Herfoss tops opening Baggers qualifying session at Daytona

2 months ago 40
ARTICLE AD BOX

Round One – Daytona


Troy Herfoss has led an Indian 1-2-3 in Q1 at Daytona as season 2026 got underway for the King of the Baggers.

James Rispoli topped the Super Hooligans Q1, with Beau Beaton 14th in the 40-bike field as he and the Irving Vincent acclimatise to the unique demands of the banking.

PJ Jacobsen took top Q1 honours in Supersport, ahead of Tyler Scott and Darryn Binder.

The sole qualifying session for the Twins Cup put Chris Parrish on pole, with Aussies Bodie Paige and Sam Drane in P2 and P5, respectively.


King of the Baggers

Troy Herfoss led the J&P Cycles/Motul/Vance & Hines Factory Indian squad, who came out swinging in Q1, capturing the top three provisional spots with all riders separated by just three-tenths of a second.

Herfoss led with a fast lap of 1:51.011 and is followed closely by his teammates Hayden Gillim in second and Rocco Landers third. All three teammates are separated by just three-tenths around the 3.51-mile Daytona circuit.

Troy Herfoss holds the provisional pole heading into tomorrow's Q2 - Image by Brian J. NelsonTroy Herfoss holds the provisional pole heading into tomorrow’s Q2 – Image by Brian J. Nelson

Kyle Wyman registered his Harley-Davidson x Dynojet Factory Racing Road Glide in fourth position with a lap time of 1:51.516 with just one-tenth separating him and his teammate Bradley Smith in fifth.

The final rider to register a time in the 1:51s was SDI Racing’s Tyler O’hara aboard his Indian Challenger.

Behind O’Hara in the 1:52s was TAB Performance’s Kyle Ohnsorg in seventh and Big Diehl x Harley-Davidson Factory Racing’s James Rispoli in eight with Saddlemen Race Development’s Cory West and Jake Lewis rounding out the top 10 aboard their H-D Road Glides.

The top five riders from Q1 are separated by just half of a second, which will surely make tomorrow’s Q2 a heated battle for the top starting spot.

King of the Baggers Q1 Results

Pos Rider Man. Time
1 Troy Herfoss IND 1:51.011
2 Hayden Gillim IND +0.292
3 Rocco Landers IND +0.328
4 Kyle Wyman HD +0.505
5 Bradley Smith HD +0.641
6 Tyler O’Hara IND +0.967
7 Kyle Ohnsorg IND +1.286
8 James Rispoli HD +1.514
9 Cory West HD +2.412
10 Jake Lewis HD +2.856

Super Hooligans

Defending champion James Rispoli kicked off the 2026 Mission Super Hooligan National Championship season by grabbing pole at Daytona International Speedway. His 1:52.991 lap narrowly edged out Saddlemen Race Development teammate Cory West by a razor-thin 0.054 seconds.

James Rispoli looking through the international horseshoe on his way to securing pole position for the Mission Super Hooligans - Image by Brian J. NelsonJames Rispoli looking through the international horseshoe on his way to securing pole position for the Mission Super Hooligans – Image by Brian J. Nelson

Andy DiBrino broke up the Saddlemen stronghold, placing his BPR Racing Yamaha in third. The shuffle pushed the third Saddlemen rider, Jake Lewis, down to fourth.

Rounding out the top six were Venezuelan Robertino Pietri in fifth—debuting the COATZYMOTO-LATIN WE Yamaha XSR900—and Bryce Kornbau, who secured sixth on a second BPR Racing Yamaha MT-09.

Rounding out the top 10 on day one are Jason Waters and his TopPro Motorsports/Edge Racing Ducati Streetfighter V2, the Trackhouse/Hawk Mazzotta Moto Camp/BLUCRU Yamaha MT-09 of Hawk Mazzotta and Rodio Racing’s Gus Rodio in ninth, and Saddlemen Race Development’s Travis Wyman in 10th.

Beau Beaton on the Irving Vincent at Daytona - Image Richard GergelyBeau Beaton on the Irving Vincent at Daytona – Image Richard Gergely

Australia’s Beau Beaton on the Irving Vincent finished in 14th, 4s.019 off leading pace, out of a field of 40.

Super Hooligans Q1 Results

Pos Rider Man. Time
1 James Rispoli HD 1:52.991
2 Cory West HD +0.054
3 Andy DiBrino YAM +0.242
4 Jake Lewis HD +0.259
5 Robertino Pietri YAM +0.391
6 Bryce Kornbau YAM +0.482
7 Jason Waters DUC +0.675
8 Hawk Mazzotta YAM +0.861
9 Gus Rodio DUC +0.894
10 Travis Wyman HD +1.062
11 Hunter Dunham HD +1.578
12 Jeremy McWilliams ARC +2.323
13 Nate Kern BMW +2.952
14 Beau Ashley Beaton IRV +4.019
15 Josh Herrin LIT +4.505
16 Corey Alexander ARC +4.509
17 Kaleb De Keyrel LIT +4.957
18 Austin Pully TRI +6.598
19 Joel Ohman TRI +7.383
20 Jeff Lane TRI +7.800
21 Trevis Carr YAM +8.092
22 Derek dela Noche YAM +8.099
23 Steven Shakespeare HD +9.302
24 Jeremy Taubman YAM +9.348
25 William Cornelius KTM +9.399
26 Sean Morris HD +9.448
27 Leroy Eshelman YAM +9.610
28 Joseph Katzberg YAM +9.721
29 Andrew Graham TRI +9.911
30 John Paul Green YAM +10.085
31 Brian Mullins SUZ +10.264
32 John Shield KTM +10.312
33 Rich Foster TRI +10.601
34 Rene Werner YAM +11.162
35 Andres Jaramillo TRI +11.568
36 Joshua Everitt TRI +11.887
37 Mark Holden TRI +11.890
38 Aaron Galloway YAM +12.678
39 Rodney Vest KTM +13.156
40 Paul Mitchell TRI +13.211

Supersport

Rahal Ducati Moto with XPEL rider PJ Jacobsen topped the first qualifying session for the 84th running of the DAYTONA 200. The 32-year-old Jacobsen laid down the fastest lap with a 1:49.359 on just his seventh lap of the session, and it stood the test of time. Jacobsen looks to carry that momentum into tomorrow’s Q2 and a spot in the Supersport Time Attack.

PJ Jacobsen took his Rahal Ducati Moto with XPEL Ducati V2 to provisional pole on Thursday at Daytona International Speedway - Image by Brian J. NelsonPJ Jacobsen took his Rahal Ducati Moto with XPEL Ducati V2 to provisional pole on Thursday at Daytona International Speedway – Image by Brian J. Nelson

Jacobsen currently holds the provisional pole over D3O M4 ECSTAR Suzuki rider Tyler Scott, who has started on the pole at the DAYTONA 200 for the past two years in a row. Scott is currently sitting within 0.188 seconds of Jacobsen with a lap time of 1:49.547.

Celtic/Economy Lube + Tire/Warhorse HSBK Ducati rider Darryn Binder completes the provisional front row with a 1:49.942 lap time. The former MotoGP rider looked immediately comfortable on the Daytona banks and has aligned himself with the pace almost immediately. In fact, Jacobosen, Scott, and Binder were the only riders to dip below the 1:50 mark in the first qualifying session and are separated by about half a second altogether.

Richie Escalante’s M4 ECSTAR Suzuki GSXR-750 sits fourth after the first session and was the only rider in the one-minute-fifty range with a 1:50.538.

DAYTONA 200 rookie Alessandro Di Mario is sitting fifth after Q1 aboard his Rahal Ducati Moto with Roller Die + Forming Ducati Panigale V2. The 17-year-old rookie set his fastest time of 1:51.441 on his 13th lap of the session.

Liberty Yamaha Racing’s Dominic Doyle is sixth and is the top-ranking YZF-R9 thus far. Doyle is followed by Rahal Ducati Moto with Droplight’s Kayla Yaakov in seventh, and Rahal Ducati Moto with Desnuda Organic Tequila’s Josh Herrin in eighth.

Danny Webb aboard the Team Classic Suzuki GSXR-750 is ninth with Strack Racing’s Blake Davis rounding out the top 10 with a 1:51.901 lap time.

The qualifying session was marred by two red flags. The first was shown with approximately 18 minutes remaining after Brenden Ketelsen went down while exiting the international horseshoe. The final red flag occurred with one minute and 55 seconds left when Davey Todd crashed. The session was ended since the riders would likely not have had enough time to complete their out-lap before the qualifying clock expired.

The teams and riders will certainly aim to replicate or boost their results for tomorrow’s Qualifying 2. The top 12 from both combined sessions will advance to a 15-minute Time Attack for a more focused qualifying session and a chance to further improve their starting positions.

Supersport Q1 Results

Pos Rider Man. Time
1 PJ Jacobsen DUC 1:49.359
2 Tyler Scott SUZ +0.188
3 Darryn Binder DUC +0.583
4 Richie Escalante SUZ +1.179
5 Alessandro Di Mario DUC +2.082
6 Dominic Doyle YAM +2.112
7 Kayla Yaakov DUC +2.255
8 Josh Herrin DUC +2.404
9 Danny Webb SUZ +2.497
10 Blake Davis YAM +2.542
11 Gabriel Da Silva DUC +2.563
12 Peter Hickman TRI +2.719
13 Maximiliano Gerardo YAM +2.903
14 Carl Soltisz SUZ +2.952
15 Gus Rodio SUZ +3.195
16 Joshua Hayes YAM +3.202
17 Davey Todd TRI +3.619
18 Avery Dreher MV +3.924
19 Aiden Sneed YAM +3.952
20 Alexander Enriquez YAM +4.099
21 Joseph LiMandri Jr YAM +4.222
22 Brenden Ketelsen YAM +5.069
23 Ella Dreher MV +5.360
24 Jaret Nassaney YAM +7.251

Twins Cup

With a tighter schedule at Daytona, the Twins Cup class is challenged with only one 25-minute qualifying session available to them. This means, if a rider crashes, or simply doesn’t have the feel in Q1, there is no Q2 session to improve their grid position.

Ghetto Customs owner and rider Chris Parrish is a veteran of the series - Image by Brian J. NelsonGhetto Customs owner and rider Chris Parrish is a veteran of the series – Image by Brian J. Nelson

Ghetto Customs team owner/rider Chris Parrish took full advantage of the limited qualifying time. The 49-year-old Tennessean laid down a 1:57.625 lap aboard his Aprilia RS 660 on his ninth lap of the session. In fact, the winner of the very first Twins Cup Championship in 2018 was the only rider to record a time below 1:58 in the session.

Lining up next to Parrish in second will be Twins Cup rookie and M4 ECSTAR Suzuki rider Bodie Paige. Paige’s 1:58.430 lap time was just fast enough to start one step ahead of Karns/TST Industries Racing Suzuki GSX-8R rider Isaac Woodworth, who completes the front row of the grid.

Twins Cup rookie Michel Agazzi was fourth-fastest aboard his M4 ECSTAR Suzuki GSX-8R with a 1:58.648 lap time. The Italian, Agazzi, is competing in his first MotoAmerica Twins Cup race after winning the GSX-8R cup this past summer, and he already looks to be getting comfortable at Daytona.

Completing the second row of the grid are Sam Drane aboard the Yamaha BLU CRU Estenson Racing YZF-R7 in fifth position, and M4 ECSTAR Suzuki GSX-8R rider Matthew Chapin in sixth.

Twins Cup Qualifying Results

TBC


Read Entire Article