INTERVIEW I MOTOAMERICA STOCK 1000 & KING OF THE BAGGERS CHAMPION HAYDEN GILLIM
P86
plan," Hayden grins. "He said
now I'm more of a man with a
clan who has to plan."
We asked Hayden if it had
sunk in yet that he won two
titles this season, in the form
of the MotoAmerica Stock
1000 Championship on the
Disrupt Racing Suzuki, as well
as the King of the Baggers rid
-
ing for Vance & Hines/Mission
Harley-Davidson.
"Oh, it's pretty special, hon
-
estly," Hayden admits. "Espe-
cially after getting away from
the sport a couple of years
ago. It was a redemption year
in Stock 1000 after losing that
championship last year [2022]
in a tiebreaker. And then to
come away with the Bagger
Championship. I never even
knew I could be in the hunt for
it. I certainly didn't think I would
be in the driver's seat going into
the last couple of races. So, it
was an awesome year. It was
tough running three different
classes. I admit it was difficult
at a few of the rounds hav
-
ing to swap suits, swap bikes,
everything. And jumping on
something like the Bagger that
was completely different from
racing the Stock 1000 or the
Superbike. This was one of the
best, if not the best, year of my
life and as far as racing goes."
Back to the "real world" for
a moment, we asked Hayden
what he did to make a living
after racing dried up for him a
few years ago.
"Honestly, I didn't really know
what I was going to do after
racing," Hayden says. "I worked
as a carpenter for a couple
months and then worked at a
concrete plant here in Owens
-
boro, batching trucks and taking
phone calls sitting at a desk all
day. It was good. I got to learn a
lot, and it was nice being home
pretty much every day. During
that time, I got married, and we
had our first kid. There were a
lot of things I considered doing,
Gillim makes a break for it in the rain of New Jersey.
