Eighteen years after their unforgettable Battle of the Twins victory, the Irving Vincent team is returning to Daytona with a familiar rider, a reunited crew and a two-valve, air-cooled V-twin built for one of the toughest racetracks in the world.

In March 2008, Aussie road-racer Craig McMartin rode a hand-built Australian air-cooled twin to a landmark Battle of the Twins victory at Daytona International Speedway. It was a win that stunned the locals, elevated the Irving Vincent project onto the world stage, and proved that two brothers from Melbourne — Ken and Barry Horner — could take on the high banks of Daytona and leave with a winner’s trophy. Eighteen years later, the team is going back.

This time, Beau Beaton will be the rider. Craig — who now owns and runs McMartin Racing, the team that recently claimed back-to-back Australian Superbike titles with Josh Waters — will return as crew chief. Chris De Nuzzo and Ian Hopkins, who supported Craig during that 2008 trip, will join them again. A team rebuilt from familiar pieces, heading to one of the most unforgiving venues in motorcycle racing. 

Despite the reputation surrounding the bikes, the Irving Vincent project remains a sideline to Ken and Barry’s day job manufacturing sparkless air starter motors at KH Equipment, the industrial engineering business they’ve run since the early 1990s.

Regardless of what happens in the opening round of the 2026 Super Hooligan National Championship, history is already set: An Australian-built pushrod V-twin returning to Daytona with the men who shaped its legacy, alongside a rider who grew under the wing of the man he now replaces. For Ken and Barry Horner, it marks the continuation of work that has pushed through decades of racing, hard-won results, paddock politics, and shifting rulebooks.

A Team Reunited

This return is driven by opportunity rather than nostalgia. The Super Hooligan Championship provides a rare platform where the Irving Vincent can compete as intended, with rules that allow the bike’s architecture and engineering to line up legitimately against the rest of the field. It also brings the people behind the project back into a familiar formation. Beau’s call-up as rider completes a loop that began in the late 2000s, when Craig mentored him after meeting at a track day. 

“[Beau’s father] Ashley introduced me to him. It was his first time at the track, and I said follow me around. He followed me and learnt the lines and then it wasn’t too much longer after that he was faster than me! And it’s all gone from there.”

Beau’s first ride for Ken and Barry came in 2009 when Craig was unable to compete in a MotoGP support race on…