BY NEIL MORRISON
PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRIAN J. NELSON
T
he King of the Baggers went
global in Austin as it ran
alongside the MotoGP pad-
dock at the Grand Prix of the Ameri-
cas for the first time. It served up
three races befitting of the occa-
sion, with S&S Indian Motorcycles'
Troy Herfoss claiming two victories
and Kyle Wyman (Harley Davidson
Factory Racing) winning the third.
It was a landmark weekend for
the series, as the crowd who came
to see Marc Marquez and pals had
the chance to see the usual Indian
versus Harley-Davidson dust-up
in the flesh. With all three events
streamed live on MotoGP's You
-
Tube channel, the series garnered
more attention than ever.
Just as well, the action didn't
disappoint. The two main races
each featured a wild six-rider scrap
for the podium, with the victory de
-
cided on the final lap on both occa-
sions. With this evidence, there will
be plenty of other Herfoss-Wyman
fights throughout the year, with the
pair separated by just 10 points
after two rounds of racing.
The Circuit of the Americas
hosted three shootouts over the
weekend. The first was Friday af
-
ternoon's Mission Challenge, which
pitted the six fastest qualifiers
against one another for a three-lap
shootout. A $5000 winner-takes-all
check awaited Herfoss, the victor.
Saturday then served up two
six-lap Mission King Of The Bag
-
gers races, with full championship
points on offer for the expanded
18-race series in 2024. The Mo
-
toGP paddock watched on as the
12 entrants offered up thrills and
spills aplenty.
Race 1
After Herfoss prevailed in the Mis-
sion Challenge ahead of Bobby
Fong (Roland Sands Racing Indian)
and Hayden Gillim (Vance & Hines
Harley-Davidson), the Australian
was the favorite for race one.
ROUND 2 / APRIL 12-13, 2024
CIRCUIT OF THE AMERICAS / AUSTIN, TEXAS
ROAD RACE I MOTOAMERICA KING OF THE BAGGERS CHAMPIONSHIP
P104
MotoAmerica's
King of the Baggers
Championship got
global coverage at COTA
and the racing did not
disappoint. H-D's Kyle
Wyman (33) topped race
two, with Hayden Gillim
(1) giving chase.
BAGGERS
