What They Said: Mission King Of The Baggers Quotes2025-03-10 08:24The following quotes are from Friday's post-race press conference following the Mission King Of The Baggers race. Cameron, first Baggers race of your short Baggers career so far. You’ve had a pretty miserable time of late. This has got to feel really special to be able to put yourself up on the podium after what you’ve been through. Cameron Petersen - Third Place Honestly, you’re going to make me emotional just thinking about it. It hasn’t been an easy road the last few years. No matter what you’re riding, where you’re riding in the world, getting on the podium and being competitive is a nice feeling. Honestly, coming into this year I never really expected that this would happen, being on a Bagger. After I tested the thing the first time, I knew that’s exactly what I wanted to do. Just never had so much fun on a motorcycle before. It’s just a big learning curve. Still trying to figure the thing out. I catch myself out there doing some pretty weird stuff on the bike that I’ve never done before. So, just slowly clicking away at it. We do have a long way to go to catch up to Kyle. That first lap was pretty incredible. Just so stoked to be up on the box and have this feeling again after a few rough years. You didn’t get a very good start. Were you like, “Oh, no. Not again?” Cameron Petersen: Yeah, funny. First time I ever practiced a start on the bike was Q2 this morning. It went about the same. I almost did a backflip and landed right on my head. The race was the same thing. I let the clutch go, the thing came up, almost did a backflip. Slowly picked away at it. I had some luck. Unfortunate about the first-turn incident. As the race went on, I started to feel more like myself. I think tomorrow is going to be another step in the right direction. If you had told me last year that I would have been battling with Bradley Smith on a Bagger out here at Daytona, I definitely wouldn’t have believed you. Pretty damn cool that these things work out. Bradley, we talked yesterday, and I walked away from that conversation going, “Man, he’s going to get smoked.” I think you kind of agree with me. You’ve got to be really surprised. As a footnote, for those of you that don’t know, Bradley Smith has basically raced in every series in the world that you could possibly race in on a motorcycle. He’s got tons of experience, but this was obviously his first outing on a King of the Baggers bike, and also his first trip to Daytona. Tell us a little bit about the change from yesterday when there was a bit of fear in your face, until sitting on the podium in second place. Bradley Smith - Second Place I don't know where to start. I’m probably going to say exactly the same as Cam in terms of I didn’t expect to be on the banks of Daytona either. I don't think I had started a race for four years. I thought my racing career was done, but funny how things turn around from absolutely nowhere when you least expect it. It’s been great to be welcomed to MotoAmerica. It’s been great to be welcomed into the Harley Davidson team. Kyle has been great, also my buddy James in welcoming me. All the team has been trying to move the process along as quick as possible. But when you turn up at Daytona for the first time, it doesn’t matter what prep you do. Your eyes are just wide open and going, “Oh, my god. What am I doing?” But I’m very pleased that I managed to sleep on it last night and come out better this morning. Managed to find that lap time in qualifying, and then just got a good start and did what I could. It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t fast, but I did what I could. Stayed upright. I think sometimes that’s all that’s needed. There are a million things that are running through my head right now, but just grateful for the opportunity to be back. Roll on race two tomorrow. Kyle, you’re kind of on the complete opposite of these guys. It’s like expected of you to run at the front and do well. It seemed like from the time we got started here yesterday that your confidence was there, and everything was going to be okay, and here we are. Kyle Wyman - Winner For sure. The team has worked really hard this winter trying to find a few things that we can take into Daytona. We have more stuff on the way after that I’m looking forward to. When we finish the day on Thursday in this case, but the first day of the weekend, typically on a Friday, and we have the gap, we have a pretty good win rate. It’s really all about starting fast for us. They definitely threw us a little bit of a curve ball with the tire change today, but I think that fortunately it was definitely the right move. We still had a little bit of an issue out there, but we’re in a much better spot than I think everybody was yesterday. But the bike’s fast. The boys have been working hard. Definitely end of last year if you told me it was going to be Cam and Bradley sitting next to me, it’s pretty wild what Bagger racing has done. It’s been a really cool journey to this point and continues to be more and more fun. Today was a really fun day. Were you aware that Troy crashed when he was behind you? Kyle Wyman: I wasn’t. I had an instinct that he was maybe dropping off because I didn’t hear him. So, I took a peek, actually out of NASCAR turn four, and I literally saw nobody. I thought that maybe he was right up my ass, because I was like, how is it possible that nobody is at least in the shot? Then I came by the pit board, and it said, “Plus 7.” I was like, “Are you joking? What is happening?” But pace was hot. I put down some really good laps in the beginning. Felt really comfortable. Definitely nearly got caught out a couple times. These conditions were definitely a little bit trickier than we’ve had all weekend long. Fortunately saved a couple near-crashes on the front just pushing. But I was able to put the pressure on and got a pretty good points lead on my main rival at this point, so it’s a good feeling. Back to the tires for a second. Would you have taken the option of using the other one for the race, or was it just not going to work for anybody? Kyle Wyman: I think it was only going to maybe work if they shortened the race, which we might see tomorrow. They’ve done that the last two years. Shortened it to six laps. With what we’re seeing, we might see that come down. I went faster on this tire today than I went yesterday. So, I guess even if I had the option, this was the right choice. As far as you know, I don't think anybody had a problem with this one, right, in the race? Kyle Wyman: I don't think so. Mine was starting to just peel apart between the two compounds. Between the thin gauge and the regular gauge thickness. But we’re not seeing big problems. I think right now, more of the concern is towards the front end of the motorcycle, but for me personally I’m not seeing that problem, so I feel very, very fortunate. About MotoAmerica MotoAmerica is North America’s premier motorcycle road racing series. Established in 2014, MotoAmerica is home to the AMA Superbike Championship as well as additional classes including Supersport, Stock 1000, Twins Cup, Talent Cup, Super Hooligan National Championship, and King Of The Baggers. MotoAmerica is an affiliate of KRAVE Group LLC, a partnership including three-time 500cc World Champion, two-time AMA Superbike Champion, and AMA Hall of Famer Wayne Rainey; ex-racer and former manager of Team Roberts Chuck Aksland; motorsports marketing executive Terry Karges; and businessman Richard Varner. 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