via www.motoamerica.com AUSTIN, TX (September 15, 2024) – With Harley-Davidson Factory Racing’s Kyle Wyman and S&S/Indian Motorcycle’s Troy Herfoss winning 12 of the 16 Mission King Of The Baggers races, it’s fitting that those two will battle to the bitter end in a winner-take-all-championship at New Jersey Motorsports Park, September 27-29
Of course, the duo battled on Sunday afternoon at Circuit of The Americas with the two running nose to tail for the majority of the race. At the end of the five-lap sprint, it was Herfoss taking his sixth win of the season with Wyman just .445 of a second behind in second place.
The championship? There’s now just two points between the two with Wyman leading Herfoss, 315-313, with the series headed to Wyman’s home track of NJMP in two weeks.
No one else was a real factor in this one with Saturday’s Mission King Of The Baggers victor Rocco Landers riding his RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson to third, 3.7 seconds behind the lead duo.
Landers’ teammate Hayden Gillim rode to a gutsy fourth after undergoing surgery on a broken hand just a week or so prior to racing in Texas. Gillim was right on Landers at the finish line.
Wyman’s teammate James Rispoli rounded out the top five, some five seconds adrift of the intra-team Landers/Gillim battle.
“Today was a really good day,” Herfoss said. “Yesterday I got caught out. It was a tough race yesterday. Just having young Rocco (Landers) again. I see a lot in him. I know that he’s going to race to win every stage of the year. I sort of didn’t open fire as much as I probably could have, but in saying that, he was just so in control. I sort of knew that if I was going to make a pass, he was so dialed in it wasn’t going to do much. It wasn’t going to get me far. But today, we made a few adjustments and sort of predicted the way the track would go in that heat. I kept a good eye on the Superbike races today. The answer is yes, I was extremely comfortable. As I said on the podium, a little bit of a smart-ass comment, but I have also been super respectful all the year because I was so comfortable, I don’t go back on that. I felt like it was a puppet show, and I felt like I was in charge of it. I tried to get Kyle (Wyman) to do something he didn’t want to do, and like I knew he was too smart to try. It’s even and we’re going to the last round. Best man can win. I understand full well that it’s a track that he’s really good at. I’ve got a lot of respect for that. I can’t wait to go there and see what I can do there.”
Supersport – Breathing Room For Scholtz
The 2024 Supersport Championship will go down to the final round of the season after a drama-filled weekend that began with a 25-point lead for Strack Racing Yamaha’s Mathew Scholtz over Rahal Ducati Moto’s PJ Jacobsen and ended with Scholtz now taking a 39-point lead to New Jersey Motorsports Park for the final two races of the championship.
Scholtz survived some intense challenges from the other riders and a near-get-off from his Yamaha to take the checkered flag by a little over two seconds ahead of Vision Wheel ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott. Third place went to N2 Racing/BobbleHeadMoto Yamaha’s Blake Davis.
But, what about Jacobsen? Well, the title contender led the race, was shuffled back in the lead pack, and ultimately looked like he’d finish on the podium until the penultimate corner on the final lap when he inexplicably went down and slid out of the race, which cost him most of the valuable points that he had gained from the results of Saturday’s race one.
“I knew I had the pace to do (fast laps) consistently, and I knew that I should be able to win,” Scholtz said. “It sucks that PJ crashed, but it really, really helps me in the championship. So, now, we go to New Jersey for the final round. Two more races, and we have the advantage. We’ll be ready.”
Mission Super Hooligan National Championship – West Crowned!
Saddlemen Harley-Davidson’s Cory West did exactly what he needed to do to earn the 2024 Mission Super Hooligan National Championship. He finished second to championship rival Tyler O’Hara on Saturday morning at COTA, and that earned the veteran racer from Arkansas his first career AMA title.
The race was won by S&S/Indian Motorcycle’s O’Hara, but it wasn’t enough as he didn’t get the help he was hoping for. When his teammate Troy Herfoss went out with a mechanical problem, that put the onus of help on the shoulders of his other teammate, 61-year-old Jeremy McWilliams. McWilliams gave it his all but came up .167 of a second behind West in third. Even if he’d gotten the spot and West had ended the race tied with O’Hara on points, the title would have gone to West based on the tiebreaker of number of wins.
Second place on the track went to uber talent Alessandro Di Mario, who was riding a non-homologated Ducati Streetfighter V2. Di Mario was racing knowing that the bike would be disqualified, but it didn’t take away from the fact that the 15-year-old was impressive in his debut in the class.
Fourth place went to West’s teammate Jake Lewis, with the Kentuckian playing the role of wingman to perfection. The third Saddlemen Harley-Davidson teamster, Travis Wyman, finished fifth.
“It’s hard to stay cool when it’s so hot out,” West said. “Saddlemen Harley Davidson Pan America… I can’t say enough. That bike just worked awesome. It was a really stressful race. I had to finish third. I knew what TO (Tyler O’Hara) was going to do. He was going to go out and try to win it. I just kept my head down and did what I could. This is a dream come true. It’s something that you’ve always wanted when you were a kid when you start to racing, to be a champion. It’s just complete, man. It’s a check off the old bucket list. I really have to thank everybody. Dave, Amy, Chris. My beautiful wife, who is due in eight days. Jake, Taylor, Kento, Eric, Matty, Fury, Ricky, everybody. I love you guys. My family is here this weekend. I’ve got so many friends. We brought home the number-one plate, and I couldn’t be happier.”
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