:49.043
P2 – Hayden Gillim (Suzuki) 1:49.452
P3 – Richie Escalante (Suzuki) 1:49.459
P4 – Brandon Paasch (Triumph) 1:49.477
P5 – Joshua Hayes (Yamaha) 1:49.737
P9 – Xavi Forés (Ducati) 1:50.283
Xavi Forés (Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati New York – Ducati #12):
“This morning, I said, maybe I go back home,” Fores said with a laugh. “This morning was crazy, we don’t have this kind of banking in Europe and it was the first time for me to experience that. In the second session, I dropped three seconds from my best lap time in the morning, so I was quite happy to finish in ninth place and be in the top 10 on the first day. For sure, we need to improve my feeling with the bike. I am not used to riding on the MotoAmerica Dunlops and don’t have the same feeling as I did with the Pirelli’s. I ride a lot with the edge of the tire and the Dunlop tire doesn’t like that, so I need to improve picking up the bike early in the corner to get on the throttle, but once I gain experience with this style I hope to be at the front.”
Josh Herrin (Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati New York – Ducati #1):
“I’m super happy with today,” Herrin said. “We lost a bit of time in the opening session but in the second session I got a draft from Xavi. I let him go ahead because I wanted to let him follow me a little bit to help, so I used him for the draft at the beginning of the lap so he could get a tow on his flyer, but it helped me to get that time. And then at the very end, I also used Josh Hayes as a draft to try one more lap—I don’t know if my faster one was the first or the second one but the bike’s feeling really good, I’m really happy and looking forward to the rest of the weekend.
