BRASELTON, Ga. — It’s not often that someone can spot Kyle Wyman a lead in a Mission King Of The Baggers race and not only catch him but beat him.
Frenchman Loris Baz, however, did just that on a rainy Saturday at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in what was his first outing on his S&S/Indian Motorcycle-backed Indian Challenger in wet conditions, and just his third race in the class.
In winning his first Mission King Of The Baggers race, Baz became the 10th different racer to taste victory in the fifth year of the V-twin class.
Just when it appeared as though Harley-Davidson x Dynojet Factory Racing’s Wyman had this one locked up, Baz started to push forward, moving into second after passing his teammate Troy Herfoss, and gaining ground quickly as the laps wore down. Baz didn’t get to the back of the Harley until the very last lap, and he made it count, drafting past Wyman on the back straight, taking the lead into 10-A, and holding a tight line through the final set of corners to score the win by just .199 of a second.
Third place went to 2024 Mission King Of The Baggers Champion Herfoss, who admitted to just having a bad day. Herfoss was some three seconds adrift of Baz and Wyman and the Australian only just beat RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson’s Hayden Gillim by .126 of a second.
Herfoss’ teammate Tyler O’Hara was fifth, well clear of Harley-Davidson x Dynojet Factory Racing’s Bradley Smith
TAB Performance Racing’s Kyle Ohnsorg, SDI Racing replacement rider Brandon Paasch, Saddlemen Racing’s Cory West, and Lyndall Brakes/M3’s Max Flinders rounded out the top 10.
After three races, Wyman leads the championship by 26 points over Herfoss, 70-44. Baz is now third in the title chase, three points adrift of Herfoss.
For all practical purposes, Altus Motorsports’ Jake Lewis led the entire Motovation Supersport race on Saturday afternoon at Road Atlanta with the Yamaha YZF-R9-mounted Kentuckian in control despite the challenge of being on rain tires on a track that was drying quickly. But just like that, Rahal Ducati Moto w/XPEL’s PJ Jacobsen, who like Lewis and the rest of the field was fighting the challenge of racing on badly worn rain tires, passed Lewis on the back straight and held him off through the final set of corners to snatch victory on the last lap.
At the finish line, it was Jacobsen winning the 13th MotoAmerica Supersport race of his career by just .371 of a second over Lewis, who was disappointed to come up short in Supersport, it was hard to be anything but pleased with his day as he’d earlier won the Mission Super Hooligan National Championship race.
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott was third, barely beating Celtic/Economy Lube+Tire/Warhorse HSBK Ducati’s Cameron Petersen, with the South African crossing the line just .055 behind Scott.
Strack Racing’s Mathew Scholtz was fifth and it cost him the lead in the Motovation Supersport Championship as he slipped 13 points behind Jacobsen after three races, 65-52. Lewis is now in a tie for third in the championship with BPR Racing Yamaha’s Josh Hayes, who was ninth today after an off-track excursion proved to be costly.
Scholtz started the race from pole position after breaking Garrett Gerloff’s Supersport lap record from 2017 with his 1:27.746 in Q2.
Sixth place went to Rahal Ducati Moto w/XPEL’s Kayla Yaakov with Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Max Van, Strack Racing’s Blake Davis, Hayes, and MP13 Racing’s Aiden Sneed rounding out the top 10.
It’s often said that the rider you want to beat the most is your teammate. Andrew Lee followed that line of thinking to a tee on Saturday with a last-lap, last-corner pass on his Orange Cat Racing teammate Jayson Uribe that earned him victory in the first Stock 1000 race of the season – by .009 of a second.
Uribe led the entire race until the final lap. Pole-sitter Lee never led a lap… until the final lap. And it ended with a photo-finish.
The win was two-time class champion Lee’s first since his victory at Barber Motorsports Park in 2019, and the 12th of his career. He was understandably emotional.
A distant third place went to Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates, with the Georgian getting the better of Real Steel Honda’s JD Beach, who ended up fourth in his first-ever Stock 1000 race. Yates was some two seconds clear of Beach at the finish line with the pair running in a Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP formation for most of the race.
BPR Racing’s Deion Campbell was fifth after emerging from a battle with The Bike Experience USA’s Eziah Davis, and Edge Racing’s Josh Waters.
Durbin Racing’s Christopher Durbin, RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki’s Stock 1000 rookie Rocco Landers, and Corrientes Racing Team/MPR Motorsport’s Emanuel Nicolás Aguilar rounded out the top 10.
The race was red flagged almost immediately when Bryce Kornbau and Taylor Knapp crashed through the esses in separate incidents.
Saddlemen Race Development’s Jake Lewis managed to hold back his teammate Cory West through the final set of corners to win Saturday’s Mission Super Hooligan National Championship race at Road Atlanta.
Margin of victory? Just .174 of a second in the red-flat interrupted and shortened five-lap race.
Lewis and West managed to get to the front and gap the field after the red flag that was brought about by ARCH Racing’s Corey Alexander, with the New Yorker crashing in the final corner.
Once they were free from the pack, the pair battled to the finish with Lewis doing most of the leading in the early laps. It was West, however, who ended up in front on the last lap. Teammate or no teammate, Lewis wasn’t in the mood for second place, and he made the move on West on the back straight on the final lap. Once he was in front, Lewis blocked any passing opportunity West might have had to take his second race of the three-race-old season.
With the win, Lewis moves to second in the title chase and trails West by four points, 61-57.
A lonely third place went to KWR Harley-Davidson’s Cody Wyman, who was almost five seconds behind the Lewis/West battle and seven seconds ahead of Giaccomoto Yamaha Racing’s Dominic Doyle. Doyle, meanwhile, was just .407 of a second ahead of fifth-placed Travis Wyman on the third Saddlemen Race Development Harley-Davidson Pan America.
