Sunday was a very good day to have the surname of Wyman if you happened to be racing motorcycles on the Monterey Peninsula.
Kyle Wyman beat Travis Wyman to win the MotoAmerica Mission King Of The Baggers race at WeatherTechRaceway Laguna Seca on the final day of the GEICO Motorcycle MotoAmerica Speedfest at Monterey and less than 45 minutes later, Cody Wyman took victory in the SportbikeTrackGear.com Junior Cup race. Later in the day, Kyle and Travis finished seventh and ninth, respectively, in the Medallia Superbike race.
Roland Sands Design’s Super Hooligan National Championship – O’Hara Crowned
Sunday’s races at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca started in a big way with the final race in Roland Sands Design’s Super Hooligan National Championship. Their event featured an entertaining grid of naked motorcycles from several brands, including two electric bike manufacturers.
The victory went to Roland Sands Design Indian rider Tyler O’Hara, who also clinched the Hooligan Championship with his win. O’Hara had a good battle with his teammate Jeremy McWilliams, who finished second despite giving O’Hara all he had. Saddlemen/Lloyd’z Garage rider Cory West finished third to make it an all-Indian podium.
Mission King Of The Baggers – Wyman, Wyman!
Mission King Of The Baggers had one race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and MotoAmerica’s Big Twin pilots brought the excitement. It was an especially good day for Harley-Davidson’s teams, who swept the podium.
Defending class champion Kyle Wyman got the win aboard his H-D Screamin’ Eagle Road Glide Special and closed the gap to current championship leader Tyler O’Hara, who ultimately finished fourth. Kyle Wyman’s brother Travis Wyman finished second, a little more than three seconds behind Kyle. The two brothers are now tied for second, with both of them just one point behind O’Hara. Vance & Hines Racing’s James Rispoli brought his Harley home third.
“(Tyler O’Hara) was visibly struggling with the rear,” Kyle Wyman said. “I knew as the tire went off, that wasn’t going to get any better. He was going at a good enough pace where I felt like I wasn’t really in danger of getting passed from behind. I was kind of content to sit there and let something happen. On the second or third lap, he lost the rear pretty big out of nine coming down Rainey (Curve). Opened up the door for me to get under him in ten. From there, I think I put a 29.4 down and then I saw 1.3 on the board. So, put a couple more low 30s, maybe a high 29 after that, and just kind of managed the gap. Travis was right. The gap came down a little bit, like two or three tenths at one point. So, I just kind of stayed consistent and focused. It was really greasy out there. I was actually really cautious with how the edge grip was. Just happy I could get clear and kind of run my own race and get another one-two (for our team), and a one-two-three for Harley.”
SportbikeTrackGear.com Junior Cup – And Another Wyman
In SportbikeTrackGear.com Junior Cup, Alpha Omega Kawasaki rider Cody Wyman notched his fourth win of the season, took over the championship lead and now has an 18-point gap over Gus Rodio in second. Meanwhile, Rodio finished as runner-up aboard his Rodio Racing/HSBK Racing Kawasaki. Third place went to T3 Racing Kawasaki’s Daniel Lanuza, the California competing in his first-ever MotoAmerica weekend. The race was red-flagged due to crashed riders and shortened to five laps.
“Definitely good to be in the front couple bikes,” Wyman said. “I had a feeling that I might have been out front and had a little gap, maybe something happened. Things can get pretty wild in this class, but the racing is awesome. It’s usually pretty clean. The talent level is pretty promising for all these guys and girls. Stoked for a second (in yesterday’s) and a first (today). I like Brainerd. I’ve got to figure out the bike for the last two rounds because I missed those rounds last year. Looking forward to moving on.”
Supersport – All Herrin
Supersport race two was a repeat of the same podium as race one on Saturday. Once again, championship leader Josh Herrin prevailed with the win aboard his Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC Panigale V2. Herrin overtook polesitter Tyler Scott on the opening lap and maintained his position at the front all the way to the checkered flag.
Aboard his Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki, Scott hung tight with Herrin for a while, but the gap widened as the laps wound down, and Scott ultimately crossed the finish line about two and a half seconds behind Herrin. Once again, Rocco Landers put his Landers Racing Yamaha on the podium in third.
“I was nervous going into the race today, a lot more than I was yesterday,” Herrin said. “That crash yesterday, I didn’t feel it yesterday and then this morning, like I predicted, I woke up and was not pumped to come to the track today. This morning in warmup, I was stressed because Tyler was going really fast. I had a little pep talk with Eraldo Ferracci, and he got me fired up before the race and it seemed to work. I didn’t have the pace in the beginning. Tyler was quicker than me. I don’t know if yesterday maybe they were on the harder tire because they couldn’t make that one last. It seemed like today he was very quick at the beginning and wanted to try and get out. So, maybe the softer tire was good for a few laps for them. Mine seemed to be pretty good the whole race. It was greasy for sure, but it was about the same the entire race. I was able to do consistent 27’s. We had a really good battle at the beginning. I don’t know how many lead changes there were right there at the beginning, but it was cool. Got my heart rate going and got me fired up. A little bit of contact one time coming out of turn four. Just had fun the rest of the race. Just tried to put my head down. Really happy about the weekend. Huge shout-out to Medallia for title sponsoring this weekend. It’s cool having outside industry sponsors like that, not only to sponsor the series but be a big sponsor for us. It’s very rare that you have a company that huge where Leslie, the owner, comes to the races. Very excited to have them on board.”W
