Once you have worked through the utter dominance of Ducati’s Josh Herrin at the Daytona 200, one of the interesting developments of the 84th Bike week event was the strong effort of the impressive British privateer contingent – particularly famous racer with a strong history at the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy.
Possibly the most active of the U.K. aces didn’t make it to the finish – Richard Cooper, pilot of one of the works, Dunlop-shod, Triumph 765 RS Street Triples on hand. A five-time winner of the famed, season-opening Northwest 200 street race in Ireland, Cooper was a front runner and sometimes leader until electric issues put him out on lap 35 on 57.
His team-mate, Isle of Man legend Peter Hickman, wound up an impressive fourth after the scoring was revised post race. In total, there were three Triumph triples in the top six, lead by 2002 Daytona 200 victor Brandon Paasch in fifth and his TOBC Team mate, former 200 winner Danny Eslick, in sixth.
“I’m really happy with this result,” stated Hickman. “Being inside the top six was my personal aim prior to the trip, and obviously I would like to win, but I have to be realistic.”
“With my stature (height and weight) it’s harder for me on a Supersport (middleweight) bike, especially somewhere like Daytona, where a lot of it comes down to the slipstream. I was really strong in the infield, and I even lead at one point – that was a really nice feeling.”
“I was really happy with our 765 Triumph,” finished Hickman, the outright TT lap record holder on a BMW at an average of 219.4 km/h.
“The bike was strong, and worked well everywhere. We also had one of the fastest Pit Stop of the race, and the boys did a brilliant job – thank you to them. I also want to thank all of our sponsors including Freedom Road financial.”
In 2025, 14-time TT winner Hickman will join rising “roads racing” star Davey Todd on their just-announced new BMW Superbike squad, names after their IOM start numbers, 8TEN Racing.
Meanwhile, Cooper tried to be philosophical about his retirement after spending so much time at the front of the lead group among the top Americans: “It really is a hard one to take; I felt like we all deserved a result on my side of the garage, too. Pete did an amazing job, and I am proud to be a part of that. I hold my head up high with what we achieved this week. I’m taking all the positives and hopefully we’ll be back next year.”
Daytona stands out in terms of a one rider, long distance format similar to June’s annual Isle of Man races, including pits tops for fuel and tire changes.
Interestingly, Triumph’s head of Global Racing Programs, Ian Kimber, mentioned in a Media Release that recent adjustments to the FIM’s “Gen 2” engine management rules helped the strong Triumph contingent at Daytona this year. There are no Triumphs regularly contesting national events in Canada or the US.
Suzuki GSX-R750 mounted Mat Trulove was seventh, just in front of his younger brother Harry in eighth; both on Pirelli race rubber.
Next up was ninth paced Irish legend, “King of the Mountain” Michael Dunlop, the most successful racer in the history of the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy event. Michael is the son of the late ace racer Robert Dunlop, and Robert was the brother of the all-time TT Hero, the late Joey Dunlop.
Dunlop is from Ballymoney in Northern Ireland and is unknow as the most independent of competitors – Dunlop often makes adjustment in major components, including manufacturer and tire supplier, at the very last moment.
35-year-old Dunlop has tested the Ducati 955 Desmo he used in Daytona earlier this winter in Spain but has yet to confirm just what he will race next season. While strong, Dunlop’s Duc didn’t have the legs of Herrin’s potent winning entry in Florida – this could be down to tuning differences, since Herrin’s crew has far more experience at Daytona.
In his second outing at the Speedway after a 200 attempt in 2021 at the height of the COIVD Pandemic, Dunlop has issues early in the race but recovered to run with the leaders after two Red Flag periods, one for rain and another for a turn one incident at the Restart.
Dunlop, usually private in personal matters, visited with Canadian actor and John Wick star Keanu Reeves, on hand with his new Arch motorcycles Super Hooligans Racing squad.
Aboard a Milwaukee-backed Ducati 955 Panigale that he might race this season, record 29-time TT-race winner Dunlop ran with the lead group at times after an early race delay, and placed a solid ninth, at one point turning the fastest lap early in the race.
Among the front runners for much of the race, 9th fastest qualifier Danny Webb (from Royal Tunbridge Wells, a very British local in the U.K!) wound up 24th on the Team Classic Suzuki GSX-R750. The very youthful 33-year-old is a veteran of Dorna’s MotoGP Academy Project and raced in the 125 Grand prix category (pre Moto3) for five seasons. He moved to open road competition, including Macau, in 2016, and competes in Endurance.
With most of the U.K. based racers completing the 200, and Cooper showing the most outright pace, their efforts certainly laid the foundation for a potentially impressive (and American flag-waving Herrin upsetting?) effort next March.
