Drag Specialties King of the Baggers
Images by Brian J. Nelson
MotoAmerica Speedfest at Monterey staged a first of its kind road race for baggers and it didn’t disappoint as the big V-twins scratched and clawed their way around the iconic Laguna Seca circuit in ferocious fashion.
The victory went to S&S Indian’s Tyler O’Hara, the pre-race favorite. But it was not without drama as the Challenger-mounted Californian battled back from an off-track excursion in turn two to beat Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson’s Hayden Gillim by 1.9 seconds in the eight-lap introduction to the class at Laguna.
Tyler O’Hara
“Three or four laps in, I was going into (turn) two and I didn’t have any moments going into turn two the whole weekend and just ended up tucking the front. I saved it and then actually went all the way off into turn two. Actually, at the start Frankie (Garcia) was telling me my bike was smoking and I was like, ‘You’re full of it. What are you trying to psych me out?’ But he was serious. I looked at the bike and looked down and I saw a little brake fluid on the pipe. I said, ‘Okay, well we can figure this out. Don’t pull me out of here. We’re just going to figure it out.’”
“We didn’t have any rear brakes at all either, so that was a little interesting. We just did our homework and I was very fortunate that I was able to keep it on two wheels in the sand. Hayden was riding really good, and same with Frankie. It’s just so fun, like you said, being able to be part of this whole King of the Baggers. I haven’t seen people that excited about motorcycle racing in a long time. People were jumping up and down and hooting and hollering. It was just fun to put on a show with these guys. My hats off to everybody who rode a bagger this weekend because some of the bikes out there didn’t look too fun to be on. So hats off to the team.”
Third place went to Indian-mounted Frankie Garcia with the Roland Sands Design-backed rider bouncing back from a painful crash during practice on Friday.
Travis Wyman was fourth, over 30-seconds behind Garcia, followed by Cory West, Eric Stahl, Tony Sollima, Josh Chisum and Logan Lackey.
King of the Baggers Results
| Pos | Name | Make | Diff |
| 1 | Tyler O’Hara | IND | 13:18.0 |
| 2 | Hayden Gillim | HD | +1.994 |
| 3 | Frankie Garcia | IND | +14.246 |
| 4 | Travis Wyman | HD | +46.5 |
| 5 | Cory West | HD | +56.032 |
| 6 | Eric Stahl | HD | +01:21.8 |
| 7 | Tony Sollima | HD | +01:29.7 |
| 8 | Josh Chisum | HD | +01:46.0 |
| 9 | Logan Lackey | HD | +1 Lap |
