Power in Numbers

Submitted to Cafe Racer Magazine's August/September 2024 issue.

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BY ANTHONY CONROY, Cafe Racer Magazine

It takes a hooligan to know one, and in creating an ultra-competitive race class built around naked bikes of all shapes and sizes, it took one of the sport’s leading hooligans to get the ball rolling.

Roland Sands, the Long Beach, Calif.-based designer, bike builder and ex-racer whose company Roland Sands Design and reputation are built around the hooligan bike scene and lifestyle, is seeing one his latest brainchilds — MotoAmerica’s Super Hooligan — take shape and evolve into what has arguably become the most diverse professional racing class on the planet.

Super Hooligan is a limited support class for MotoAmerica, which relies heavily on traditional sportbikes to occupy their event calendar. Among the exceptions are King of the Baggers, which runs full touring motorcycles, and Super Hooligan, which is carving its own niche by being a throwback to the “run what you brung” days — a Wild West on wheels.

“That’s what it’s all about: giving people the opportunity to race what they want to race with somewhat loose rules and lots of room to be creative,” said Sands. “It’s a builders class through and through.” 

And the builders responded. There are 12 manufacturers entered to race in Super Hooligan this season. Ten of them raced in the opening round at Daytona International Speedway in March. The separate models that ran in Daytona were: 

Aprilia Tuono, BMW R nineT, Ducati Hypermotard, Ducati Monster SP, Energica Eva Ribelle, Harley-Davidson Pan America, Indian FTR1200, KTM 890 Duke R, Suzuki SV1000, Triumph 765RS, and Yamaha MT-09 SP. Two others that were entered but didn’t race were the Buell XB12XT and Victory Vegas. An H-D XR1200 was also entered but didn’t race.

“I love naked bikes, I love road racing and I’m a fucking hooligan so it all came together,” said Sands. “I knew I didn’t want to jump back into road racing as I’d done it before, so it was important to have a lifestyle attached to what we do.”

Among the assortment of manufacturers, one of those bikes stands out as being different from the others. However, in the Super Hooligan spirit of “anything goes,” Energica is right at home, its electric powertrain matched seamlessly on the grid as the others and their internal combustion engines. 

After a bit of research and agreement from a MotoAmerica spokesman, that would mean Super Hooligan is likely the world’s first and only professional class in motorcycle racing that has EVs competing head to head with ICEs.

“That’s an extra storyline that’s been incredibly interesting, and getting them on the podium last year at (Circuit of the Americas) was definitely a first for ICE vs. Electric,” said Sands, referring to Stefano Mesa’s second-place finish at Race 1 at COTA aboard the Tylers Cycle Racing Energica.

It’s a long way from Super Hooligan’s roots when it began as a flat track series in 2015. “The project started … with Indian motorcycles and we’ve been whooping it up ever since,” said Sands. 

In 2022, the series switched to roadracing and now travels part-time with the MotoAmerica circus, with five stops and 10 races. Getting to where it is now, Sands acknowledged the MotoAmerica leadership and their stewardship of Super Hooligan.

“They have a good vision for what’s possible,” he said, “and have invited the right kind of trouble with Baggers and Hooligans.”

Despite the diversity in manufacturers and models, Harley-Davidson spokesman Paul James noted how evenly matched the bike are, noting that the top six riders in the second race at Daytona were separated by less than two-tenths of a second at the finish line.

“That’s amazing,” he said. “But that’s also Daytona.”

Cory West, who won that race aboard a Team Saddlemen Harley-Davidson Pan America, is still amazed by the finish — the kind that attracts new fans.

“Shit, we had six guys covered by a second at the stripe at Daytona!” he said. “That’s what we need. We need that close multi-bike battle to make it fun for people to watch. 

As far as the (fans in) other countries that are interested in King of the Baggers and Super Hooligans, it’s because we’re doing something that no one else is doing.”

But what’s it like to ride an unfaired naked going crazy speeds, bar-to-bar in race conditions?

“First thing, you go out and it’s like 166 mph and the wind’s hitting you right in the front of the helmet, right where the logo is on your forehead,” West said. “And then it hits you in the shoulders and it all really tugs on your upper body. I mean, that’s why they end up putting fairings on stuff.

“I don’t feel vulnerable because you’re more in an attack position … and we run the big handlebars for leverage,” he said. “But with no fairing, there’s nothing to hide behind. It’s pretty fun. Everyone’s riding something kinda wacky… . I’ve always gotten a kick out of getting on a racetrack and riding something that you maybe shouldn’t even be out there on just so you know how fast it can go.”

With Super Hooligan and also King of the Baggers, MotoAmerica has two classes that seem to resonate, maybe even more so than the traditional classes, such as Superbike.

“Fans like to see something different,” said West. “A sportbike looks like a sportbike whether it’s a 400 or it’s a 1000. The only difference is the noise and the speed. But to see a naked bike or a Bagger, those things look totally different and they sound totally different. Honestly, with Super Hooligans, it’s kinda run what you brung.”

The diversity in manufacturers, not to mention that naked bikes and adventure-touring bikes are a fast-growing segment in the industry, gives the Super Hooligan class a certain amount of accessibility with the average fan.

“When we start going to some of these other places, I think you’ll see it’s the most relatable class,” said Travis Wyman, one of West’s teammates at Saddlemen. “People ride their Yamaha FZs and their Pan Americas or (Indian) FTRs to the races, and the bikes aren’t that wildly different from the showroom floor.”

Travis’ brother Kyle, who runs his own team — KWR — in Super Hooligan and races a factory Harley-Davidson in the King of the Bagger class, says part of the charm in both series is the simplicity of it all.

“It’s all about the men in the arena,” he said. “That’s what we do. We race. And I don’t really care if it’s two minivans at a riding school that we rented from National or it’s Baggers or whatever it is, we’re racing it.”

Even more simply …

“This is racing at the bold end of the spectrum,” said Sands. “Inappropriate, unruly and fast as fuck. I think that means eyeballs and interest. Naked bikes with flat number plates carry a nostalgic feel to them and that’s just plain cool.”