S&S/Indian Motorcycle’s Troy Herfoss removed any drama from Sunday’s title decider in the Mission King Of The Baggers finale at New Jersey Motorsports Park as the Australian made the race his own, crossing the finish line as the 2024 Mission King Of The Baggers Champion.
Although the pair were separated by just two points at the start of Sunday’s finale, the winner-take-all thriller between Herfoss and Harley-Davidson Factory Racing’s Kyle Wyman never materialized. Wyman got the start he wanted, led briefly and was soon passed by Herfoss. It didn’t take Wyman long to realize he didn’t have the same pace as his Indian-mounted rival, and it ended up being a tough day at the office for the winningest rider ind Mission King Of The Baggers history.
It didn’t get any easier for Wyman when he was attacked from behind by RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson’s Rocco Landers with the 19-year-old eventually taking second from the New Yorker. Wyman held on for third and he and Herfoss ended the season just 11 points apart.
For Herfoss it was his seventh win of the year and his 14th trip to the podium out of 18 races and he adds the King Of The Baggers title to his three Australian Superbike Championships. He crossed the line 1.7 seconds ahead of Landers after fist pumping his way through the final set of corners.
Landers, in turn, was just .119 of a second ahead of a disappointed Wyman.
Landers late-season burst of speed moved him all the way to fourth in the championship. He actually tied his teammate Hayden Gillim, fifth today, in the points tally, but the spot went to Gillim via the tiebreaker.
“Firstly, thank you,” Herfoss said. “It’s been an incredible journey. Seriously, twelve months ago I was in this position in Australia and on top of the world, but didn’t know exactly what I wanted from racing moving forward. This incredible opportunity to come and race for a new motorcycle (brand) in King Of The Baggers came up. I wanted to step outside my comfort zone, and that’s exactly what it was. I was extremely uncomfortable from the banks of Daytona through the world championship crowds at COTA to the gravel trap at Brainerd, and to here, this moment winning a championship. It’s been a wild ride and an incredible journey. Kyle (Wyman) has been an amazing competitor, just a true professional in every way. He literally just kept himself in there on his bad days, and on the good days he made me pay. It was exciting. It was stressful. It’s a real highlight for me. Last year was a huge highlight for me, coming back from a big injury to win a Superbike Championship in Australia. But I don’t know if I believed I could do this at the start of the year, so that’s why it makes it pretty special for me.”
Stock 1000 – Seven Is Heaven For Gillim
With a 12-point lead in hand at the start of the last Stock 1000 race of the season, Real Steel Motorsports’ Hayden Gillim didn’t have to win to be crowned champion. But he won anyway.
The win, his seventh of the year, combined with his rival Jayson Uribe finishing third on the OrangeCat BMW M 1000 RR, gave Gillim his second successive Stock 1000 Championship with this one coming on a Honda CBR1000RR-R SP – thus giving Honda its first-ever MotoAmerica title.
Second place went to Jones Honda’s Ashton Yates with the Georgian hounding Gillim for the entire race. Yates waited until the final lap to make a move on Gillim with a pass in turn one on the final lap. But it didn’t stick as Gillim re-passed him immediately. From there it was just a case of defending the inside and keeping Yates behind him.
Yates held on for second, just .049 of a second off the back of Gillim, and it was enough to earn him third in the championship.
Uribe ended a highly successful season of racing with a third-place finish as he narrowly topped FLO4LAW Racing’s Benjamin Smith on the final lap by just .030 of a second.
AMD Motorsport RK Racing’s Richard Kerr was fifth with the Irishman well clear of sixth-placed Bryce Prince on his BPR Yamaha YZF-R1.
“It means a lot,” Gillim said. “Haven’t had a weekend like this since Barber. Had a couple crashes and made it a lot harder on ourselves. Jayson (Uribe) was making us work for it. Ashton (Yates) was really getting it going here at the end. It’s cool to have Honda one and two and wrap up the championship for the Real Steel Southern Honda Powersports team. It’s cool to have the family and everybody here and all the fans. Thanks for sticking it out in the weather.”
Junior Cup – Chapin In A Thriller
On Sunday, it was the final race of the final season for the Junior Cup Championship as the class gives way to the inaugural MotoAmerica Talent Cup Championship in 2025. Two teams and four riders raced in close formation at the front, and who would win, who would reach the podium, and who would finish just off the podium were in question right up until they crossed the finish line.
BARTCON Racing’s Matthew Chapin, who won the championship two weekends ago at Circuit of The Americas, prevailed with the win by just .252 of a second over Bad Boys Racing’s Ella Dreher, while Dreher’s older brother Avery Dreher – who was this year’s defending class champion – crossed the finish line only .018 of a second behind Ella to take the third spot on the podium.
Chapin’s teammate Eli Block finished fourth, just missing out on the podium by .008 of a second.
“Oh, man. That race was really fun,” Chapin said. “I had fun battling with Eli, Avery, and Ella. They were all ripping. It was overall a great race. None of us really made any mistakes. It was really hard to close the gap to Avery at first. He was fast right from the start. I just want to give a huge thanks to (team owner) Colin Barton and (crew chief) Mike Skowronek for everything they’ve done for me this season. My mom and dad, and all my family and friends for coming out. Blud lubricants, KYT, Bison, thank you guys.”
Supersport – Jacobsen Ends It In Victory
With the 2024 Supersport Championship decided on Saturday at New Jersey Motorsports Park, title winner Mathew Scholtz was free to mix it up with the field on Sunday.
And mix it up, he did. It was “just like old times again” in MotoAmerica’s middleweight class as Strack Racing’s Scholtz and Rahal Ducati Moto’s PJ Jacobsen took their familiar spots at the front of the field and proceeded to swap the lead back and forth.
The situation stabilized in the middle laps of the race as Jacobsen established himself in the lead. The New Yorker then stretched his lead at the front and took the checkered flag nearly three-and-a-half seconds ahead of race runner-up Scholtz. Jacobsen’s teammate Corey Alexander finished third, almost 13 seconds behind Scholtz.
“Last night, I didn’t sleep too well,” Jacobsen said. “It was a hard race yesterday for me. I was really struggling, but we kind of went back to the drawing board last night and figured out some stuff that we saw on the data. I felt pretty good in morning warmup, and then, in the race, I felt really good, as well. I was actually surprised that (Mathew) Scholtz was there and made the pass. I was running mid-22s at that point. I was like, ‘Wow, this is pretty fast.’ But it’s been like that all season with him. I was happy to get the win here for the last race of the season and going into winter like that. Especially for the team itself. They worked so hard this first season. So, I’m really proud of the team and everything that they’ve accomplished. We didn’t get the championship, but we definitely fought pretty hard for it. We made some mistakes along the way as a team, also me as a rider. I feel like it was a really good season.
“Having Scholtz as a person to battle with all year, we used to talk more in Superbike and stuff, and I think all the stuff that drew to the competition. It was almost like UFC fighting. It was really good. At the end of the day, that’s how it should be. You don’t want to be laughing and stuff like that with the person you’re battling with. You go in there, and he has to pay his bills, and I have to pay mine. So, at the end of the day, he won a championship, and we’re not really friends on the track. So, I congratulate him and the whole team. Hopefully, he and I can start talking again and be friends. It’s been a long season. Congrats to them. I really enjoyed this whole season, even though it’s been super up-and-down. I had strong moments and bad ones. You look back and you learn from all that stuff. So, we’ll just move forward and get ready for next year.”
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