Irving Vincent targets 2026 Daytona return

The Irving Vincent team will not compete in the final two Super Hooligan rounds of 2025, with its focus now fully fixed on returning to Daytona Bike Week in early 2026.

“We were originally going to do the two meetings in July and August this year,” Irving Vincent’s Ken Horner said. “But it would’ve been a huge effort for comparatively little gain. So instead, we’re putting everything into Daytona.

“Daytona means something – it’s not just a weekend meeting, the whole town gets taken over by bikes, there’s half a million extra people there. It’s a proper event.”

The campaign will mark 18 years since Craig McMartin and the Horner-built air-cooled twin took a surprise victory in the 2008 Daytona Battle of the Twins — a result that firmly established Irving Vincent’s reputation beyond Australia.

This time Beau Beaton will ride at Daytona, while Craig McMartin is hoping to rejoin the team for the 2026 as crew chief, depending on ASBK calendar dates.

The team will contest the Super Hooligan category at MotoAmerica’s 2026 season opener, with plans to send two bikes and several members of the original Daytona crew.

“The rules are a lot more generous for air-cooled because they’re just wanting variety of stuff on the grid,” Horner explained. “I think the only other air-cooled bike that will be there is an Arch, the Keanu Reeves bike. They’ve built a special one up for that series.”

Of the two bikes slated for Daytona, one will be the team’s 1620cc air-cooled twin, while the other is being stretched to 1760cc.

“The 1760’s just more reliable. It doesn’t have to work as hard.”

Both machines are currently in development at the team’s Hallam-based workshop in Melbourne’s southeast, and a debut is expected at a club meeting at Sydney Motorsport Park in August. The 2008 win was achieved with minimal local preparation — a contrast to the more considered approach planned for 2026.

“We know from last time how little testing we got away with – just half a day at Broadford and another at Phillip Island before we packed the bike up and shipped it to the States,” Horner said. “I don’t think we’ll get away with doing as little this time.”

Providing the logistical backbone for the project is K.H. Equipment, the Horner brothers’ sparkless starter-motor business, which has an established base in Houston, Texas.

“Houston becomes the base,” Horner explained. “The containers will go straight there and we’ll truck everything to Daytona. After that, we’ll reassess our options…”