MotoAmerica 2024
COTA – KOTB
King of the Baggers Challenge Race
Troy Herfoss managed to sneak away from Hayden Gillim and pursuers in the two-lap dash for cash that is the Challenge Race.
King of the Baggers Challenge Race Results
- Troy Herfoss IND
- Hayden Gillim HD +1.162s
- Tyler O’Hara +1.476s
- James Rispolo +1.795s
King of the Baggers Race One
RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson’s Rocco Landers has showed flashes of brilliance in his rookie season of Mission King Of The Baggers racing. On Saturday at COTA, Landers was able to coral that speed and talent and turn it into his first victory on the big V-twin.
Earlier in the year, Herfoss reaped praise on the 19-year-old, calling Landers “an ambitious young fellow.” Fittingly, it was Herfoss who lost out in a race-long battle with Landers.
The teenager escaped to an early lead before being chased down by Herfoss, the pair then engaged in close quarters battle on the final lap but Landers had the answers for the questions asked by Herfoss and went on to take a great victory.
Although Herfoss doesn’t enjoy losing, he did enjoy cutting Harley-Davidson Factory Racing rider Kyle Wyman’s championship points lead in half, from 14 points to just seven. Herfoss goes into Sunday’s race two trailing Wyman, 295-288.
Third place, six-seconds further back, went to Herfoss’ team-mate Tyler O’Hara who rode hard to help his fellow S&S/Indian Motorcycle squad mate by keeping Wyman and RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson’s Hayden Gillim at bay.
King of the Baggers Race One Results
- Rocco Landers HD
- Troy Herfoss IND +1.347s
- Tyler O’Hara +6.499s
- Kyle Wyman +6.512s
- Hayden Gillim +6.553s
- James Rispoli +13.476s
- Bobby Fong +21.756s
- Cory West +27.686s
- Travis Wyman +28.196s
- Jake Lewis +32.081
King of the Baggers Race Two
With Harley-Davidson Factory Racing’s Kyle Wyman and S&S/Indian Motorcycle’s Troy Herfoss winning 12 of the 16 Mission King Of The Baggers races, it’s fitting that those two will battle to the bitter end in a winner-take-all-championship at New Jersey Motorsports Park, September 27-29.
Of course, the duo battled on Sunday afternoon at Circuit of The Americas with the two running nose to tail for the majority of the race. At the end of the five-lap sprint, it was Herfoss taking his sixth win of the season with Wyman just .445 of a second behind in second place.
The championship? There’s now just two points between the two with Wyman leading Herfoss, 315-313, with the series headed to Wyman’s home track of NJMP in two weeks.
No one else was a real factor in this one with Saturday’s Mission King Of The Baggers victor Rocco Landers riding his RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson to third, 3.7 seconds behind the lead duo.
Landers’ teammate Hayden Gillim rode to a gutsy fourth after undergoing surgery on a broken hand just a week or so prior to racing in Texas. Gillim was right on Landers at the finish line.
Wyman’s team-mate James Rispoli rounded out the top five, some five seconds adrift of the intra-team Landers/Gillim battle.
“Today was a really good day,” Herfoss said. “Yesterday I got caught out. It was a tough race yesterday. Just having young Rocco (Landers) again. I see a lot in him. I know that he’s going to race to win every stage of the year. I sort of didn’t open fire as much as I probably could have, but in saying that, he was just so in control. I sort of knew that if I was going to make a pass, he was so dialled in it wasn’t going to do much. It wasn’t going to get me far. But today, we made a few adjustments and sort of predicted the way the track would go in that heat. I kept a good eye on the Superbike races today. The answer is yes, I was extremely comfortable. As I said on the podium, a little bit of a smart-ass comment, but I have also been super respectful all the year because I was so comfortable, I don’t go back on that. I felt like it was a puppet show, and I felt like I was in charge of it. I tried to get Kyle (Wyman) to do something he didn’t want to do, and like I knew he was too smart to try. It’s even and we’re going to the last round. Best man can win. I understand full well that it’s a track that he’s really good at. I’ve got a lot of respect for that. I can’t wait to go there and see what I can do there.”
King of the Baggers Race Two Results
- Troy Herfoss IND
- Kyle Wyman HD +0.445s
- Rocco Landers HD +3.707s
- Hayden Gillim HD +3.793s
- James Rispoli HD +5.359s
- Travis Wyman HD +24.230s
- Cory West HD +24.426s
- Jake Lewis HD +24.648s
- Max Flinders HD +93.974s
DNS Bobby Fong IND
DSQ (Oil) Tyler O’Hara IND
King of the Baggers Championship Points
- Kyle Wyman 315
- Troy Herfoss 313
- Hayden Gillim 213
- Tyler O’Hara 198
- Rocco Landers 179
- James Rispoli 175
- Max Flinders 118
- Jake Lewis 117
- Cory West 112
- Travis Wyman 89
Super Hooligans Race One
Saddlemen/Harley-Davidson’s Cory West led from the start and had S&S/Indian Motorcycle’s Tyler O’Hara with him, but O’Hara didn’t waste any time in going to the lead. Then the race changed completely when O’Hara crashed in turn one. The crash altered the complexity of the race as West was wise enough to not put up too much of a fight with both O’Hara’s team-mate Troy Herfoss and his own team-mate, Jake Lewis. Herfoss and Lewis, meanwhile, went at it at the front with O’Hara up and racing again and making big strides into the top 10.
At the flag it was Herfoss besting Lewis by just .434 of a second with West third, by 1.659 of a second. It was Herfoss second win of the season and the first since Daytona back in March.
Then came a pair of S&S/Indian Motorcycle FTR1200s ridden by Jeremy McWilliams and O’Hara, who had somehow fought his way up to fifth to score 11 points and keep his championship hopes alive.
Troy Herfoss
“It was such a good race, and to hear that Tyler (O’Hara) somehow picked that bike up and finished fifth in a completely dry race, that’s scary for tomorrow. I don’t want to be racing against him. Anyway, it’s still alive. When he went down, I thought it (the championship) was all over. Then I had to try and catch Cory (West) rather than letting that race happen. Cory was going so fast. I didn’t understand how to catch him. I had to use Jake (Lewis) to learn a bit about how and use that slipstream once we got there. Jake is such an old-school rider. He definitely understands that the fastest guy doesn’t always win. It’s about staying in front. There were some fun moves there. I hope he enjoyed it. I really enjoyed it. I’ve been wanting to race him all year and he’s been too fast on me. I’m really happy to be here. Thanks to Indian Motorcycle. It’s my second win on the FTR1200 and we’re here. Mission Foods, Progressive, S&S Cycle. There’s so many great supporters of ours. I owe them a few more wins on this bike, so I’m happy to get one. I’m extra happy that Tyler is still in the championship fight.”
Super Hooligans Race One Top Ten
- Troy Herfoss IND
- Jake Lewis HD +0.434s
- Cory West HD +1.659s
- Jeremy McWilliams IND +3.967s
- Tyler O’Hara IND +5.132s
- Dominic Doyle YAM +5.672s
- Cody Wyman HD +5.693s
- Alessandro Di Mario DUC +8.364s
- Travis Wyman HD +13.814s
- Hunter Dunham DUC +16.102s
Super Hooligans Race Two
Saddlemen Harley-Davidson’s Cory West did exactly what he needed to do to earn the 2024 Mission Super Hooligan National Championship. He finished second to championship rival Tyler O’Hara on Saturday morning at COTA, and that earned the veteran racer from Arkansas his first career AMA title.
The race was won by S&S/Indian Motorcycle’s O’Hara, but it wasn’t enough as he didn’t get the help he was hoping for. When his team-mate Troy Herfoss went out with a mechanical problem, that put the onus of help on the shoulders of his other teammate, 61-year-old Jeremy McWilliams. McWilliams gave it his all but came up .167 of a second behind West in third. Even if he’d gotten the spot and West had ended the race tied with O’Hara on points, the title would have gone to West based on the tiebreaker of number of wins.
Second place on the track went to uber talent Alessandro Di Mario, who was riding a non-homologated Ducati Streetfighter V2. Di Mario was racing knowing that the bike would be disqualified, but it didn’t take away from the fact that the 15-year-old was impressive in his debut in the class.
Fourth place went to West’s teammate Jake Lewis, with the Kentuckian playing the role of wingman to perfection. The third Saddlemen Harley-Davidson teamster, Travis Wyman, finished fifth.
“It’s hard to stay cool when it’s so hot out,” West said. “Saddlemen Harley Davidson Pan America… I can’t say enough. That bike just worked awesome. It was a really stressful race. I had to finish third. I knew what TO (Tyler O’Hara) was going to do. He was going to go out and try to win it. I just kept my head down and did what I could. This is a dream come true. It’s something that you’ve always wanted when you were a kid when you start to racing, to be a champion. It’s just complete, man. It’s a check off the old bucket list. I really have to thank everybody. Dave, Amy, Chris. My beautiful wife, who is due in eight days. Jake, Taylor, Kento, Eric, Matty, Fury, Ricky, everybody. I love you guys. My family is here this weekend. I’ve got so many friends. We brought home the number-one plate, and I couldn’t be happier.”
Super Hooligans Race Two Top Ten
- Tyler O’Hara IND
- Cory West HD +4.081s
- Jeremy McWilliams IND +4.248s
- Jake Lewis HD +5.109s
- Travis Wyman HD +7.462s
- Hayden Schultz HD +8.442s
- Cody Wyman HD +9.232s
- Dominic Doyle YAM +10.342s
- Stefano Mesa ENE +22.544s
- Hawk Mazzotta IND +27.017s
DNF (Mech) Troy Herfoss
Super Hooligans Championship Standings
Final
- Cory West 183
- Tyler O’Hara 179
- Jake Lewis 146
- Troy Herfoss 123
- Cody Wyman 123
- Hayden Schultz 104
- Hawk Mazzotta 81
- Travis Wyman 79
- Stefano Mesa 58
- Jordan Eubanks 41
