King of the Baggers and Super Hooligan recap from Mid-Ohio

King of the Baggers 2025

KOTB Round Five – Mid-Ohio

Images by Brian J Nelson

Mission King Of The Baggers Race One

After suffering mechanical DNFs while leading both Mission King Of The Baggers races at Laguna Seca a month ago, Hayden Gillim went home and didn’t talk to anyone. He wasn’t a happy camper.

On the weekend at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Gillim was hell-bent on making up for the Laguna Seca disappointment. On Saturday, Gillim got started on his plan of revenge with victories in both the winner-take-all Mission King Of The Baggers Challenge and in the first of two Mission King Of The Baggers Championship races.

It was Gillim’s first victory of the season in the class, and it was well-earned as it came with never-ending pressure from behind in the form of Indian’s Troy Herfoss.

Gillim led every lap of the final, beating Herfoss to the finish line by less than two-tenths.

New father and runaway championship points leader Kyle Wyman was third on his Harley-Davidson x Dynojet Factory Racing Road Glide, just .337 of a second ahead of his teammate James Rispoli.

A few seconds behind the two factory Harleys came SDI Racing’s Cameron Petersen on his Indian Challenger.

Sixth place went to Herfoss’ team-mate Loris Baz, with the Frenchman some four seconds ahead of Gillim’s teammate Rocco Landers.

S&S/Indian Motorcycle’s Tyler O’Hara, Harley-Davidson x Dynojet Factory Racing’s Travis Wyman, and Lyndall Brakes/M3’s Max Flinders rounded out the top 10.

“After Laguna, I didn’t talk to anybody at Vance & Hines,” Gillim said. “I didn’t talk to anybody on the team. I didn’t talk to anybody for two and a half weeks. It was a long, long weekend. The Vance & Hines guys put in a ton of work, and we actually went testing last Saturday. It was supposed to be a two-day test, to kind of do some durability testing on the transmission, because that’s what our problem was at Laguna. And we found a whole other problem. We blew up both bikes in the span of an hour. So, they had to go back to the shop. They were there Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. I think they loaded up the last load on Thursday morning to drive up here. They had to go back and refigure every motor that we had in the shop and the bikes. So, it’s been a long year. This is my first podium of the season. After last year, being pretty competitive at times, we just have struggled and we’re finally finding our footing again. This one I wasn’t going to give in very easy. I tried swapping up some lines on the back straight. I could hear him kind of gassing it a little bit sooner than I was coming out into the next left. So, I was thinking maybe he was rolling around on the outside a little bit better. It’s hard. Luckily, I had the Superbike race to feel all that out. So, I kind of knew what the lines were like. I was getting tired there at the end. He started closing up on me. I started getting tighter and tighter and tighter. My left arm was cramping going through the Keyhole and everything. I was gripping it so tight. ‘Don’t give this up, man.’ It was just a good day, good weekend. Keep this going tomorrow.”

Mission King Of The Baggers Race One Results

Mission King Of The Baggers Race Two

Troy Herfoss and Hayden Gillim took part in an outright war for victory in Sunday’s Mission King Of The Baggers race. With both riders on the edge for the entire race, something had to give on the last lap, and it did.

With the pair side by side going down the back straight and through the high-speed kink, they arrived together at turn six, a tight right-hander. Herfoss was on the outside, while Gillim was on the inside. And both were going too fast to make the corner. Gillim ran wide and onto the grass while Herfoss was able to get the Indian turned enough to stay on track. Gillim stayed on the throttle, accelerated his way through the gravel and the grass, and rejoined the pack to finish sixth.

Once he’d realised that Gillim was out of the picture, Herfoss cruised in for the win, his second of the season, with Harley-Davidson x Dynojet Factory Racing’s Kyle Wyman crossing the line a half-second behind for second place.

Herfoss’ teammate Tyler O’Hara was third after getting the better of SDI Racing’s Cameron Petersen. Harley-Davidson x Dynojet Factory Racing’s James Rispoli rounded out the top five, just ahead of Gillim.

Gillim’s teammate Rocco Landers and Harley-Davidson x Dynojet Factory Racing’s Travis Wyman were involved in a big crash together early in the race. Both were fortunate to escape injury.

Troy Herfoss

“The race played out exactly how I thought it would. It was either the second-to-last lap or the last lap he came past me. I feel like I closed the door enough where he wouldn’t put it in there, and he did. We didn’t touch. It was scary, but I knew that if he did that, I would be closer. I was getting dropped. The final turn and turn one, I was closing in down on the brakes in through that sector. So, I was like, ‘okay, if he passes me here, I can put a move on him in the back straight.’ Of course, he went for it. I knew when I went around the outside of him, he would let the brakes off. So, I let the brakes off early and made sure he had to go inside to the track. He actually didn’t even realize yesterday. He mentioned something in the press conference about having big trouble here this weekend. I was always nearly crashing. When I came back in the morning, I was checking tires and working out if there was an issue there. Then yesterday he mentioned in the press conference that the next time he got… he would end up crashing. Sure enough, went right down the hill. Turn seven, I think. Then he was going to be too close. So then last lap I was celebrating. We know how lucky we are. I’m really excited. It’s never over until it’s over. I will say probably the worst weekend he’s (Wyman) had since I’ve been in this championship. So, we’ll keep the pressure on. Keep trying to enjoy racing and winning races.”

That victory for Troy Herfoss sees him trim Wyman’s King of the Baggers points lead to 59 points with two rounds still remaining.

Mission King Of The Baggers Race Two Results

Mission King Of The Baggers Points

Mission King Of The Baggers Challenge Results

Super Hooligan Round Five

Super Hooligan Race One

KWR Harley-Davidson’s James Rispoli raced his Pan America to victory for the third race in a row, putting him just six points behind Saddlemen Race Development’s Cory West, who struggled to an eighth-place finish that virtually erased his championship points lead.

West’s teammate Jake Lewis finished a tick over a second behind Rispoli, and his second-place finish moved him to just five points behind West.

The final podium spot fell to Giaccmoto Yamaha Racing’s Dominic Doyle, who was some two seconds behind Lewis and four seconds ahead of ARCH Racing’s Corey Alexander, the New Yorker riding the new bike to its best finish of its debut season.

KWR Harley-Davidson’s Travis Wyman rounded out the top five

Super Hooligan Race One Results

Super Hooligan Race Two

KWR Harley-Davidson’s James Rispoli came into the season finale of the Mission Super Hooligan National Championship on the outside looking in. He leaves Ohio as the class champion after sweeping the two races, including the winner-take-all race two on Sunday afternoon.

With championship points leader Cory West having a mechanical problem late in the race while battling in the top three, his teammate Jake Lewis needed to beat race leader Rispoli in order to take the title. In the closing stages, Lewis caught a false neutral in the penultimate corner and ran wide, allowing Rispoli to pull away to a lead he’d not relinquish. Rispoli would cross the finish line with only .758 of a second to spare, and the championship was his – by just four points over Lewis.

With Lewis second in the race, the battle for third went to the finish line with Giaccmoto Yamaha Racing’s Dominic Doyle beating ARCH Racing’s Corey Alexander by just .138 of a second, thus preventing Alexander from giving ARCH its first podium finish in its debut season. With his fourth-place finish matching yesterday’s fourth, the team duplicated what was its best finish of the year.

Saddlemen Race Development’s Travis Wyman rounded out the top five.

“First off, I’ve got to thank Kyle Wyman, KWR,” Rispoli said. “These guys have put together a package that’s been so good, backed by Harley-Davidson. The Pan America is so good. Nobody was talking about me coming into the weekend and it actually helped me. Kept the pressure low. The championship was on Cory’s (West) and Jake’s (Lewis) heads there. I knew this race was going to be tough. I told you yesterday, these dogs figure it out quick. All I had was those 29.2, 29.3. Every time in the braking zones, I heard these guys. I heard the big, open cylinder and the big exhaust from those Saddlemen boys. I’m like, ‘Man!’ I kept looking at the tower. Saw 85 and then I saw the one (West). I was like, ‘Dang, dude! This guy showed up. He wanted this thing.’ It’s a shame that it had to go down like that. I wanted to race square up, so the fact they had a mechanical really is a shame for the championship. But I’m stoked. I got nothing left. I was screaming the whole cool-down lap. I know it’s the Super Hooligan Championship, but we put so much work into this. Everybody did. Coming from where I came from last year, this feels so freaking good. Hats off to my team. Elvis G, for building these things in his freaking garage. Bob Wyman, Mike. All my boys over there. Everybody. Look at that Factory Harley tent. Everybody is here to support me, and that just means so freaking much.”

Super Hooligan Race Two Results

Super Hooligans Final Points

2025 King Of The Baggers Calendar

2025 MotoAmerica Super Hooligans Calendar

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