You can't ask for a more beautiful place to see motorcycle racing than Road America, especially in the US.
I fully admit that I might be biased, since I've been going there for several years. Not as many as Josh Herrin—who managed to cap off an amazing week where he apparently became the dad of a new set of twins with Superbike Race 1 and 2 wins on the 2025 Road America weekend—but plenty, all the same.
A feeling that's difficult to describe comes over you the nearer you get to America's National Park of Speed. That's especially true if you've been there before, and so you're able to anticipate what kind of experience awaits you once you've parked your vehicle and are out walking (or rolling) around the grounds.
Lush greenery and trees are everywhere, even as you're able to go and view the racing from just about anywhere you want. There are a few exceptions, of course; the timing and scoring tower is off limits to all but race officials, media, and VIPs, and of course regular attendees can't just wander out into a hot pit.
But just about any vantage point you want around the track is free for the asking, and those that aren't are very clearly fenced off, with track marshals there to guide you if you're lost and need help finding your way. It is a massive facility, so if you're not familiar with it, it's understandable that you could find yourself a little turned around.
Likewise, the paddock is an open and welcoming place for the whole family to see the behind-the-scenes stuff that goes into staging a massive, multi-series racing weekend like MotoAmerica. If you're used to series like MotoGP or Formula 1, where things are much more closed off to the public if you're at the event in person, you might be in for a bit of a pleasant surprise here.
It's of great interest to racing nerds, of course. But in my numerous walks throughout the paddock over the course of the weekend, I also saw plenty of families wandering; some with small children in strollers or wagons, some with dogs, and some with both. All were eager to see what they could see, and maybe meet their heroes and get an autograph or two.
Not every team was so open, though. I'll get to that in a moment. But I wanted to tell you about paddock (and team) norms, and also want to do just a little more scene-setting to properly tell you this story.
A Brief King of the Baggers Introduction
Since its inception—and like it or not—the King of the Baggers racing series has steadily gained in popularity. It's part of the MotoAmerica race weekend at several events around the country, and is (of course) quite different from the Superbike and Supersport series more commonly associated with MotoAmerica.
There are, of course, a number of opinions about this growth in popularity. To be clear, getting butts in seats (or at the very least, rolling around the grounds) is something every racing series wants. And if nothing else, KotB has certainly shown that there's very much an untapped fanbase that were just waiting for something as out-of-its-mind as bagger racing to latch onto.
Some superbike and sportbike racing fans see it as nothing more than a sideshow, and I have to admit, I felt that way at first, as well. However, I will also add that opinion will probably change if you actually get the chance to witness Bagger racing in person.
Without a doubt, the sheer physicality of hefting those machines around the track—even for the comparatively shorter number of laps that Baggers races run—is impressive. You feel it before you see it, if you're there. And then, when you do actually see it, and you witness what those racers have to do to get those massive bikes through the turns, dragging pegs and sometimes even dragging saddlebags, it's a lot to take in.
There's challenge and skill here, and the performance the teams are able to wring from these bikes is certainly impressive as well.
When I attended this race weekend in 2024, I spent a lot of time hanging out at Turn 6, which is one of my favorite spots to spectate at Road America. During the first KotB race of the weekend, I couldn't believe how quickly the mass of Harley riders (with a few Indians and even some Victory bikes for good measure) roared up that hill to spectate.
Road America is a place that encourages camping, and motorbikes are allowed in most places around the track if you want to ride them and park them. So the swarm of V twins as the race began filled my senses in 2024, to the point it was difficult to hear the one earbud I had in to listen to live track radio and hear the commentary while watching the race.
Fast forward to 2025, and the layoff news that had literally just broken ahead of Harley's home race, and I couldn't help but wonder how the fans would respond. Would the atmosphere be different? What would change?
Inside The Paddock
In 2024, the MotoAmerica paddock was, as I mentioned above, an open and welcoming place. Teams had their canopies set up, and were busy working on their bikes and just getting ready to go racing. As far as positioning to go out on track went, a lot of the Superbikes (nominally the headlining races of the series) were positioned in spots closest to get out on track. Smaller teams, and especially those from support series like the Twins Cup, were a little further away.
If you've ever been in a race paddock, you know that's usually how it goes. The headliners get the choice spots, and the supporting acts get the spots that are a little further away.
In the case of Road America, there are three paths out to pit lane, and where the optimal place to be for your team is will vary by the series you're racing in. In 2025, the Talent Cup (which replaced the Twins Cup, and which is MotoAmerica's new feeder series for the Red Bull Rookies Cup, and a hopeful eventual path to MotoGP) teams are furthest away, which makes sense. The Superbike teams and the Bagger teams have prime spots in the paddock that are closest to pit lane.
Granted, it's also Harley-Davidson that recently announced a lucrative new deal to run a one-make exhibition series with Dorna during select MotoGP weekends in 2026. No other make (or series) involved in MotoAmerica racing in 2025 has done that as of the time of writing.
The paddock is still mostly an open, welcoming place in 2025, with one slight difference that may or may not disappoint some fans. We'll get to that in a moment.
And Yet, Road America Set A Motorcycle Racing Attendance Record This Weekend
I asked, but unfortunately cold, hard, official numbers apparently aren't available.
However, apart from incidents like Josh Herrin talking on the podium at Superbike Race 1 about how this was the single biggest crowd he remembered ever seeing in his 20 years of racing in MotoAmerica, the racing organization also later went on to announce it officially.
The energy throughout the crowd, however, was electric. The weather couldn't have been better, either.
While 2024 had a bunch of rain on Saturday, 2025 had gorgeous, sunny, blue skies on both Saturday and Sunday. Saturday had greater attendance than Sunday, but both days had a lot of people on hand to take in the racing action.
There's a special Harley fan area set up between turns 4 and 5, and this year it seems like most of the Baggers fans seemed to stick to that area during the actual races. As I was out and viewing the racing from various points around the track, I was able to observe both that fact, as well as note that a lot of the crowd around Turn 5 completely packed up and left right after Superbike Race 2 on Sunday.
Superbike Race 2 wasn't the final race of the day, nor even the final one on the original schedule. Had things gone exactly according to plan, that would have been King of the Baggers Race 2.
Let me back up a second. Early on in the King of the Baggers championship's inclusion in MotoAmerica weekends, the races were scheduled to take place in normal support slot times. In other words, they took place earlier in the day, on both days.
Like other sporting events and concerts, the support acts go on first, and are meant to build the excitement for the headliners. And then the headliners come on last and soak up all the adulation and applause that's been building all day (or evening) long. If you'll stay with me through the duration of this analogy, in 2025, King of the Baggers was decidedly placed in the headlining slot on both race days.
However, thanks to a multi-bike crash during the Talent Cup on Sunday, the Royal Enfield BTR race scheduled for that day got bumped, so that it actually ended up taking place after KotB Race 2. So technically, BTR was the last race of the day on Sunday. But most folks had already left by the time they took to the track, due at least in part to KotB Race 2 being marked on the schedule as the final race of the day.
From what I observed, a good portion of the crowd cleared out directly after Superbike Race 2, which took place just before KotB Race 2 on Sunday. And then, the majority of the remaining crowd that had stuck around began clearing out right after the Baggers race. Some people (myself included) stuck around to see the BTR race, but probably not as many as would have seen that race if it had gone on as scheduled earlier in the day.
But again, that's racing; and it's understood by all in the paddock that the racing officials have no choice but to move things around when weird stuff happens, like that multi-bike crash during the Talent Cup earlier. The riders involved were OK, but there was a lot of on-track cleanup that had to be done to keep the trains running on time. You'll understand if you've ever attended live racing and seen post-crash cleanup, I imagine.
Harley's Home Crowd Turned Out, But The Team Stayed On Task
Walking through the paddock early in the morning is the best chance you'll have to see most of the team canopies all closed up, and just waking up for the day. If you get there right when the gates open in the morning, it's your best chance to see the teams in action before all the crowds start swarming.
And honestly, watching a paddock come to life during a race weekend is really cool. From racing team members walking dogs, getting coffee, and running around with paddock stands, to racing team members zooming around on pit bikes and bicycles to get to where they're going more quickly, there's plenty of activity.
But it's muted. Purposeful. As it has to be in order to make sure that every bolt is properly tightened, and every last bit and piece is where it should be before a racer heads out on track.
Early in the morning is when the canopies are mostly all closed up. But pretty soon, team members unzip and roll up the flaps on the sides of their canopies, allowing visitors to have visual access to what's going on inside.
Want to see Cameron Beaubier's Tytlers Cycle Racing BMW, or Josh Herrin's Warhorse Ducati, or witness the mechanics from those teams working on those bikes? You can.
What about Kayla Yaakov or PJ Jacobsen's Rahal Ducati Moto machines, and their mechanics? You can do that, too. Want to take a peek in the Jones Honda Racing garage, or the Royal Enfield BTR garage? Easy peasy.
In 2025, the only canopy that remained tightly shut for most of Saturday and Sunday was the Harley-Davidson Dynojet Factory Racing tent.
Occasionally, one flap would lift, particularly if they needed to run a bike and wanted to expel the exhaust and presumably not gas everyone inside. It's not clear why this was, either.
Granted, it's their home race, and I saw plenty of fans in Harley regalia standing around, eager for any glimpses of their heroes or interactions with them that they could get. And the Kyle Wyman Racing tent next door was set up with snacks (plenty of Mission Racing Style Tortilla Chip bags to go around), so fans could at least not be hangry while they waited.
But the other bagger teams had canopies that were mostly pretty open to fans. Indian wasn't open the whole time, but it seemed to invite much more access and interaction than the factory Harley team did. Again, I can't tell you why this was; I can only tell you what I observed.
Did It Have Anything To Do With Upcoming Layoffs?
If you're unfamiliar with Road America, the track says it's located in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Now, Elkhart Lake is by no means a big town, but it's definitely a bit bigger than nearby Plymouth, which is actually where the track is located. To make an analogy to my home city and state, it's a bit like saying that O'Hare Airport is in Chicago (technically it is, but geographically not really).
Anyway, most of the fans, teams, and racers who are up at Road America for a big racing weekend end up staying at a handful of hotels in nearby Sheboygan. If you're in from out of town, that means you're more than likely going to end up seeing racing team personnel in the lobby at breakfast, should you be staying at one of those hotels. Which is exactly what I did.
While I sat with some non-Harley racing team personnel on Saturday morning, eating breakfast, a news story came on the local TV news that was on in the breakfast nook. There, local Wisconsin news reporters were discussing a new round of upcoming layoffs at Harley-Davidson.
I distinctly heard one of the non-Harley racing team personnel ask aloud, "Couldn't they have waited to do this until after this weekend?"
By all means, a good, valid question. After all, it's Harley's home race. And racing psychology is absolutely a real thing.
About those layoffs, here's what I can tell you so far. Workers at different Harley-Davidson plants are represented through the local units of two major national labor unions: the United Steelworkers and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.
On Friday, May 31, 2025, a USW representative told the Milwaukee Business Journal that at least 30 workers at the Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin plant, as well as an undisclosed number of workers at the York, Pennsylvania plant (who are represented by the IAM) will likely be affected by upcoming layoffs. The timing and duration of these layoffs—at least some of which may be temporary—has not yet been announced.
When I asked Harley about the layoffs, I was given a firm "no comment." RideApart has also reached out to both the United Steelworkers and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers for comment. We'll be sure to report back if and when we have additional information.
What About The Racing?
I wanted to give you a chance to synthesize all the information above before I talked about it, because what's a racing weekend without a little on-track drama?
During King of the Baggers Race One, and against the backdrop of all the business news swirling in local media, the Harley Factory team was extremely pleased to get all three of its bikes on the podium, Kyle Wyman came in first; Bradley Smith came in second; and James Rispoli brought it home in third.
Later on, Bradley Smith's bike was disqualified after officials "found [his Harley-Davidson Road Glide] to be in violation of the 7000 maximum rpm limit." The statement goes on to add that the Harley-Davidson x Dynojet Factory Racing Team appealed that decision, but that the appeal was then denied.
This ultimately changed the results for Race 1, with Wyman still in first, Rispoli moving up to second, and Indian's Tyler O'Hara coming in third after the results were revised.
It was a heck of a celebration on the podium when the team thought it had managed a total lockout. Unclear what the deflation must have felt like after the disqualification, but at least they had that moment on the podium.
In KotB Race 2, Indian managed to find whatever it was it was missing, and actually put up a pretty good fight against the Harley Factory Racing team. Reigning KotB 2024 champion Troy Herfoss brought it home in first for S&S Indian Motorcycle, while James Rispoli came in second and Kyle Wyman came in third.
Notably, Race 2 featured a bit of a knock-down, drag-out battle between Herfoss and Smith, which ended in what stewards decided was a racing incident where the two made contact and Smith was shunted off track. Smith ultimately managed to bring his bike home in 11th place—and that's before the official announcement that his bike was DQ'd from Race 1.
You have to feel for Smith and the whole team, as probably no one enjoys a DQ (unless it's a Dairy Queen ice cream we're talking about). But as we've said before and will say again, sometimes that's just racing.
And sometimes racing is a good way to take your mind off of real life worries—like layoffs—even if it's only for a couple of days.
