Along with the 82nd running of the Daytona 200, three of MotoAmerica’s class championships will open their seasons on March 7 through 9, including the uniquely American V-twin rivalry known as the Mission King Of The Baggers Championship, which will also be in action on the high banks at Daytona International Speedway.
What started as an “Are you serious?” experiment just a few short years ago has burgeoned into a rapidly growing, global phenomenon. The Mission King Of The Baggers Championship has captured the hearts and minds of race fans everywhere and narrowed the chasm of disagreement between laid-back American Big Twin touring motorcycle riders and forward-posture sportbike enthusiasts. Mission King Of The Baggers delivers the style and swagger of gargantuan upper fairings and hard saddlebags combined with the eyeball-flattening acceleration and elbow-dragging lean angles that used to be the exclusive domain of Superbikes and Supersport machines.
The entry list for Mission King Of The Baggers is 16-riders strong, and it features defending class champion Hayden Gillim carrying #1 plate aboard his RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson as he battles against friendly-but-fierce rivals Kyle Wyman and James Rispoli who represent Harley-Davidson Factory Racing (yes, the factory). The other American Big Twin motorcycle company, Indian Motorcycle, are represented by the enigmatic and super-fast Tyler O’Hara, who is teamed up this year with fellow S&S/Indian Challenger rider Troy Herfoss, the three-time Australian Superbike Champion whose racecraft and big smile perfectly complement teammate O’Hara as his “brother from down-under.”
And speaking of riders from other countries, the pride of Andorra (Google it), a MotoGP podium finisher, as well as a World Supersport and World Superbike multi-time race winner, Rubén Xaus is all-in on this King Of The Baggers craze and he’s ready to be the X-factor aboard his Feuling Parts Harley-Davidson.
He”ll have to face The Fonger among others. Bobby Fong (or Fobby Bong, if you prefer) is back aboard his SDI/Roland Sands Racing/Indian Challenger, and he’s got 50 reasons to send it in 2024. Then there’s the three-headed monster known as Saddlemen/Harley-Davidson with Cory West, Jake Lewis, and Travis Wyman bringing the spiciness and heat like a three-layer bean dip from hell…served with Mission tortilla chips, of course.
And let us not leave out the surprise signing of the off-season with Hayden Gillim’s mercurial ‘mate Rocco Landers also aboard a RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson. Mad Monkey Motorsports’ Mad Max (say that five times fast) Flinders is ready to duplicate or improve on his podium result from the last KOTB race in New Jersey in 2023. Trask Performance is fielding Loudon Classic legend Shane Narbonne. Indian insider (he’s an engineer) Kyle Ohnsorg is back aboard a Challenger after a podium-reaching performance at COTA last year. Flat tracker Jesse Janisch is bringing his sideways-sliding style to the Suburban Motors H-D/Slyfox/Trask Performance team. And let us pause for a moment, ladies and gentlemen. We give you Danny Eslick, the four-time Daytona 200 winner who will be wringing the neck on his Nowaskey Extreme Performance Harley.
Are you not entertained? Oh yes, you most certainly will be.
For the full 2024 MotoAmerica schedule and to purchase tickets for MotoAmerica events, click HERE
For information on how to watch the MotoAmerica series, click HERE
