King of the Baggers twists and turns at Laguna Seca

2023 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship
Round Five – Laguna Seca – King of the Baggers

Images by Brian J. Nelson

Mission King Of The Baggers – Race 1

The opening King of the Baggers race was an exciting one, with Indian mounted Tyler O’Hara stuffing his way past H-D Screamin’ Eagle’s Kyle Wyman heading into the Corkscrew and holding that lead all the way to the final corner.

With his Indian snaking under braking, O’Hara flicked it into the final corner, lost the front end and crashed. But that’s not all. Just a millisecond later, Wyman made exactly the same mistake and both riders found themselves trying to pick up their motorcycles.

Meanwhile, Vance & Hines/Mission/Harley-Davidson’s Hayden Gillim streaked past to score his first victory in the class – 2.9 seconds ahead of his teammate James Rispoli with the pair smiling under their helmets like five-year-olds at Christmas.

Ditto for Sac Mile/SDI Racing/Roland Sands/Indian’s Bobby Fong, who also found himself gifted with a podium finish. O’Hara won the race of the fallen to finish fourth, just ahead of Team Saddlemen’s Jake Lewis.

Tyler O’Hara

“I immediately looked back to see where he was, because I was so focused on them that I ran wide and I was just hoping he wasn’t close to get a run. It sucked to see. I kind of figured one would go down. The way those two guys go at it; I knew it was going to get a little dicey. I had kind of given up when I had come across the stripe going onto the last lap because I was kind of starting to move around a little bit more and they were going fast. They had picked up the pace once Kyle (Wyman) got in front. So, I had kind of called the dog off and then they started going at it and I was like, ‘all right. I need to kind of keep going because in case something does happen, if they run wide or something, I need to be there to capitalize.’ I got lucky and brought it home. First bagger win. I’ve done three championships of it, so this is my first win. It’s awesome. I’m happy to be up on top. I need to fix my starts, though. I think I was eighth going into turn one, starting from fourth. So, I was a little nervous the first couple laps, for sure. The Vance & Hines guys have put a great bike underneath me. We’re going to keep making steady progress, like James said, and hopefully actually be able to get up there and be a part of that fight tomorrow.”

Mission King Of The Baggers – Race 1 Results

Mission King Of The Baggers – Race 2

On Sunday at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, “The Motor Company” as they colloquially refer to Harley-Davidson, swept the podium in KOTB race two.

H-D Screamin’ Eagle factory rider Kyle Wyman got the victory, and he was hounded by Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson’s James Rispoli, who was balked by a lapped rider on the final run to the checkers, thwarting his last-turn effort. Finishing third was Rispoli’s teammate Hayden Gillim, who won Saturday’s race one.

Kyle Wyman

“Today, I tried to pull the trigger the last few laps, I thought I had a bit of a gap, but we caught a lapper in turn 11 on the last lap. It feels good to get a win today. We all want to win. We all have, maybe, a little bit different approach in trying to do it. Today, fortunately, I was able to do it my way, which is control the pace and try to manage and see if I can dig a little deeper in the end.”

Mission King Of The Baggers – Race 2 Results

Mission King Of The Baggers Standings

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