This year’s MotoAmerica Mission King of the Baggers series was a wild ride – and I’m not just talking about the rain-slicked asphalt that decorated the twisties of this past weekend’s season finale at the New Jersey Motorsports Park.
The previous Friday saw Harley-Davidson® Screamin’ Eagle® factory rider Kyle Wyman beating his own New Jersey Motorsports Park class lap record of 1:24.447 – a feat that was bookended by a bit of wet circuit chaos, with Saturday’s warmups leading to Wyman sliding out and retiring in Lap 3.
After that, it was up to Hayden Gillim (215 points) and James Rispoli (213 points) to deliver prime results; Rispoli ended up 9.10 seconds behind Gillim, who logged a fantastic 7-point championship lead.
Sunday’s Race saw Wyman out of the runnings for the title of season finale champ, though he came back with punch to spare regardless; Wyman secured an eventual 3.72-second lead on Gillim, who finished 2nd place in Sunday’s race to take the season finale championship, with Rispoli running off the track due to the slickness of the environs.
Here are the official lists, per Harley’s press release:
MotoAmerica King of the Baggers Race Results – New Jersey Motorsports Park Race 1
- Hayden Gillim (H-D) Vance & Hines/Mission Foods/Harley-Davidson
- James Rispoli (H-D) Vance & Hines/Mission Foods/Harley-Davidson
- Travis Wyman (H-D) Screamin’ Eagle Harley-Davidson
- Kyle Ohnsorg (Ind) Roland Sands Design
- Bobby Fong (Ind) Sacramento Mile/SDI Racing/Roland Sands Design
- Jake Lewis (H-D) Team Saddlemen
- Max Flinders (Ind) M3/Revolution Performance
- Tyler O’Hara (Ind) Progressive/Mission Foods
- Frankie Garcia (H-D) Team Saddlemen
- Patricia Fernandez-West (H-D) Team Saddlemen
DNF. Kyle Wyman (H-D) Screamin’ Eagle Harley-Davidson
DNF. Cody Wyman (H-D) Team Saddlemen
DNF. Jeremy McWilliams (Ind) Progressive/Mission Foods
MotoAmerica King of the Baggers Race Results – New Jersey Motorsports Park Race 2
- Kyle Wyman (H-D) Screamin’ Eagle Harley-Davidson
- Hayden Gillim (H-D) Vance & Hines/Mission Foods/Harley-Davidson
- Max Flinders (Ind) M3/Revolution Performance
- Bobby Fong (Ind) Sacramento Mile/SDI Racing/Roland Sands
- Jeremy McWilliams (Ind) Progressive/Mission Foods
- Travis Wyman (H-D) Screamin’ Eagle Harley-Davidson
- James Rispoli (H-D) Vance & Hines/Mission Foods/Harley-Davidson
- Kyle Ohnsorg (Ind) Roland Sands Design
- Jake Lewis (H-D) Team Saddlemen
- Frankie Garcia (H-D) Team Saddlemen
- Patricia Fernandez-West (H-D) Team Saddlemen
DNF. Tyler O’Hara (Ind) Progressive/Mission Foods
DNF. Cody Wyman (H-D) Team Saddlemen
And that’s that, folks; Harley-Davidson secures three podiums for 2023’s KOTB series, with 2023 KOTB King Kyle Wyman and season finale Champ Hayden Gillim leaving us a penny for their thoughts:
“It’s been one of, if not the best, year of my life. I’m really happy to bring this home for Vance & Hines, for Mission Foods, and for Harley-Davidson. Next season will be a real scrap in this series. Honestly the field is stacked, and if everybody stays next year it’s going to be a tough championship to hold onto.”
– Hayden Gillim, Vance & Hines/Mission Foods Harley-Davidson (Harley-Davidson)
“It really stings to come up short in the championship after winning the most races, but I’m also proud of my race wins, proud of the team and what it has accomplished from a development standpoint, which trickles down to the other Harley teams. This has been a crazy year and obviously this weekend did not end as we hoped it might, but Harley-Davidson is one-two-three in the championship and that’s the next-best result for us.
– Kyle Wyman, Harley-Davidson® Screamin’ Eagle® factory team (Harley-Davidson)
What do you think of this past weekend’s King of the Bagger Championship?