H-D Screamin’ Eagle’s Kyle Wyman made up for the disappointment of failing to finish the first of two Mission King Of The Baggers races on Friday with a dominating eight-second victory on Saturday at Daytona International Speedway.
Wyman’s factory Harley-Davidson Road Glide coasted to a stop in Friday’s first Baggers race, forcing the 2021 King Of The Baggers Champion to watch Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson’s James Rispoli score his first career victory in the opening round of the championship.
And everyone paid the price for his disappointment as Wyman went on a tear on Saturday, leading every lap of the eight-lap race to beat Rispoli by 8.030 seconds. Third place went to Rispoli’s teammate Hayden Gillim, a day after Gillim finished second. Team Saddlemen’s Cory West finished fourth with his teammate Jake Lewis rounding out the top five.
Defending Mission King Of The Baggers Champion Tyler O’Hara had an off-day with the Indian Motorcycle/Progressive/Mission Foods-backed Californian running off in turn one and ending the race in 11th. O’Hara’s teammate Jeremy McWilliams was also off the pace, finishing 11th after just losing out in a battle with Roland Sands Design/Indian Motorcycle’s Kyle Ohnsorg.
REV’IT Twins Cup – Mesa!
Veteran Stefano Mesa made the most of his one-off appearance on the MP13 Racing Yamaha YZF R-7 to win Saturday’s REV’IT! Twins Cup race at Daytona International Speedway. Mesa, who was riding as a replacement for the injured Kayla Yaakov, topped Friday’s winner Gus Rodio by just .162 of a second after five laps of the Speedway.
Rodio, who won Friday’s REV’IT! Twins Cup race, was well clear of Trackday Winner/Blackmon Racing’s Jackson Blackmon.
Mesa failed to finish Friday’s race one with a mechanical problem.
Defending REV’IT! Twins Cup Champion Blake Davis finished fourth, a tick over six seconds behind Blackmon and just .358 of a second ahead of Cycle Tech’s Hayden Schultz.
Mission Super Hooligan National Championship – West DQ’d, O’Hara Wins
Team Saddlemen’s Cory West won the Mission Super Hooligan National Championship race on Saturday at Daytona International Speedway, but his Harley-Davidson Pan America failed to pass technical examination and West was stripped of his victory.
West’s misfortune was Indian Motorcycle/Progressive/Mission Foods’ Tyler O’Hara gain, as he inherited the victory with West’s disqualification. O’Hara’s teammate Jeremy McWilliams finished second today, a day after finishing third in race one. O’Hara’s win was his second as he completed a perfect weekend in the class.
Grey Area Racing’s Mark Price rode his KTM to third after barely beating Vigilante Racing’s Nate Kern and his BMW to the line. Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Stefano Mesa was fifth on an Energica electric motorcycle.
Daytona Quotes
Twins Cup – Stefano Mesa, Winner
“First off, I want to wish Kayla (Yaakov) a healthy recovery, speedy recovery. Same with Ben (Gloddy) and Dom (Doyle) that just crashed in the race. Grateful for Melissa (Paris) and Josh (Hayes) to come offer me the ride for the twins, especially knowing I’ve never been on something like that. I am the guy that rides a lot of different motorcycles, but never been on a Twins Cup bike. Was just a good weekend right off the bat. Felt good on the bike right in the practice and just kept working from there. How Gus (Rodio) said, I’m kind of the older one in the class, you could say, and the one with the most experience. So, it was kind of good to go and race with all the kids. I ride with these kids a lot. I’ve coached them. I’ve tried to get them faster in the past, so definitely riding with them was a good experience. It’s good to see how fast they’re going, how much they’re pushing these little things, because they’re absolutely riding it to the limit. Just grateful for the opportunity and grateful to get the win.”
Mission King Of The Baggers – Kyle Wyman, Winner
“Definitely anger, a little bit of frustration because I just know how good the bike is when it’s all there like we developed it. To have it kind of end like that yesterday was frustrating for sure. What can I say? The boys have done their homework over this winter. Obviously, we have a pretty strong package. We’re still not the fastest bike in a straight line, which was interesting. But we are in a really good spot for the rest of the season. I don’t know exactly where the points shake out. James (Rispoli) filled both his bags full of points. I only filled the one side, so we’ll have to see kind of where it’s at. I’m super happy to finish the weekend on a high note because then it feels like a good weekend.”
Mission Super Hooligan National Championship – Tyler O’Hara
“Chess, not checkers. You need to put yourself in a position to win on the last lap, and I was able to achieve that. I’m very proud of my whole Indian Motorcycle Progressive Mission Foods team. My Indian FTR1200 was fun to ride at Daytona.”
