10 Wins, 24 Podiums, One Championship: A Record First Season with Indian Motorcycle Racing

Our first season building and racing the Indian Challenger with Indian Motorcycle Racing is in the books, and it ended the way most of it went: with Challengers on the podium.

At the Mission King of the Baggers finale at New Jersey Motorsports Park, Troy Herfoss charged from the back of the pack to win Race 1. Newly crowned champion Hayden Gillim finished second and Tyler O’Hara third for an all-Challenger podium. Gillim then brought the No. 69 home third in Race 2 to close out the year.

Hayden had already settled the title two weeks earlier at Circuit of The Americas, clinching with two races to spare. It is Indian Motorcycle’s fourth King of the Baggers championship, and the first for the J&P Cycles / Motul / Vance & Hines Motorsports Factory Indian Motorcycle Racing team.

The season by the numbers

• 10 wins in 14 races
• 8 wins for Hayden Gillim, a new single-season rider record
• 6 consecutive wins, a new manufacturer record
• 24 podiums, a new series record, with at least one Challenger on the box in every race
• 6 of 7 pole positions
• 5 track records: Road Atlanta, Road America, Mid-Ohio, Circuit of The Americas, and New Jersey Motorsports Park

All of that from a program that rolled into Daytona in March with a single test session behind it.

The partnership came together ahead of the 2026 season, pairing Indian’s liquid-cooled PowerPlus 112 platform with our race development program. Indian Motorcycle CEO Mike Kennedy credited the results to the Challenger itself and to “the collaborative power of Indian Motorcycle and Vance & Hines Motorsports.” We could not agree more.

Thank you to Hayden, Troy, our crew, our partners at Indian Motorcycle, J&P Cycles, and Motul, and every fan who showed up trackside or tuned in this year.

Next up: 2027

Indian Motorcycle has confirmed that Gillim and Herfoss will both return next season, putting the 2026 and 2024 champions back on the same team. The goal is simple: become the first to win back-to-back King of the Baggers championships. The work has already started.

Read Indian Motorcycle Racing’s full season recap on MotoAmerica here