The Baggers Are Back In Town For WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca
Four Support Classes, Led By The Mission King Of The Baggers, Set For Monterey Invasion, July 12-14
IRVINE, CA (July 11, 2024) – The Mission King Of The Baggers class returns to where it all began this coming weekend when the MotoAmerica Superbike Championship and its four support classes resume their battles at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, the birthplace of the King Of The Baggers series, July 12-14.
Now knee deep in its fourth season as one of the most popular classes in the MotoAmerica Championship, the Mission King Of The Baggers returns to action after a one-month hiatus for its sixth round and it does so at the track where it all started – WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
The big V-twins roar into town with Australian Troy Herfoss and his S&S Cycles/Indian Motorcycle Challenger atop the championship point standings after 10 races, but it’s tight at the top with Harley-Davidson Factory Racing’s Kyle Wyman just 13 points behind in what has become a two-rider, two-manufacturer battle for the 2024 crown.
Herfoss has earned his 205 points via four wins, four seconds, a third and, for him, a lowly seventh. Wyman’s tally comes via four wins, three seconds, a fifth, a fourth, and an unlikely eighth.
Those two are miles ahead of the rest with Tyler O’Hara the best of the rest and 63 points behind his teammate Herfoss. Defending Mission King Of The Baggers Champion Hayden Gillim put some life back in his title hopes with two victories at the last round in Brainerd, Minnesota. Still, the RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson rider is 70 points behind Herfoss.
Wyman’s teammate James Rispoli rounds out the top five in the point standings heading to Monterey, 97 points from the top spot.
Supersport – Scholtz Pulls Away
The 2024 MotoAmerica Supersport Championship was ultra-close right up to the point where it wasn’t. That point came in race two at Ridge Motorsports Park when championship rivals Mathew Scholtz and PJ Jacobsen came together and Jacobsen got the worst of it, hitting the deck and failing to score a point. Meanwhile, Strack Racing’s Scholtz rode away to an easy win, his sixth of the season and fourth in a row.
And just like that, the spread between Scholtz and Jacobsen is now 28 points.
But catching Scholtz isn’t out of the realm of possibility for Jacobsen as the Rahal Ducati Moto rider has won three races and had been on the podium in each and every race… until the Ridge debacle. There’s plenty of fight still to come from the New Yorker.
Altus Motorsports’ Jake Lewis is third in the championship with the Kentuckian finishing every race thus far with two podiums and solidly consistent finishes. He trails Scholtz by 115 points.
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott is fourth in the title chase, despite an up-and-down season thus far. Scott is the only rider other than Scholtz and Jacobsen to win a race so far in 2024.
N2 Racing/BobbleHeadMoto’s Blake Davis rounds out the top five heading to Laguna Seca.
Stock 1000 – Gillim Hanging On
Real Steel Motorsports’ Hayden Gillim should be breathing easier than he is. With wins in four of the six Stock 1000 races held thus far in 2024, Gillim has been the clear-cut favorite to defend his title from a year ago. The other two races are what have kept things close at the top.
Leading in race two at Brainerd International Raceway after destroying the class in race one, Gillim crashed. Leading race two at Ridge Motorsports Park early on, Gillim crashed again. This time he was able to remount and fly through the pack to finish a remarkable fourth. That fourth turned into a sixth, however, in the official results as Gillim was docked two seconds after failing to make the turn-one chicane after crossing the finish line.
OrangeCat Racing’s Jayson Uribe has been in the catbird seat for both of Gillim’s miscues and he’s been there to pick up the pieces in both cases. The result? The Californian trails the Kentuckian by just six points with the series set for two races at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates has seen his season pick up speed of late and he’s now third in the point standings after four podium finishes in the past four races. He trails Gillim by 23 points and is only four points ahead of FLO4LAW Racing’s Benjamin Smith. BPR Racing’s Bryce Prince is nine additional points behind Smith and rounds out the top five after six races.
Mission Super Hooligan National Championship – The Champ Leads
Defending series champion Tyler O’Hara battled through a difficult weekend at Ridge Motorsports Park but somehow came out of it all with the lead in the Mission Super Hooligan National Championship.
O’Hara bravely rode his S&S Cycles/Indian Motorcycle FTR1200 to a third-place finish in race one at Ridge, using the clutch to slow the bike as he battled a sticking throttle for the entire race. He later said it was the best third-place finish of his career. A day later, O’Hara was second as Saddlemen Racing/Harley-Davidson’s Jake Lewis and his Pan America were simply too much for the rest of the field.
Saturday’s win went to KWR/Harley-Davidson’s Cody Wyman with the youngest of the racing Wyman brothers scoring his first Super Hooligan win of his career. In doing so, he also became the second rider in MotoAmerica history to podium in four different classes – Junior Cup, Twins Cup, Stock 1000 and the Super Hooligan National Championship. The first rider to accomplish that feat was Rocco Landers whose podium finish at Brainerd in June brought his tally to four classes with podium finishes, including Junior Cup, Twins Cup, and Supersport earlier in his career.
O’Hara now leads Wyman by five points as the series arrives in Monterey for its third round. Saddlemen/Harley-Davidson’s Cory West sits third, 12 behind O’Hara and eight ahead of Troy Herfoss on the second S&S Cycles/Indian Motorcycle FTR1200. Lewis rounds out the top five and is 24 points behind O’Hara.
Pre-WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca Notes…
Hayden Gillim and Kyle Wyman split wins in last year’s two Mission King Of The Baggers races at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Gillim beat James Rispoli and Bobby Fong to win race one with Wyman topping Rispoli and Gillim to win race two.
Last year’s “Extended” Supersport race win went to Xavi Forés over Josh Hayes and Tyler Scott. The win was Forés’s eighth win in a row, which broke Garrett Gerloff’s consecutive win streak in the class from 2017.
Jeremy McWiliams was a perfect two-for-two in the Mission Super Hooligan National Championship races in Monterey last year. McWilliams beat Andy DiBrino and Cory West in race one before topping Tyler O’Hara and DiBrino in race two.
The Stock 1000 class didn’t compete at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca last year as the program featured Superbike, Supersport, Mission King Of The Baggers, Twins Cup, and Super Hooligan National Championship.
About MotoAmerica
MotoAmerica is North America’s premier motorcycle road racing series. Established in 2014, MotoAmerica is home to the AMA Superbike Championship as well as additional classes including Supersport, Stock 1000, Twins Cup, Junior Cup, and King Of The Baggers. MotoAmerica is an affiliate of KRAVE Group LLC, a partnership including three-time 500cc World Champion, two-time AMA Superbike Champion, and AMA Hall of Famer Wayne Rainey; ex-racer and former manager of Team Roberts Chuck Aksland; motorsports marketing executive Terry Karges; and businessman Richard Varner. For more information, please visit www.MotoAmerica.com and follow MotoAmerica on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube. To watch all things MotoAmerica, subscribe to MotoAmerica’s live streaming and video on demand service, MotoAmerica Live+
More, from a press release issued by Rahal Ducati Moto:
RACE PREVIEW:
WEATHERTECH RACEWAY LAGUNA SECA
MONTEREY, CA (7.11.2024) – Coming off another great weekend at The Ridge Motorsports Park in Washington where Kayla Yaakov earned her first double-podium finish, the Rahal Ducati Moto team has ventured to Monterey California for Rounds 11 and 12 of Supersport competition at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
PJ Jacobsen heads into the weekend eager to regain the lead in the points championship and Corey Alexander looks to score his third podium finish of the season.
Tomorrow’s schedule will host Practice and Qualifying 1, with Qualifying 2 and Race 1 on Saturday, followed by a warm-up and Race 2 on Sunday.
QUOTE BOARD:
PJ JACOBSEN (No. 15 XPEL Ducati Panigale V2): “I’m looking forward to going to Laguna. I like that track a lot, especially since it’s been repaved. I feel that I had some good luck there last year on my Superbike, so I’m really looking forward to riding the Ducati Panigale V2 there. I believe we can have a really good weekend. I’m really hungry now to get as many wins that I possibly can to move forward in the championship. I’m going to put my head down and try to get the job done as fast as I can.”
KAYLA YAAKOV (No. 19 XPEL Ducati Panigale V2): “I’m really excited for Laguna Seca this weekend! While I haven’t had the best luck at this track in the past, I hope to have a great weekend and continue improving on this bike. The team has worked so hard to get me comfortable, and the results of the past few weekends has shown that. The fan atmosphere at Laguna is always one of my favorites, so I can’t wait to see everyone there and hopefully put on a show!”
COREY ALEXANDER (No. 23 Roller Die + Forming Ducati Panigale V2): “It’s pretty hard to find someone not excited to head to Laguna Seca as it’s one of the best tracks on the calendar. I’m determined to get back to work to make up for some of my shortcomings last weekend in Washington and get back up on the podium where we should be.”
BEN SPIES (Team Principal): “We’re all looking forward to Laguna Seca. I think it’s a lot of the riders favorite tracks. We have a lot of momentum coming from The Ridge, as everybody rode really well, Kayla especially. PJ had a unfortunate incident so now it’s time to start catching back up in points and try to win a couple races. The Ducati should work really good at Laguna, and hopefully we can get some good results.”
