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Superbike veterans win King of the Baggers, Supersport

Sep 29, 2024

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What do racers with Superbike wins on their resume do to kickstart their careers in a new direction? They go win championships in other MotoAmerica classes.

King of the Baggers: Indian gets this round over Harley-Davidson

Baggers racing leads to more divided opinions among the fan base than any other class, but whether you fall into the camp of loving the spectacle or you're not interested, there's no denying that King of the Baggers delivered the closest finish of the MotoAmerica season. In the latest chapter in the age-old rivalry between Harley-Davidson and Indian, S&S Indian Motorcycle's Troy Herfoss prevailed over Harley-Davidson Factory Racing's Kyle Wyman.

Wyman, who raced in Superbike for several years, came to New Jersey with a slim two-point lead over Herfoss, a former Australian Superbike champion in his first year in MotoAmerica. After Saturday's race, that was reversed, with Herfoss taking a two-point lead. That meant whoever finished ahead of the other on Sunday would win the championship.

Troy Herfoss leading the field in the baggers race — The final King of the Baggers race of the year was destined to decide the season-long two-man battle between Troy Herfoss (17) and Kyle Wyman (33), between Indian and Harley-Davidson. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.

Both Herfoss and Wyman starting on the second row got a good start and jumped to the early lead. But Herfoss set a new lap record, his Indian Challenger visibly handling better than Wyman's Harley-Davidson Road Glide on this particular day, and cruised to the win to complete the double and clinch the championship.

RevZilla Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson riders Hayden Gillim and Rocco Landers made their marks in two different ways. Gillim finished third in the standings while Landers, who needed some time in the first half of the season to get used to racing a 600-plus-pound bagger, finished the season strong and sent a warning message about the future. Landers finished the season with eight straight podium finishes and two race wins, moving him up to fourth in the final standings and showing just how fast the 19-year-old three-time MotoAmerica champion is still learning.

the field at the start of Saturday's Supersport race at NJMP — The Next Generation Supersport rules upended the class two years ago, but it was a familiar Yamaha YZF-R6 that still carried Mathew Scholtz (11) to the championship this year. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.

Supersport: Scholtz proves the R6 still has it

It was also a two-man battle all year in Supersport between former Superbike race winners Mathew Scholtz and P.J. Jacobsen. Both joined a new team and shifted down to the Supersport class this year, where they left the rest of the field more than 100 points behind in the season standings. In the end, a few small mistakes made the difference as Scholtz finished with eight wins and 15 podiums for the season on his Strack Racing Yamaha YZF-R6 while Jacobsen had seven wins and 14 podiums on his Rahal Ducati Moto Panigale V2.

Scholtz clinched the title in Saturday's race with a fifth-place finish. After cloudy and sometimes damp conditions, the race took place on a dry and warmer track, so nobody knew what to expect.

"I just didn’t have a good feeling from the first corner," Scholtz said after Saturday's race. "I nearly highsided."

"I wasn’t riding around in fifth place because I was just chilling. I was riding as quick as I could. But, overall, it's just a big deal getting this championship. Now I'm just happy that I can go into Sunday's race and just focus on going as quick as I can."

team member in uniform standing by the finish line cheering — The Rahal Ducati Moto team celebrates P.J. Jacobsen's win in the Sunday Supersport race, but the bigger victory belonged to Mathew Scholtz, who won the season-long battle with Jacobsen for the championship. Photo by Lance Oliver.

Fittingly, Sunday's race ended the season in a straight-up battle between Jacobsen and Scholtz, the two changing the lead several times while pulling an amazing 13-second lead over the rest of the field, with Jacobsen getting the win in the end.

The R6 once dominated the Supersport class. Many thought that the new Next Generation Supersport rules, which allowed bikes such as the Suzuki GSX-R750 and Ducati Panigale V2 into the class, would make the smaller 600 less competitive. But Strack Racing and Scholtz proved otherwise in 2024.

Hayden Gillim leads the field in the Stock 1000 race — Hayden Gillim (1) gave Honda its first class championship in the MotoAmerica era by winning the Stock 1000 class. As a bonus, Ashton Yates (27) made it a Honda one-two finish in the final race of the season. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.

Stock 1000: Gillim gives Honda its first

If you're like me, conditioned by years past when Honda was a Goliath in roadracing, you might be surprised to realize that Honda has never won a championship in any class in the 10-year MotoAmerica era. Hayden Gillim finally put an end to that drought by defending the Stock 1000 title he won last year on a Suzuki, but this year winning it on a Honda CBR1000RR-R SP.

Gillim won both races at NJMP, beating his closest championship rival, Orange Cat Racing's Jayson Uribe by 0.026 seconds on Saturday and edging fellow Honda rider Ashton Yates on Sunday by 0.049 seconds.