Saddlemen Race Development has found a lot of success in the Mission Super Hooligan National Championship over the past couple of years. Their three-rider team consists of Cory West, Jake Lewis, and Travis Wyman, and each of them is aboard a Harley-Davidson Pan America.
West won the Super Hooligan Championship last year with three wins and nine podiums during the ten-race season, while Lewis notched two wins and five podiums. All told, Saddlemen won half the races last year, were on the podium 14 times, and there was at least one Saddlemen rider on the podium in all but one Super Hooligan race in 2025.
Rider talent and racecraft obviously come into play and are the not-so-secret sauce to the team’s success. But credit also goes to Saddlemen President and CEO David Echert and his crew. They have really put the Race Development in Saddlemen and transformed Harley-Davidson’s purpose-built ADV motorcycle into an absolute weapon in the world of high-handlebar, naked-bike road racing.
This year, not only does West’s H-D Pan Am have the number-one on the front and sides of it, but all three of the team’s riders—West, Lewis, and Wyman—are aboard race bikes that have been made even racier, and definitely shinier, than last year’s machines.
First of all, the bikes’ exhaust systems—designed, engineered, developed, and custom-made in-house—are handcrafted from lightweight, thin-wall stainless steel. And, because the material is so thin, it can’t be formed by traditional exhaust-system-building means like bending or roller-forming.
“The pipes would kink and fold if we tried to bend them,” Echert said. Instead, the team’s exhaust systems are created via a complicated series of tubes of various lengths, diameters, and angles, and with sections that are conical in shape. Each section is expertly welded together in a fashion similar to the expansion chambers that were de rigueur in both off-road racing and road racing during the two-stroke era.
And the coolness factor of the exhaust systems on the Saddlemen Race Development Harley-Davidson Pan America race bikes doesn’t end there. Since the pipes are stainless steel, they began the race weekend at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta with a brilliant shine that rivals any fully dressed, chromed-out Harley you’ve ever seen on the street. But during the event, and with each lap that West, Lewis, and Wyman made, the exhausts transformed into an ever-deepening bronze hue with just enough blue highlights to let you know serious heat, and horsepower, is flowing through them.
The back-end of the systems is a sight to behold, as well. Looking every bit like a high-caliber rocket launcher, the “tailpipe,” if you want to call it that, is a reverse-cone megaphone mounted high and handsome under the tail section of the bikes. An added touch are the holes drilled around the top of the gaping outlet. Saddlemen wouldn’t tell me what those holes are for, but my suspicion is that they lighten the exhaust even more and provide even better scavenging of the exhaust gases. One thing I do know, though. Those exhaust systems caught my eye and drew me to the Saddlemen team transporter like a moth to a flame so I could get an up-close and personal look.
By the way, a “closer look” is something that everyone who attends our race weekends can do, and I highly encourage it. Stare at the bikes, talk to the riders, ask questions to the crew members. They love what they do, and they also love you fans.
Oh, but the bling factor on the Saddlemen Super Hooligan bikes doesn’t end there. While you feast your eyes on those gorgeous exhaust systems, you’ll also be drawn to the equally shiny swingarms on West’s, Lewis’s, and Wyman’s machines.
The aluminum swingarms are completely original to all Harley-Davidson Pan America motorcycles except for a couple of details that set them apart. Saddlemen removes all the stock black color from them, polishes the aluminum to perfection, and adds some custom, carbon-fiber components that are like the cherry on top of the tastiest ice cream sundae you will ever enjoy.
So far this season, Saddlemen riders have won all four Mission Super Hooligan National Championship races, with defending class champ West winning race one at Daytona and Lewis winning Daytona race two, then sweeping both races at Road Atlanta. Wyman, meanwhile, has been on the podium in three of the four races thus far. Lewis is leading the championship, Wyman is second, and West in fourth. What all that means is the Saddlemen Race Development Harley-Davidson Pan America race bikes are not just for show. They also really can go.
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