KING OF THE BAGGERS | Round 2

It’s Bazball time as Herfoss salvages a wet-race podium from a challenging weekend that saw mechanical woes and a title setback

Reigning Moto America King of the Baggers champion Troy Herfoss endured a torrid weekend in the latest round of the series held at Road Atlanta in Georgia, as teammate Loris Baz snatched a maiden win.

A podium third in a wet race one was followed by a DNF in Race Two to leave Herfoss fourth in the points.

His factory-backed S&S Cycle Indian teammate Baz, the latest high-profile recruit to the series, won the opener with a solid final few laps, first pushing past Herfoss and eventually overtaking the factory Harley-Davidson of Kyle Wyman on the final lap to secure victory by 0.199sec.

Carnage was narrowly avoided at the start line of the second race after pole sitter Wyman didn’t appear to engage first gear before the lights went out, leaving him stranded on the line and scrambling to get his Harley mobile. Wyman commented afterwards that he was fortunate it was a small grid. The consequences of the mistake were lessened at the first corner after a heavy crash from Kyle Ohnsorg, with the Harley of Rocco Landers striking the fallen Indian and bringing out the red flags.

After the restart, Wyman and Herfoss were clear at the front but the challenge was short-lived, with Herfoss’ engine expiring on the back straight on just the second lap. Wyman went on to claim his 21st career Baggers win, with Baz second and Bradley Smith third.

Herfoss was circumspect, saying, “That was a really unfortunate weekend for us. We worked really hard to try and gain that speed to race for a win in race two. I felt nice on the bike, I felt racy but unfortunately I saw some smoke on my boot… felt some wheelspin and I realised I was in a bit of trouble. It’s a big loss in points so now I have to be ‘all in’.”

Some consolation to Herfoss was victory in the two-lap Challenge sprint, which carries a $5000 cash prize – but unfortunately no points. Wyman now holds a significant lead in the title race with the next round at Road America, 30 May-June 1.

Loris Baz – “Well, it went from just trying to survive to seeing I was catching (gaining ground). But at the same time, so many moments. I almost crashed 25 times in that race. I had big moments with the rear, but I feel like I was controlling the rear, playing with that limit. But my main concern was the front. On those three first laps before the race (a practice session), I had a really bad feeling on the front. I was not expecting to fight for the win in that race. But then we restarted, and I could see that everyone was a little bit struggling. Even if I had a lot of problems on the lean angle on the front, I kind of found some lines and I was able to just brake hard straight, not lean the bike too much, and change a little bit my lines. It took me a little bit of time to overtake Troy (Herfoss), because with that bad feeling and the moments I was having, I didn’t want to take him out. It was sketchy, but after two laps I saw that I was catching Kyle (Wyman) in a lot of places. So, I went from trying to secure second place to accepting the risk of trying to catch him. I knew that I was on the limit, but I think everyone was. I was pretty happy. I knew I had no chance to overtake him anywhere, unless on the straight into 10A. Then I had a big moment in the exit of 10B, but that was the third or fourth time in that race, so I was expecting that. I’m super happy. It doesn’t matter the class. When you never rode a bike in the wet and you go first time, it’s just a matter of how good your crew is to guess setup for you. So, big thanks to them. They did a great job to guess the right setup for me. Obviously, I’m much bigger than those guys, than Tyler (O’Hara) and Troy (Herfoss), so you can’t copy and paste the setup. I’m happy. I’m proud of what we are doing inside the team and all the people involved. It’s a massive challenge. First time riding a bike with no TC in the wet, it’s been 15 years. It’s something I love, but we have to remember how to do it. So, I’m happy.”

Kyle Wyman – “It’s quite early to really talk about the championship. A lot of things are going to unfold over the next few rounds that could completely change the landscape. So I’m just trying to do my job and focus on doing my best work. I’m really proud of how I rode today in the wet. I’m usually a bit of a slow build, but I was able to get up to speed quickly during the familiarization, and I think that made a big difference mentally. That was key today. I got a great start. Troy came underneath me, but I was able to get out of Turn 7 clean. Around halfway, I thought I had the race won, but I started struggling with rear grip. I was lighting the rear up coming out of Turn 7 and over Turn 11 under the bridge. I felt really good on the front, but I just couldn’t get the rear to hook up. I kind of plateaued there. I’m not sure if my lap times dropped at the end — I imagine Loris went faster as the race went on. I’d have to check the data, but he was there, and I felt like he had my number. He came up the inside in Turn 10. I had a good look — he had a pretty big moment coming out of 10B on the last lap. I certainly thought about it, but with the number one behind me, it was best to take the 20 points and not do anything too risky going into Turn 12. On the second-to-last lap, I looked over and saw it was him. I didn’t know if he was alone, but I knew where the pass was going to happen — and it did. That’s kind of how it went.”

Troy Herfoss – “I didn’t have my day, basically. A few things were holding me back with the bike. I feel like when Loris passed me, he had the same issues I had, but he was more willing than I was. He was getting some warnings and dancing right on the edge, but it all paid off for him. I’m proud of him for that — he’s done a good job. On the first lap, I saw the times we did in the practice session, and I realised pretty quickly that I wasn’t beating Kyle today unless I made a big change. So I tried to make a move to slow the race down and put myself on the front foot. But I just didn’t have any real feel with the bike. I felt like I was too stiff — both me and the bike, possibly. We’re making steps forward in the dry. It hasn’t been my best weekend, that’s for sure. I’d like to have ridden a motorbike a lot more over the last few months. Coming here to a track like this, with the guys riding as fast as they are, it’s been a bit of an eye-opener. But we feel like in the dry, we’re right there — on the pace — and should be able to battle at the front, I hope. So yeah, we’re just going to hope for some dry time now and see what happens.”

King of the Baggers Standings