Sunnyvale, Calif. — History was made today at the 84th Daytona 200 as Josh Herrin (Rahal Ducati Moto with Desnuda Organic Tequila) secured his fourth consecutive Daytona 200 win and fifth overall in his racing career, tying with Scott Russell and Miguel Duhamel as the most successful riders in the race’s history.
Herrin led home Tyler Scott with Kayla Yaakov (Rahal Ducati Moto with Droplight), making history by becoming the first female ever to stand on the Daytona 200 podium after passing MotoAmerica rookie Darryn Binder (Celtic/Economy Lube + Tire/Warhorse) on the run to the flag.
To top it off, Alessandro Di Mario (Rahal Ducati Moto with Roller Die & Forming) took fifth place to make it four Ducatis in the top five placings, the manufacturer’s greatest showing at Daytona.
Herrin’s win came in the most dramatic of circumstances. After a red flag for an incident on the first lap, the race was reduced to 56 laps and after spending much of the event battling with the Rahal Ducati Moto with XPEL machine of PJ Jacobsen, Herrin and Jacobsen both came into the pits together at the head of the field for the final pitstop.
Clean pitstops for both riders signaled this would be a race to the flag until Herrin ran into a MotoAmerica pit cameraman in pitlane, stalling the Panigale V2 and allowing Jacobsen to scamper clear to an initial 2.6-second lead.
Jacobsen then put the hammer down and increased his lead to over six seconds, but with eight laps to go, disaster struck as Jacobsen lost the front and crashed out.
That left Herrin all alone out front as he cruised to the win by a massive 38 seconds over Scott.
For MotoAmerica debutant Binder, he led much of the early running but couldn’t maintain the pace of Herrin and Jacobsen, eventually earning a very respectable fourth place with some solid championship points ahead of round two at Road America in April.
Binder’s teammate Wristin Grigg had a promising start to the weekend, qualifying his Ducati Panigale V2 in ninth, but he was caught up in a multi-bike, turn one pile-up off the start of the second green light, ending his race before it began.
2026 Daytona 200 Results
- Josh Herrin (Ducati)
- Tyler Scott (Suzuki) +38.162
- Kayla Yaakov (Ducati) +1:07:477
- Darryn Binder (Ducati) +1:07:643
- Alessandro Di Mario (Ducati) +1:27.480
Josh Herrin (Rahal Ducati Moto with Desnuda Organic Tequila – #2):
“First of all, I want to say sorry to PJ, I know that’s gut-wrenching,” Herrin said. “I had some bad luck of my own that I had to overcome with the cameraman. I couldn’t believe what was happening. I got stuck behind every possible lapped rider, but I knew I just had to keep cool and settle in, then PJ went down, which was really unfortunate.
“After breaking three ribs at a crash at Podium Club, I was feeling pretty sorry for myself until Ben Spies (team manager) told me he won his first MotoGP race with four broken ribs and I thought, “Ok, maybe I’ve got this”, then I got sick from my kids so I’ve been coughing a lot and the ribs haven’t been healing.
“It’s been a hard weekend but that’s what’s cool about my crew chief Scott Jensen. He’s an ex-rider and he kept me positive all weekend.
“We showed up with a good bike today. There’s something about Daytona. I feel like every time we have some adversity, I somehow keep getting carried back towards the front. It was just an amazing race. I couldn’t believe I had a plus 40-second lead with six laps to go. I was being so cautious, almost using half throttle on the banking until I saw the flag. Thank you to everybody, all the sponsors and the crew, who helped get this win today.”
Kayla Yaakov (Rahal Ducati Moto with Droplight – #19):
“It’s insane!” Yaakov enthused in the post-race interview. “I’ve said it all weekend, I really didn’t think this result was going to be possible. I felt confident in myself that I could be up there, but we were struggling so much with the bike setup all weekend.
“In the race, I just tried to stay calm, the team stayed calm, and we were able to pull it off. I’m just so happy to be here on the podium and keep showing women they can do it. I shied away from that a bit in the past, but I’m really think it’s a special thing I am able to do, and I’m so honored to be in that position now.”
The MotoAmerica paddock will reconvene for the first round of the 2026 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship at Road Atlanta on April 17-19, 2026.
