Baz, Smith Adjusting To MotoAmerica’s ‘Baggers’
Frenchman Loris Baz (76) fought through to not only catch but beat Wyman (33) to the finish line. Photo by Brian J. Nelson
By Dennis Krause
While Kyle Wyman is off to a fast start in MotoAmerica’s Mission King of the Baggers Series, winning three of the first four races this season, a pair of international riders are giving the series a try - and finding some success.
Frenchman Loris Baz and British rider Bradley Smith find themselves second and third in the standings heading into this weekend’s doubleheader, part of MotoAmerica’s Superbikes at Elkhart Lake’s Road America.
While Wyman has dominated the early portion of the season on his No. 33 Harley-Davidson x Dynojet Factory Racing Harley-Davidson Road Glide, Baz has proven to be a quick study, winning race one of Round Two at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in wet conditions.
Baz, riding the No. 76 S&S/Indian Motorcycle Indian Challenger, says the bike requires a different riding style from Superbikes, a class he competed in last year.
“Yeah, those bikes (baggers) give you a really good feedback of what's happening. It's easy to feel the limits, but it's hard to, like, stay there and it's hard to go there on the first lap. I always need long runs to build my pace when I'm doing some tests.
“We did some tests, and it was just like I need some six, seven laps run, and I'm improving every lap. But then when you go on a race, you always want to keep a margin. You don't want to make a mistake and crash. In tests, you don't really care. So it's just a matter of being able to stay on that limit where the bike moves. I feel like, even on the first day when I tried a bike before to decide if I was joining or not, in December, I felt like I was able to feel the limit and go fast compared to (teammate) Troy (Herfoss, reigning series champion).
“It's also something that I did a lot in my career,” Baz continued. “I've been jumping bike to bike and completely different things, one week to the other. So I like it, even if it's really weird feeling when you jump on this bike, but also it's even worse going back on the super bike, like when I was in Europe, in Le Mans going on the Honda, it was like, you feel really tight.
“So you just have to switch off your brain a little bit and just forget and try to reset, but I feel like I'm pretty close to the maximum of the bike, but obviously, I can be better in a lot of areas, like qualifying, first lap, trying to stay on that limit and making the bike better.
“I was riding it a lot like a super bike so far, and it needs to be riding more like a super sport. Those guys, especially Kyle and Troy, carry on so much corner speed, so much lean angle in exit, and I always want to pick up the bike, and I'm losing a lot of time in that area.”
New to the series and Road America, Smith has just four races to his credit on the No. 38 Harley-Davidson x Dynojet Factory Racing Harley-Davidson Road Glide. Smith admits the way the big, heavy bike needs to be ridden is a bit against his natural instincts.
“I think probably I can only speak, obviously, for the Harley Davidson, but there's definitely, with heavy bikes like this one, there's a certain way that it needs to be ridden and a certain way that you need to try and unlock the lap time. And yes, it's trying. It's a little bit against my natural instinct. So, it's just a case of it needs to be ridden in the right way.
“So yeah, it's just important to know how to do it. It's difficult to pick up in a short space of time. But, yeah, just need to a few more laps and a few more races under my belt.”
Now in its fifth season, the class has become one of MotoAmerica’s most popular and fastest growing. The two-lap Mission King of the Baggers Challenge race is at noon on Saturday with the five-lap Race One to follow at 4:05 PM. Race Two on Sunday is at 4:05 PM.
Dennis Krause has spent decades covering all forms of motorsports, including over 40 Indianapolis 500s, with stints at WIBA Radio, PIT PASS - Radio’s Premier Motorsports Magazine and Motorsports Minute. Follow him on X @DennisKrause500 or motorsportsminute.bluesky.social or motorsportsminute on Threads or MotorsportsMinute+ on Facebook.