The Harley-Davidson Bagger World Cup may not be a globally recognised championship yet. But the new support series is already serving a strategic purpose for the parties involved.
The iconic American motorcycle manufacturer built its current racing experience as one of two manufacturers in the King of the Baggers championship over the past six years, a series organised and promoted by MotoAmerica.
The success of that series has inspired the creation of the Harley-Davidson Bagger World Cup, a 12-race MotoGP support series that will feature at six Grands Prix this year. The first of those took place at the Circuit of The Americas at the end of March, with the remaining five races to be held in Europe.
The new championship is being operated by Harley-Davidson, which has signed an initial three-year agreement with MotoGP for the series, with the option for an additional two.
“King of the Baggers and bagger racing is now the fastest growing motorsport series on two wheels in North America,” declares Jeffrey Schuessler, global director of Harley-Davidson’s marketing and partnerships in racing programmes, speaking to BlackBook Motorsport.
“It’s the most popular in the national series. It drives the most amount of fans, the most amount of ticket packages, the most amount of views in terms of digital and social.”
That foundation gave Harley-Davidson the confidence to approach MotoGP and led to an official test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in November 2024, six months before the official partnership announcement in May 2025.
Featuring ex-MotoGP riders, the test event provided an opportunity to both trial the bikes themselves and gauge European fan interest in the format.
Competitive bagger racing, which involves touring motorcycles with hard saddlebags, is already an established concept in the US. Taking it global was the natural next step.
“The sentiment was more positive than we were actually expecting from the European market,” Schuessler notes. “So the ability to bring something new to the world of MotoGP, to bring competitive and entertaining races, I have high hopes that will change the hearts and minds of the fans around the world.”
The support series was unveiled at a press conference at the Red Bull Ring in Austria last year, attended by (from left to right) Schuessler and Kolja Rebstock from Harley-Davidson and MotoGP’s Carlos Ezpeleta (Image credit: Getty Images)
A mutually beneficial relationship
Schuessler describes the partnership between MotoGP and Harley-Davidson as a “symbiotic relationship” built to benefit both parties and align with their broader business objectives.
For Harley-Davidson, MotoGP offers a global platform to reach a highly engaged motorcycling audience. While the company’s roots are in the US, it also has more than 1,400 independently owned dealerships in nearly 100 countries.
The series therefore gives Harley-Davidson the opportunity to showcase its products in different markets around the world, with Mugello, Assen, Silverstone, Aragon and Austria’s Red Bull Ring also hosting races this year.
“MotoGP has one of the largest networks of passionate motorcycle fans around the world, some of whom are not necessarily Harley-Davidson fans,” says Schuessler.
“At this time, they’re highly performance-focused fans, and we’d like to say that Harley-Davidson does have a performance product.”
While the inaugural season is focused on North America and Europe, Harley-Davidson has its eyes on taking the Bagger World Cup to other markets, with Schuessler pointing to Japan and Australia as interesting growth opportunities.
“We do want to bring this to the Southeast Asian regions,” he adds. “I was actually in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta earlier this year looking at some locations and we’re in discussions with those regions already.”
MotoGP, meanwhile, has growth ambitions of its own, with a clear goal of expanding its fanbase in the US – especially following its takeover by Formula One owner Liberty Media.
Last year, the series partnered with the Two Circles agency to grow its fanbase in the market and a second US race has been rumoured, with an event at Flatrock Motorsports Park in Tennessee floated for the past two seasons without coming to fruition.
Partnering with Harley-Davidson therefore represents an alternative route for MotoGP to engage US fans.
“We’re looking to drive the community of Harley-Davidson to the world of MotoGP,” explains Schuessler. “We have millions of fans around the world that are die-hard, passionate, loyal Harley-Davidson fans, and the majority of them are not currently MotoGP fans.
“We want to leverage the [Bagger] World Cup to drive the Harley-Davidson fans to the world of MotoGP, to help grow that ecosystem and to welcome them in an authentic way that’s true to Harley-Davidson.”
Schuessler has worked with Harley-Davidson since 2023 and leads on strategic commercial initiatives and partnership management for the brand (Image credit: Getty Images)
‘Year one is a foundational year’
While Harley-Davidson hopes that Liberty’s influence will help drive the growth of MotoGP and motorcycle racing more broadly, Schuessler says season one of the Bagger World Cup is a “foundational year”.
“The main priority for year one is to bring a new class, a new category of racing to the world stage,” he adds.
“As we look to continue to grow, we’d like to see growth in teams, we’d like to see growth in the number of riders that are on the racetrack, [and] growth commercially speaking in the number of sponsors and partners.”
The success of the series now and in the future is framed around growth rather than short-term gains – and expectations should be tempered with just nine bikes on the grid at present.
While Schuessler believes the Bagger World Cup could probably stand on its own two feet, the wider marketing impact would not be possible without MotoGP.
“Would it have the power to stand alone? Yes, I think so,” Schuessler says. “But I would question why. Why do that right now when we have a positive and growth-focused partnership with MotoGP? And they have been very supportive and great to work with as they’re looking to transition into something new in the future as well.
“For the next three to five years, our focus is going to be specifically with MotoGP to make this the greatest series that it possibly can be.”
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