Kyle Wyman Leads Harley-Davidson King of the Baggers Sweep at Laguna Seca

By Maggie Holt

On July 11, 2022

Harley-Davidson Screamin’ Eagle factory rider Kyle Wyman led his brother and factory teammate Travis Wyman, and Vance & Hines racer James “Hogspoli” Rispoli to a sweep of the podium positions in the MotoAmerica Mission Foods King of the Baggers race on Sunday at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, CA. Kyle passed early leader Tyler O’Hara on the second lap of race and crossed the finish line 3.063 seconds ahead of Travis. Rispoli finished third, a half-second ahead of O’Hara’s factory Indian Challenger. Six of the top 10 finishers were aboard Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

harley-davidson wyman king of the baggers victory at laguna seca

Travis Wyman was the fast qualifier on Saturday, setting a new class record of 1:29.748 on the 11-turn, 2.238-mile road course. But it was Kyle Wyman who won the King of the Baggers Mission Challenge 3-lap sprint race and winner-take-all $5,000 purse immediately following Q2. Both factory Harley-Davidson riders started from the front row along with Rispoli.

Pressure Points

In the 8-lap King of the Baggers feature race, O’Hara jumped out into the lead from the second row of the grid. But Kyle Wyman kept the pressure on him with inside and outside moves at several points around the course and then passed him cleanly in turn 9 on the second lap. From that point, Kyle broke away and was never challenged for the lead.

“It was really greasy out there today, and I was cautious with how the edge grip was,” said Kyle Wyman. “O’Hara lost the rear coming out of turn nine and that allowed me to go by. I was happy to get clear and run my own race and manage the gap to the finish. It’s just great to get a 1-2-3 for Harley-Davidson and to reward the entire Harley-Davidson factory team who made this possible.”

“To come home second to Kyle is pretty amazing,” said Travis Wyman. “We did it the other way around at Road America. And now we’re tied in points. So these last two rounds are going to be pretty awesome for the fans.”

The Mission King of the Baggers series features race-prepared American V-Twin touring motorcycles. Harley-Davidson Factory Team Road Glide motorcycles are powered by modified Screamin’ Eagle Twin-Cooled Milwaukee-Eight 131 Performance Crate Engines.

After five of seven rounds on the 2022 MotoAmerica Mission King of the Baggers series, Kyle and Travis Wyman are tied for second in the series standings with 86 points. O’Hara leads by one point with 87. The Harley-Davidson Screamin’ Eagle factory team returns to the track July 29-31 at the MotoAmerica Superbikes in Minnesota at Brainerd International Raceway.