1st Excavator Party Race:

Photos: Indian Motorcycle

Joint event of Indian Motorcycle, Harley Davidson and BMW MOTORRAD refutes all prejudices about big touring bikes with exciting racing action.

Last weekend, the "Bagger Party Race" took place for the first time on the ADAC test track Schlüsselfeld. In front of the eyes of the 300 invited guests, three teams each delivered exciting battles, in the field of drivers everything from IDM professional racing driver to excavator rookie was represented.

In the USA, the "King of the Baggers" racing series launched by Roland Sands has a broad fan base for the second year of its existence and shows at the American Motorcyclist Association racing events that real motorsport is possible with large touring bikes. Inspired by this success, representatives of the three manufacturers met in Germany at the end of April to plan a joint event with the same objective. After only 8 weeks of preparation, the time had come on July 15th: The "1st Bagger Party Race" was announced, with the support of exhaust manufacturer Dr. Jekill & Mr. Hyde and Metzeler Reifen.

Indian Motorcycle sent Challenger Dark Horse and Challenger Limited into the race, BMW was represented with R18 excavators and K1600, Harley Davidson with Street Glide ST, Road Glide ST and Lowrider ST.

Only bikes in standard condition were at the start, only the modification of the exhaust system was permitted. "It is important for us to show what is possible with the bikes in their original StVO-compliant condition. Road-legal machines with which you could drive just as directly to the HU test," explains Dirk Luetkemeier, Senior District Sales Manager at Indian Motorcycle Germany.

The Challengers were piloted by racing driver Thilo Günther, who impressively demonstrated his driving all-round skills as an "excavator newbie", Basti Neumann, sales at Indian Motorcycle Munich, and Niclas Duracic, mechanic at Indian Motorcycle Freiburg.

Fun was clearly in the foreground during this friendly showdown: spectacular overtaking manoeuvres and breathtaking cornering drifts put a broad grin on everyone's faces – whether under the helmets or the sun hats at the side of the track.

The moderation by scene expert Frank Sander and the supporting programme with music, BBQ and free rides in a real MotoGP safety car also ensured a great atmosphere into the night.

"The Bagger Party Race 2022 has impressively shown what is possible with heavy touring bikes and especially the Challenger and thus certainly fueled the excavator enthusiasm further," says Pamela Beckmann, Marketing Indian Motorcycle Germany and Austria. A repeat of the event is expected in 2023.

More information about Indian Motorcycle on indianmotorycle.de, Facebook, and Instagram.