Kyle Wyman Leads King Of The Baggers On Day One, Davis Tops Twins Cup

March 9, 2023 2 min read

H-D Screamin’ Eagle’s Kyle Wyman earned provisional pole position for the Mission King Of The Baggers races on Thursday at Daytona International Speedway. Photo By Brian J. Nelson

Harley-Davidson drew first blood on day one of Mission King Of The Baggers action at Daytona International Speedway with a lockout of the provisional front row. At the top of the Harley heap was 2021 class champion Kyle Wyman on the H-D Screamin’ Eagle Road Glide with the New Yorker lapping at 1:52.956 – a whopping 2.2 seconds faster than brother Travis’ pole time from last year’s race.

While it was Kyle Wyman’s factory Harley at the top, it was Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson’s Hayden Gillim putting his Vance & Hines/Mission/Harley-Davidson Road Glide into second, just .042 of a second behind the factory bike. Gillim’s teammate James Rispoli, meanwhile, put his V&H Harley third on the provisional front row.

The first of the Indians was the Indian Motorcycle/Progressive/Mission Foods Indian Challenger ridden by defending Mission King Of The Baggers Champion Tyler O’Hara. O’Hara’s best was a 1:53.615 – .659 of a second off Kyle Wyman’s best. O’Hara’s teammate Jeremy McWilliams was fifth with his 1:53.907.

REV’IT! Twins Cup

Defending REV’IT! Twins Cup Champion Blake Davis earned provisional pole in the class on Thursday, riding his N2 Racing/BobbleHeadMoto Yamaha YZF-R7 to a 1:56.029. That put him just .056 of a second ahead of Stefano Mesa, the Floridian having his first day on Kayla Yaakov’s MP13 Racing Yamaha YZF-R7. Yaakov suffered a leg injury while testing earlier in the week and will miss the two Daytona races while hoping to be fit for round two at Road Atlanta in six weeks.

Filling the provisional front row was TeamIso’s Dominic Doyle – just .076 behind Davis. Rodio Racing – Powered By Robem Racing’s Gus Rodio was fourth fastest with Cycle Tech Racing’s Hayden Schultz rounding out the top five.

Mission Super Hooligan National Championship

Roland Sands Design/Indian Motorcycle’s Bobby Fong didn’t have a good day in Mission King Of The Baggers qualifying as mechanical issues thwarted his sessions, but he made up for it in Mission Super Hooligan National Championship qualifying.

Fong led the way in the final session of the day, lapping at 1:55.430 on his Indian FTR1200. Fong, however, ended the session in front but on foot as he had another issue that left him walking back to the paddock.

Indian Motorcycle/Progressive Mission Foods’ Tyler O’Hara was second with his teammate Jeremy McWilliams third. Team Saddlemen’s Cory West was fourth on his Harley-Davidson Pan America with DiBrino Racing KTM’s Andy DiBrino fifth.

Mission Super Hooligan National Championship Q1

Bobby Fong (Indian) 1: 55.430

Tyler O’Hara (Indian) 1:55.508

Jeremy McWilliams (Indian) 1:55.693

Cory West (Harley-Davidson) 1:56.813

Andy DiBrino (KTM) 1:57.416

Mission King Of The Baggers Q1

Kyle Wyman (Harley-Davidson) 1:52.956

Hayden Gillim (Harley-Davidson) 1:52.998

James Rispoli (Harley-Davidson) 1:53.110

Tyler O’Hara (Indian) 1:53.615

Jeremy McWilliams (Indian) 1:53.907