BRAINERD, MN (July 30, 2023) – Hayden Gillim wore a path in the grass from the podium to the media center this weekend at Brainerd International Raceway with the Kentuckian making the trip four times in two days. First came the celebrations on the podium with his young son, Stone, on his shoulders, then the walk to the media center for interviews.

A Saturday King of the Baggers win and a second place finish on Sunday puts Gillim in title contention with just two race left at Circuit of the Americas and New Jersey to finish out the season.

With two wins in the Steel Commander Stock 1000 class and a first and a second in Mission King Of The Baggers, Gillim had the most successful weekend of his career in Minnesota. Oh, and he also finished seventh and sixth in the two Medallia Superbike races.

Mission King Of The Baggers – Fong Untouchable

There’s something about Brainerd International Raceway that suits Bobby Fong. Mere minutes after he rode to a fighting fourth-place finish in the Medallia Superbike race on Sunday, Fong was out front of the Mission King Of The Baggers race.

And he was there to stay, riding his Sac Mile/SDI Racing/Roland Sands/Indian to a 1.5-second victory over Saturday’s race winner Hayden Gillim on the Vance & Hines/Mission/Harley-Davidson.

A day after a mechanical failure knocked him out of race one, Indian Motorcycle/Progressive/Mission Foods’ Tyler O’Hara caught and passed Gillim’s teammate James Rispoli in the closing laps to take the final podium spot. Rispoli and H-D Screamin’ Eagle’s Kyle Wyman completed what for him was a lackluster weekend in fifth place.

With his win and runner-up finish in the two races, Gillim takes over the championship lead from Wyman and Rispoli, 175-173, with those two tied for second. Fong moves to fourth in the title chase, 45 points behind Gillim.

“No, trust me. I’d rather not do a back-to-back deal like that again,” Fong said. “It was definitely tough. But it was a good weekend for us. All of us got some wins this weekend. Tyler (O’Hara) got the win in the dash. I rate these two guys (O’Hara and Hayden Gillim) really high in my book. Like Tyler said earlier, the competition is stacked. We’ve all been working hard. These guys are smart. Racing with these guys, they think a lot and I can tell riding with these guys. They’re always thinking. They’re always trying different things. Like I said, the competition is stacked. We’ve just got to keep working and see what we can do at COTA in a month or two. I’m happy to be up here. Good pay day for us, as well. Looking forward to spending at the wedding in a year or so.”