King of the Baggers 2025
Road America, Elkhart Lake
Images by Brian J Nelson
Mission King Of The Baggers Race One
Kyle Wyman led team-mates Bradley Smith and James Rispoli to a popular podium sweep of the Mission King Of The Baggers race at Road America on Saturday, with the Harley-Davidson x Dynojet Factory Racing team dominating on a racetrack located just an hour up the road from The Motor Company’s Milwaukee headquarters.
Wyman was fast from the very first practice session and he had pace that the others didn’t seem to have. Fast and confident, the winningest rider in Baggers’ history won his fourth race of the year and the 22nd of his career. The win also built on an already large lead in the championship as the New Yorker led the title chase by 48 points over his new-for-2025 teammate Smith, 120 plays 72 after Saturday at Road America.
Smith finished second for the second time in his debut season in both the class and the MotoAmerica Championship. In what was his first visit to Road America, the Brit was strong in the race and closed in on Wyman as the race progressed to come up just .255 of a second behind Harley’s team leader after setting the fastest lap of the race on the very last circuit.
Smith, in turn, was 4.2 seconds ahead of Rispoli at the finish. Rispoli was chased to the flag by S&S/Indian Motorcycle’s Tyler O’Hara, RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson’s Hayden Gillim and defending series champion Troy Herfoss, who was a disappointed sixth.
Herfoss had got beaten up a little off the start and was battling with Smith over second place in the early lappers before running a little wide which allowed Smith to break and left the defending champ in a four-way fight for the final spot on the rostrum but ultimately the Australian finished sixth after running wide late in the race while in the heat of that battle.
Kyle Wyman
“We were talking going into this weekend like, I don’t know how we could possibly top last year because of that last-lap battle with Troy (Herfoss), and coming out and getting that win. That was the coolest moment. This is even cooler. For all of us to lock this out is an amazing feeling. I think the team has really earned this position that we’re in. We’ve all been working pretty hard. I think that something is just a little bit different this year. This is my fifth season with this program. Having the three of us and the energy that each of us brings to the table and how we’re all working together to put Harley-Davidson on top, we’ve made a big step when we didn’t really think that there was a step this big to be made. So, it’s a great feeling. I don’t even know how the points are, but they’ve got to be just blown apart at this point. I don’t know what to say. I’ve had a lot of close ones. I’ve missed out on it the last three seasons in a row. It feels like ages ago that we got that first one, that three-round championship we had. I feel like we’re in a really good position. But as Bradley (Smith) said, keep working and try to win some more races. But tomorrow is going to be hopefully a repeat. It could happen. We go to work tonight. Try to make the bike even better and see what we can do tomorrow.”
Mission King Of The Baggers Race One Results
Mission King Of The Baggers Race Two
The Mission King Of The Baggers series has been a Harley-Davidson/Indian Motorcycle rivalry since day one. On Sunday at Road America, that rivalry was taken up a notch.
A day after watching Harley’s podium lockout in race one on Saturday, S&S/Indian Motorcycle’s Troy Herfoss was determined not to let it happen again. And he rode like it, battling at the front of the pack with an equally intense Bradley Smith in a race between two racers desperately wanting to win.
Smith led into the final corner on the last lap with the lead, ran wide and left a hole that Herfoss charged through. The pair came to together on the exit with Smith crashing his Harley-Davidson x Dynojet Factory Racing Road Glide and Herfoss riding to victory.
Smith’s two teammates James Rispoli and Kyle Wyman, meanwhile, watched it unfold right in front of them and raced up the hill to finish second and third, respectively.
All involved parties spent some time in Race Direction with the outcome unknown at the time of publication.
Defending series champion Herfoss ended up topping Rispoli by just .229 of a second. For Rispoli, it was a good weekend after a miserable start to his season. Two podium finishes always make a guy feel better and Rispoli had to be pleased with his results.
Wyman was 1.1 seconds behind and content with a championship points lead that continues to grow. After winning race one and finishing third in race two, Wyman’s points lead is now 57 points over Herfoss.
Herfoss’ teammate Tyler O’Hara finished fourth, hot on Wyman’s tail and slightly ahead of RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson’s Hayden Gillim.
S&S/Indian Motorcycle’s Loris Baz was sixth with Saddlemen Race Development’s Jake Lewis seventh. TAB Performance Racing’s Kyle Ohnsorg, SDI Racing’s Cameron Beaubier and Gillim’s teammate Rocco Landers rounded out the top 10.
Troy Herfoss
“Firstly, I just want to say, I hope Bradley (Smith) is okay. We were racing super hard out there. That guy is hungry. He was like a dog with a bone. I closed the gap in the last turn. I thought when we went in there, I was a lot stronger than him in the day. This morning, I was seeing him as well. He ended up pushing a lot wider than me. I went for it, and he went for it. I really hope that’s the way we can see it moving forward. I know how I’d feel right now if I was Bradley, and I just want to say I’m sorry that that’s how it finished. But we were both going for the same line. Aside from that, it was quite the day. I was having a lot of fun out there in that race. It’s a funny old game, isn’t it? You’ve got to be able to ride a bike fast, but when you get out there and the flag drops, it’s about racing a motorbike and it’s a fun old game. I think I’m pretty good at that game.”
Mission King Of The Baggers Race Two Results
- Troy Herfoss – IND
- James Rispoli – HD +0.229s
- Kyle Wyman – HD +1.195s
- Tyler O’Hara – IND +1.288s
- Hayden Gillim – HD +1.658s
- Loris Baz – IND +2.276s
- Jake Lewis – HD +9.760s
- Kyle Ohnsorg – IND +11.713s
- Cameron Petersen – IND +12.735s
- Rocco Landers – HD +43.499s
- Bradley Smith – HC +123.598s
Mission King Of The Baggers Points
2025 King Of The Baggers Calendar
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Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course |
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2025 MotoAmerica Super Hooligans Calendar
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Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course |
