SHNC 22' Daytona Round 1 & King of The Baggers

Mar 17th 2022

Words: Nathon Verdugo Images: Jason Reasin , Brian J. Nelson , Preston Burroughs

It has been three years since the Super Hooligans gridded up at the “World Center of Racing” Daytona International Speedway. In 2019 the Super Hooligans were racing on a concrete/asphalt TT course in conjunction with American Flat Track. This year the 19 inch Dunlops are off and replaced with 17-inch race slicks as this year's SHNC championship has diverged from its Flat Track roots to all-out heavy street bike racing in cooperation with North America's premier motorcycle road racing series officially sanctioned by the AMA; Moto America.

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Daytona was round 1 of the 4 round Super Hooligan National Championship and the kick-off of its first full season with the road race format. The Super Hooligans first got their feet wet with road racing last year and when Moto America fans were first introduced to the Hooligans at the beautiful and storied Laguna Seca raceway in Monterey. Fans were visibly awestruck as they watched Harleys, Indians, Ducati’s, KTM’s, and even a couple of Live Wires dicing through the corkscrew. That round went to KTM’s AFT team manager and sometimes fast guy on a street bike Chris Fillmore. With Fillmore absent this round because of his day job, all eyes were on runner-up and SHNC podium regular Andy Dibrino.

Andy was going to have his work cut out for him as a lot of fast guys, and girls showed up ready to go flat out on the high banks of the Daytona circuit, including newcomers to the series Nate Kern whose day job is BMW’s Super Bike developmental test rider, Pro road racer and sometimes @covergirl Shelina Moreda and AMA’s 2004 Rookie of the year Cory West.

For this year's championship, there's actually a class within a class with the inclusion of the Mission Foods American V-Twin Challenge. North America's #1 tortilla brand has teamed up with North America's #1 Heavy Bike race series to showcase and encourage air-cooled American V-Twins to join the fray. Mission is dangling an additional $2500 bonus prize each round to the quickest rider aboard 750cc and above American V-Twin. That extra $2500 bucks was enough to rope in heavy hitters Rennie Scaysbrook on an Indian Chief, Moto America Superstock racer Barret Long on a Harley Davison XR1200, and owner of Quaid Harley Davidson Brandon Quaid also abord an XR1200

Hosting a race on a tropical peninsula in March brings many unique challenges, the most predominate being weather. We were under severe weather conditions all weekend, forcing the schedule to be abbreviated several times, unfortunately granting the Super Hooligans one practice session to also act as their qualifying times. This meant for a lot of folks their first time on a new bike on a new track would have to be their fastest to ensure a good grid position for the start.

Factory Indian Bagger racer Tyler O'Hara has opted for double duty this season as he will be chasing a championship in the Mission King of the Baggers series and has also committed to all fours rounds in the SHNC abord the Roland Sands Designs prepped Indian FTR 1200. Thanks to his Bagger qualifying session, Tyler used his extra track time advantage to learn the tack and set the fastest time in Super Hooligan practice, earning him the front spot on the grid for the Super Hooligan final.

The unpredictable Florida weather proved an issue all weekend, forcing the race schedule to be changed again and rushing the Hooligans to the grid. As the riders gridded up for their sight lap, O’Hara’s FTR stalled and wouldn’t restart in time to make the sight lap or warm-up lap. Tensions were high as the RSD team feverously worked on the bike to get it started, and it looked for a moment the fastest qualifier on the grid might have to watch the race from behind the wall. Luckily the team was able to get the mighty FTR restarted; however, because Tyler missed the sight and warm-up lap, he would be forced to start the race at the very last spot behind everyone in the class. With only 6 laps to fight for the front, Tyler was defiantly going to have his work cut out for him.

As the start lights went from red to green, it was Andy Dibrino, followed by Cory West, Nate Kern, Frankie Garcia, and Patricia Fernandez rounding out the top five leading to the first corner thanks in part to Tyler’s issues. Still, Tyler didn’t let his starting position get the best of him, rocketing passed at least seven riders in an effort to get to the front as soon as possible.

By lap 2, O’Hara had made his way from dead last to 4th position almost a half a second faster than front runners putting the top 3 on notice he wasn’t going to be deterred by his lousy starting position.

Halfway through the race, West & Dibrino had swapped the lead several times, and BMW pilot Nate Kern had fits staving off the fast and furious O'Hara.

With 2 laps to go Cory West’s Lloyds Garage, Saddleman tunned FTR 1200 led Andy Dibrino’s KTM 890, Duke, across the checkered stripe, and Tyler O’Hara was able to sneak around Nate Kerns BMW R nineT, placing him for now on the final podium step.

On the final lap, Dibrino got around West and the pack into the infield chicane for the last time. Dibrino and West’s constant back and forth and O’Hara’s inspired ride allowed him to close the gap on the top two setting up a three-rider challenge for the win.

As the Hooligans made their way onto the high banks for the final time, Dibrino checked up a bit, allowing West to go around the outside, setting up for what looked like was going to be an Indian KTM Indian sandwich.

With West leading, Dibrino was able to slip into his draft, pulling a slingshot maneuver he obviously learned from watching Cal Naughton Jr and Ricky Bobby catapulting him to the checkers and snagging him the first win of the season. West crossed the line just tenths of a second behind, and O'Hara earned himself a third-place finish and a trip to the podium with a brilliant ride.

The RSD team did a phenomenal job getting Rennie’s Indian Chief up easily making him the fastest Air-Cooled American V-Twin on the grid and snagging him the top spot in the class.

Daytona was supposed to be a doubleheader with racing on Friday and Saturday, but unfortunately, the rain caused the Super Hooligan race to be canceled. The race will be made up at Road Atlanta April 22-24 or Laguna Seca July 8-10. Stay tuned.

VIEW FULL RESULTS HERE

The Roland Sands Design team had their hands full this weekend prepping and maintaining five-race bikes for three different classes, including two Indian FTR 1200s (SHNC), one Indian Chief (SHNC Mission Foods Air-Cooled V-Twin challenge), and Two Indian Challengers for the MotoAmerica Mission Foods King of the Baggers the first round of their respective series.

Frankie Garcia returned to the team, pulling double duty on the FTR and his Indian Challenger. Joining Frankie this year is 30-year-old Bobby Fong from Stockton, CA. Bobby is no stranger to two-wheeled motorcycle competition competing in American Road Racing, American Flat Track, and AFM Supermoto. Bobby even qualified pole position for the 2019 Daytona 200. However, Bobby had never ridden a bagger of any kind before agreeing to join the team and chase the championship, and that 320-pound weight difference between his Road Race bike and his new Carbon Clydesdale Indian Challenger was going to be a huge learning curve with lots of adjustments in both setup and riding style.

Racing took place Friday and Saturday, but the schedule was abbreviated and changed several times due to weather. Friday's action saw reigning champion Kyle Wayman set the fastest lap time in qualifying, putting him on pole for the main event. Tyler O’Hara was right there, though, only 0.035 seconds off on his Mission Foods/S&S/ Indian Challenger and another new face to the KOB series but no stranger to Road Race podiums James “Hogspoli” Rispoli. Fong and Garcia qualified 8th and 10th, respectively, ensuring that Indians would be winning contenders when the lights went green in Race 1.

Race 1 was a hard-fought battle with Tyler O’Hara coming from dead last due to a penalty drafting for the win on the final lap and snagging victory. Bobby Fong finished 7th, and Frankie Garcia finished 9th

Riders and teams had the evening to make changes to the bikes and get further generally acquainted in Bobby’s case. Race 1’s results determined Race 2’s grid position. Putting five Indian chiefs in the top ten with O’Hara’s teammate and former Moto GP racer Jeremey McWilliams finishing a very impressive 4th for his first race on a Bagger and the only BagGIRL in the field Patricia Fernandez finishing 10th on her Saddleman Lloyd’z garage built Challenger.

Tyler took full advantage of his #1 starting position leading the field all of lap one. On lap two, O’Hara’s teammate Jeremy McWilliams jumped to the front, drafting past Tyler setting up Indians one and two. Bobby Fong had made significant improvements from day one, passing the current KOB champion Kyle Wyman and his brother Travis Wyman on their factory-backed Harley Davidson Screamin Eagle machines to 4th and only one Harley to go before making it Indian 1, 2, 3.

On lap three, the #1 machine of Kyle Wyman suffered a mechanical on his factory Harley forcing him to retire early. Fong managed to get around Rispoli and O’Hara and was now putting pressure on McWilliams for the lead.

On lap 4, Bobby was able to make the pass on McWilliams leading the entire pack on his RSD prepped Indian Challenger. The lead was short-lived as McWilliams using the draft, was able to get back around Fong before the infield section, but a slight mistake by McWilliams let Fong sneak back by and try to take a break from the pack. Fong pushed his Roland Sands Indian Challenger leading almost the entire last lap, trying to put enough space between him and the other challengers, but with only meters left from the finish, the draft came into play once again, allowing for both McWilliams and O’Hara to sneak past for the win ultimately landing Bong on the 3rd step in only his second race on a bagger and securing a clean sweep for Indian.

VIEW FINAL RESULTS HERE!

This year the Super Hooligan National Championship introduces a road race focused series and includes four races at three road racing events with MotoAmerica set to begin with the doubleheader at Daytona International Speedway, March 10-12.

Welcome to the first episode of our VLOG coined ROLL. Roland will walk you through current events here at the shop from bike builds, new products, apparel and so much more. We color ourselves lucky every day we get to do this job and it's a damn miracle we've made it as far as we have. Enjoy the show! It's been our pleasure to bring you an ever-evolving view of the two-wheeled world.

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Daytona is looking to be huge for the Roland Sands Design x Indian Race Team. The team will be fielding not one, but two Indian Challengers in Moto America’s 2022 King of the Baggers doubleheader - as well as two Indian FTR 1200’s and one Indian Chief in the 2022 Roland Sands Design's Super Hooligan doubleheader on the high banks of Daytona International Speedway. That’s 5 bikes in 10 races over two days. If it sounds like we're crazy ... that’s because we are.

We’re pumped to introduce our partnership with the Sacramento Mile x SDI racing with the factory Built S & S Challenger entry race-prepped by Roland Sands Design. The #50 Indian Challenger will be ridden by Superbike competitor Bobby Fong. Bobby’s got a taste of the bagger in the preseason and has his sights set on the top of the King of the Bagger podium.

The #14 Indian Challenger is a Mission Foods sponsored RSD-built King of the Bagger entry being ridden by the always popular KOB podium finisher Frankie Garcia. The bike has gone through several changes over the off-season and Indian, along with S & S Cycles, has supplied a new motor to help propel the Challenger into Daytona legend status.

Indian FTR #1 and #2 are purpose-built asphalt-ready racers. After last year's dip in the road racing pool at Laguna Seca, we’ve started from scratch this year with two new FTRs fully prepped for road race duty with motor work by the crew at Lloyd’s performance. KOB race winner and top man Tyler Ohara is slated to ride the # 29 Indian FTR 1200 with fellow bagger racer and fast guy Frankie Garcia doing double duty on the # 14 Indian FTR1200, as well as the Indian Challenger. Both riders will be pushing to be at the top of the SHNC podium.

The #33 Super Hooligan Indian Chief is being ridden by Australian top gun and Pikes Peak winner Rennie Scaysbrook who will be battling for the Mission Foods Air-cooled American Twin Challenge title. A race within the Super Hooligan race will see both air-cooled Indians and Harley’s battling bar to bar for the Mission Challenge bragging rights. Rennie’s got history on the Indian Chief taking a win at the inaugural Big Twin race

A huge thanks to all our sponsors who are helping make this year possible.: Indian Motorcycles, S & S cycles, Mission Foods, GEICO, Sacramento Mile, SDI racing, Dunlop, Motul, Bell Helmets, Saddleman, and SC racing.

The Super Hooligan National Championship has joined forces with North America’s #1 tortilla brand, Mission foods, to introduce the Mission Foods Air-cooled American V-twin Challenge as part of this year’s Moto America Super Hooligan motorcycle road racing national championship series. The Mission Foods Air-cooled American V-Twin Challenge is a race within a race, to be featured at all 4 rounds of the SHNC and kicking off with a double header at the legendary Daytona Motor Speedway March 10-12.

The Mission Foods American V-twin Challenge will award the fastest Air-Cooled American V-Twin racers in the Superhooligan class with $2500 in payouts per race, as well as an additional $2500 bonus prize going to the rider with the most points after four rounds of SHNC road racing. The payout will award the top three finishers on Air-cooled American V-Twins. $1250 for first place, $750 for second and $500 for the third best finisher of each SHNC round.

Mission foods Air-cooled American V-Twin Challenge basic rules are: 750cc and up Air-cooled American made V-twins, stock frames, high bars, flat number plates, 420lbs and over. (For complete rules for SHNC class VIEW ABOVE). All rules and regulations, sign ups and information can be found online at http://www.superhooligan.com/. Mission foods Air-cooled American V-Twin Challenge riders will need to run Mission food logos on their bikes and leathers and adhere to all Moto America and Super Hooligan class rules.

The Super Hooligan class features riders and bikes from many disciplines and broad set of rules meant to bring new riders and brands into road racing. With the addition of the Mission Air-cooled American V-Twin Challenge, we hope to inspire American V-twin riders who normally race at a local level, to come out and race with the SHNC at a national level and elevate the visibility of Air-cooled American V-twin road racing.