Kyle Wyman made Willie G. proud this past weekend because of his near photo-finish win at the Road America stop this year of MotoAmerica’s Mission King of the Baggers series. The Mission King Of The Baggers, which is MotoAmerica’s uniquely American Harley-Davidson versus Indian Motorcycle rival series, came right down to the finish line, as well.

And, with Harley-Davidson’s headquarters located just an hour south of Road America in Milwaukee, plus 91-year-old namesake Willie G. Davidson at the track along with thousands of H-D employees and also fans of The Motor Company, Kyle Wyman, aboard his Harley-Davidson Factory Racing Road Glide Special (signed by “Willie G.” just before the start of the race), rose to the challenge and won the drag race to the checkered flag over S&S/Indian Motorcycle’s Troy Herfoss. The Australian’s teammate Tyler O’Hara completed the podium in third, while Wyman’s teammate James Rispoli finished fourth.

The margin of victory for Wyman was just .039 of a second over Herfoss, and he was more relieved than ecstatic that he won, since he faced the intense pressure and overcame it.

“A hundred percent a must-win today,” Wyman said. “Usually, you have kind of two shots at it. Yesterday, I was not comfortable, so I didn’t feel like I really had a shot to fight for the win. I knew it was all eggs in one basket on Sunday. Troy (Herfoss) found something this morning. I was struggling a little bit. We made a small change for the race, just to try to get me a predictable bike. I knew it was going to be a scrap. I think we all knew nobody was going to get away, so just try to get me something that was comfortable to ride that I could kind of throw around where I needed to. Got a good start. The Gillim train in the beginning was a little erratic. I know he’s doing what he has to do. He’s a little bit down on horsepower, but I had some close calls with him, for sure. Got me sucked into the back-end of him a couple times. I thought we were going to touch wheels. Once Troy came up, he got through on me, and I just latched on. There were a couple areas where he had a little bit of pace on me, but there were other areas where I could kind of reel him back. Like I said at COTA, I love a one-on-one. When I looked back, I guess these guys got kind of separated. I looked back and saw we had a gap to third. I was like, all right. It’s a mano-e-mano type of thing. I love it. I’m having the most enjoyment of my entire racing career, racing these baggers and especially this year racing Troy. It’s a fantastic challenge. It’s a fantastic rivalry, and one with a whole lot of respect. I’m really enjoying it, as he is. I can’t wait to get back with my guys and celebrate because we got the ‘must-win’ done.

“I’m super thankful to the whole Harley-Davidson team. To have Willie G. out here in his homecoming year. They’re going to celebrate him at homecoming coming up here in July in Milwaukee. It’s a pretty special deal. Pretty amazing feeling.”