Bagger World Cup, Round 1: Gutierrez wins – Iannone knocks opponent off the track

As early as Friday, fans in Spielberg were treated to their first taste of the powerful V2 sound as the riders in the Harley-Davidson Bagger World Cup completed their laps at the Red Bull Ring. This weekend sees the season finale of the new racing series. It’s a tight race at the top of the championship. After ten races, the top four were separated by just 27 points. Australian Archie McDonald led the overall standings. In second and third places were Brazilian Eric Granado and Spaniard Oscar Gutierrez. In fourth place: former MotoGP and Superbike rider Andrea Iannone. Although he missed the first two races in Austin, he was right in the thick of the world championship battle.

In qualifying on Saturday afternoon, these four riders also set the pace. Granado secured pole position with a time of 1:38.366 – his fourth of the year. McDonald and Iannone completed the front row. Gutierrez started Saturday’s race from fourth on the grid. Alongside him was the American wildcard rider James Rispoli – he is standing in for Jordi Torres at Spielberg for Team Joe Rascal Racing. Torres, meanwhile, is competing in the Bol d’Or endurance event this weekend. Maxwell Toth was also on the second row of the grid. The third row was made up of wildcard rider and two-time King of the Baggers champion Kyle Wyman, his brother Travis Wyman and Jake Lewis. Dimas Ekky Pratama and Max Flinders started from the fourth row.

Race 1 at Spielberg got underway at 4.10 pm. McDonald got off to the best start – he entered the first corner in the lead. Iannone also managed to squeeze past Granado. Toth was in fourth place. Due to a jump start, the American was handed a double long-lap penalty.

At the end of the first lap, the order at the front remained unchanged. On lap 2, Iannone and Granado crashed – the ‘Maniac’ was riding too aggressively and sent both himself and Granado off the track. The 280-kg bikes rolled over in the gravel trap. Both riders were uninjured. This effectively decided the championship. The stewards reviewed the situation.

Afterwards, McDonald pulled away at the front. Gutierrez was in second place, whilst Kyle Wyman had worked his way up from seventh on the grid to third.

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At the end of the fourth lap, Gutierrez managed to overtake McDonald, whilst Rispoli had squeezed past his compatriot Kyle Wyman.

Gutierrez was able to pull further and further clear; with four laps to go, his lead was already just under a second. McDonalds knew, however, that he simply had to get his race Harley to the finish line to extend his lead in the World Championship standings.

The order with three laps to go: Gutierrez, McDonald, Rispoli, Kyle Wyman and Lewis.

With two laps to go, McDonald had made up some time on Gutierrez again. He had reduced his deficit to seven tenths.

Not much happened on the final lap. Oscar Gutierrez crossed the finish line 0.9 seconds ahead of Archie McDonald. Third place went to James Rispoli.