Aussie Herfoss muscles in on tour
When Australian superbike champion Troy Herfoss said he felt like a change, little did he expect to end up racing big Harley-style motorcycles in the US, much less leading the championship.
Herfoss, 37, has won three and finished second in the first six races in the King of the Baggers series.
It’s a remarkable effort to wrestle a 285+kg motorcycle built for cruising around a track after racing twitchy, high-performance sportsbikes all his career.
The series featuring Harley-davidson and Indian touring motorcycles began as something as a novelty but is now making some noise among the public.
“Indian and Harley have a true rivalry that goes a long way back. So it feels like a two-wheeled NASCAR for me at the moment,’’ Herfoss said.
“You’ve got two American muscle brands fighting it out together.
“There’s a lot of fans getting behind it. There’s a lot of excitement about it – it’s bringing in that cruiser demographic who all a sudden have a reason to follow their favourite motorbike at the racetrack. So it’s just a really fresh class to be in.’’
Herfoss has surprised even himself at how he has taken to the 1835cc Indian Challenger machine.
“There’s no electronics so it’s just a really raw bike basically,” he said.
“It’s just a lot of fun. I’m one of the older riders in the category and I didn’t grow up with electronics on bikes and these are essentially bikes without electronics and a bucketload of power.’’
The Bagger series, now in its fourth year, features Harley and Indian twincylinder touring motorcycles. The Bagger title comes from an Indian model named because of its side bags which stay attached for the racetrack.
As well as the joys of the bike, Herfoss is relishing the opportunity to race on some of the world’s most famous tracks – Daytona, Laguna Seca and COTA (Circuit of the Americas).
“It’s bucket list stuff for me. I feel privileged to be the guy who’s over racing a factory Indian on these American tracks. It’s a bit of a dream really.’’