King of the Baggers COTA 2026 Results: Gillim Clinches the Title for Indian
It's done. Hayden Gillim wrapped up the 2026 Mission King of the Baggers championship at Circuit of the Americas, winning Saturday's race and sealing the title with second on Sunday. The number one plate goes to an Indian Challenger.
Image: Property of Indian Motorcycle.
Table of Contents
Saturday's Race: Gillim Wins, Herfoss Crashes
Round 6 of the Mission King of the Baggers at the 3.41-mile (5.5 km) Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas turned the championship on its head in seven laps. Troy Herfoss arrived just 23 points behind his Indian teammate Hayden Gillim, and for two laps the Australian looked like a man planning to shrink that gap. He led from the start and set a 2:13.400 on lap two.
Then lap three went wrong. Herfoss crashed at Turn 11, dropped to ninth, completed another lap, and retired. Kyle Wyman crashed separately and could only recover to eighth. Gillim — up to second by the end of lap two after a poor start — inherited the lead at the end of lap three and never gave it back, beating Bradley Smith by 2.191 seconds. Rocco Landers took third ahead of Tyler O'Hara.
Herfoss's non-finish on Saturday flipped a 23-point title fight into a 48-point deficit with three races remaining.
| Pos | Rider | Time / Gap |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hayden Gillim (Indian) | 15m40.127 |
| 2 | Bradley Smith (Harley-Davidson) | +2.191 |
| 3 | Rocco Landers (Indian) | +6.125 |
| 4 | Tyler O'Hara | +8.700 |
| 5 | James Rispoli | +9.742 |
| 6 | Jake Lewis | +30.153 |
| 7 | Kyle Ohnsorg | +34.643 |
| 8 | Kyle Wyman (Harley-Davidson) | +36.047 |
| 9 | Max Flinders | +41.758 |
| DNF | Troy Herfoss (Indian) | Crash — retired |
The Mission Challenge
The three-lap Mission Challenge was a six-rider shootout, and it produced a different leader at every timing point: Gillim after lap one, Herfoss after lap two, and Bradley Smith at the flag. Smith won by a quarter of a second over Herfoss, with Gillim third, six-tenths from the win.
Sunday's Race: Smith Wins, Gillim Clinches
Sunday was simple math for Gillim: keep it on the podium and the title was his. He led the opening three laps with Smith glued to his rear fender, before the Harley rider swept ahead on lap four and pulled clear to win by 4.717 seconds. Gillim's runner-up finish was the last piece the championship needed.
Behind them, Tyler O'Hara took his first podium of the season in third. Herfoss set the fastest lap of the race — a 2:13.802 — but ran wide at Turn 16 on the following lap and dropped from third to sixth, eventually recovering to fifth. Wyman and Landers both crashed out.
"To be able to finish it early is pretty special, especially against the guys that we're racing against. This is our second championship together, and my first one for Indian. Pretty pumped."
— Hayden Gillim, 2026 Mission King of the Baggers championBradley Smith was gracious in defeat: "They beat us, but we're a hell of a lot further forward than we were this time last year. You deserve that number-one plate, enjoy it."
| Pos | Rider | Time / Gap |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bradley Smith (Harley-Davidson) | 15m39.754 |
| 2 | Hayden Gillim (Indian) | +4.717 |
| 3 | Tyler O'Hara | +10.292 |
| 4 | James Rispoli | +12.898 |
| 5 | Troy Herfoss (Indian) | +24.628 |
| 6 | Kyle Ohnsorg | +29.716 |
| 7 | Jake Lewis | +42.885 |
| DNF | Rocco Landers / Kyle Wyman / Max Flinders | Not classified |
Championship Standings After COTA
Gillim's 45-point weekend lifted him to 251 points. Bradley Smith's victory moved him into second on 197 — but his 54-point deficit to Gillim is greater than the 50 points available at the final round. That's what made Sunday's podium celebration a coronation.
| Pos | Rider | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hayden Gillim (Indian) | 251 |
| 2 | Bradley Smith (Harley-Davidson) | 197 |
| 3 | Troy Herfoss (Indian) | 194 |
| 4 | Tyler O'Hara | 141 |
| 5 | Kyle Wyman (Harley-Davidson) | 134 |
| 6 | James Rispoli | 132 |
| 7 | Rocco Landers (Indian) | 118 |
| 8 | Jake Lewis | 83 |
| 9 | Max Flinders | 67 |
| 10 | Kyle Ohnsorg | 59 |
What This Title Means for Indian
For the Indian Motorcycle faithful — and for those of us who ride the street-going baggers these race bikes are built from — this is the payoff season. The Vance & Hines program got its Challengers late, squeezed in a single test before Round 1, and still came out swinging. By COTA they'd turned the championship into an intra-team conversation that Harley couldn't crash.
Gillim also made history on a personal level: he's the first rider to win King of the Baggers championships with two different manufacturers, pairing this Indian title with his earlier success on a Harley-Davidson.
If you've been following the season with us, the arc ran from the Wrecking Crew story through the Mid-Ohio sweep to this. The parallel with the street lineup is the fun part: the KOTB grid races the Challenger, and my own Indian is a Pursuit — the touring bagger from the same family. Indian winning a bagger racing title while selling baggers to the public is exactly the kind of marketing money can't buy.
The NJMP Finale: Second Place Still On the Line
The championship is settled, but the season isn't. The finale runs at New Jersey Motorsports Park, September 25-27, and the runner-up spot is a genuine knife fight: Bradley Smith leads Troy Herfoss by just 3 points, with 50 available across the final two races. Smith has momentum; Herfoss has a point to prove after the crash that cost him a shot at the title. Expect both factories to treat it like a championship decider anyway.
