Hammaker ends Yamaha's reign on 250 class
Leigh Diffey, James Stewart and Ricky Carmichael analyze the 250 main event at Daytona with Seth Hammaker ending Yamaha's chokehold on the 250 class, getting Kawasaki's first win at Daytona since 2021.
Video Transcript
250 East in Daytona.
Main event with Pierce Brown on the 163 there, leading the way, proudly displaying the red plate after his win in Arlington to kick off the East Division championship.
Let's get to the action.
Yamaha has dominated 250 West and the opening round of 250 East.
Would that stay the same?
Well, there were plenty non-Yamaha riders trying to change that early on.
Yeah, s- spoiler alert, it's gonna change tonight.
And coming off that crash, we saw Seth Hammaker go down really hard in that section you just went through, but was able to get this lead right here and hold on to it.
But you can see the, the rookie, or second year rookie, was able to get his first heat race victory of the year.
Looked really good.
Unfortunately, it doesn't end well, ends up going off the racetrack, but it's a good start, Joe Meeks.
Yeah, I mean, this could've been an easily breakthrough main event for this young guy.
And Joe Shimoda riding well, picking up where he left off last weekend, per se.
He looked like a different guy.
We talked about it during the actual broadcast, and I love what I saw from Joe, and I expect him to continue to do that same thing.
And even from Seth, I mean, an incredible win.
He rode extremely well, and I anticipate him to be the same way all season.
18-year-old Kiwi Cole Davies.
Whoa.
Hassling his teammate and points leader, Pierce Brown, and he was a man on a move.
Yeah, he was.
I mean, it took him a while.
He was Every time he would try to rush things, make some mistakes, but he had the pace if he just calmed down.
That's easier said than done on this racetrack.
But when Cole got rolling, he was able to march his way up, and at one point it looked like he might have a chance to, to get to that lead, but wasn't quite able to get there.
Hard time.
And after being as high as third, after winning his heat, as the guys said, unfortunately for Drew Adams, he would crash out.
Oh, look it.
Starts leaning to the left, right?
Yeah.
And those whoops were already slick.
Hopefully he'll be okay.
Check out this, though, Shimoda going down in the sand.
Looked like he tried to straighten up that arc in the corner, and he just buried the front.
Ooh.
Yeah, easy to happen.
Whoo.
A lot of guys were making mistakes.
But I noticed Joe's, mechanic put up, towards the end of the race, stand up, so maybe he was starting to get a little bit tired.
You know, in this sand section, that thing grabs, and if you're not holding on- Wow easy to go down.
But this guy, no tire to buy him.
He was on a mission, Lee.
That was huge for Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki and Seth Hammaker.
First ever win in Daytona, breaking the Yamaha stranglehold on this 2026 season, both on the West and East division.
Hammaker flanked by the two Monster Energy Star Yamaha racers in Cole Davies and Pierce Brown on the podium.
Joe Shimoda rallied after that crash in the sand for fourth, and Daxton Bennick a fine fifth.
Yeah, a big night for Daxton.
Last year he got hurt.
He's been having a hard time in his career making it past the second round, so I'm sure he's happy.
Good to see him out of it healthy, and get to that, Triple Crown next weekend, see if he can bounce back on the podium.
the rookie there, Caiden Duddy, he got 11th.
And Simonson, another top 10. that Club MX Yamaha team doing well.
Cody Schott getting in there, sixth place too.
And Colin Park, hey, he had a great finish last week as well.
Great to see those younger guys getting up there.
Nate Thrasher 11th last week, seventh in Daytona.
Unfortunately for Drew Adams, when he crashed out, was 22nd and the final position there of this Daytona main event.
Two rounds in to the 250 East Division title fight, and with a first and a third, Pierce Brown leads the way.
Yeah, Pierce did a great job.
I mean, he looked good in the heat race.
you know, things got a little tough for him in the main event, but he still hel- held on to that points lead.
And I'm sure if you asked him, he'll be leading this point after Daytona, I'm sure he would've took that before the season.
Oh.
Especially where he came off that injury last year.
I agree 100%, James.
It, And really a great ride.
I mean, again, we go back to that, that crash last year and where he is at, I mean, just incredible.
A great story.
Proud of him.
All right.
Let's check, let's check in with Jason Thomas.
JT?
Thank you, Lee.
Well, I A lot happening down here.
As you can see, a s- whole crowd still behind me.
I got to see Eli Tomac's broken tooth, the actual part of the tooth, I got to see that, so I can confirm it is broken.
But I wanna talk a little bit about the starting gate, and you guys are covering the 250 class here.
We saw Jalek Swoll get penalized two positions for trying to kinda landscape the front end of the gate, and I wanna show you why.
Now, Daytona deteriorates.
That's been the story all night.
These guys talked about how difficult the track was.
Look at these starting gates after the main event.
This is like the Mariana Trench on the other side of the, of f- front gate here, and this is why these guys were trying to manipulate the front end.
And, and Jalek, basically what he's doing is pulling over the front of the gate and using his rear tire to try to build a smoother rut.
But these huge holes dictated the start tonight.
Guys, you heard Pierce Brown say he gambled on the starting gate because they're trying to make difficult choices about where to start.
He probably went either severe inside or severe outside trying to dodge these holes.
But this, this type of Daytona racetrack, track position was so important.
And those guys, Roczen, Webb, Eli Tomac, and Hunter Lawrence all got in the top four early, and it gave us a great race.
But this, this, this is a microcosm, this hole right in front of the gate is a microcosm of what Daytona is all about.
And those guys got through it tonight, and this is a, a great race for a reason.
Congrats to Eli Tomac.
I'm sorry about your tooth, and I'm never gonna give away the story that I got to see Eli Tomac's tooth after his eighth win.
Send it back to you guys.
