The Mad Dog moves up

Archie McDonald has taken the brand-new Harley-Davidson Bagger World Cup by storm. We caught up with him at the Bike Shed Moto Show in London

At just 19 years old, Australian Archie McDonald has gone from motorcycle tester to race winner in the inaugural Harley-Davidson Bagger World Cup, in what seems like no time. Young, highly motivated and suddenly racing against some of the most experienced names in the world of motorcycling, he’s making the most of an opportunity that almost didn’t happen.

With the first win at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA), it wasn’t immediately obvious to Archie that he’d just become the youngest winner in top-flight MotoGP or bagger racing history. He worked it out afterwards, from a stranger’s congratulations. “I didn’t know until someone said well done on being the youngest winner. I was told that that everyone else who had won was over 20,” he reveals.

To those who follow him in Australia and his growing international fan base, he’s known as “Mad Dog”, though the nickname hasn’t made it into any official press releases yet. And there’s no sign the age gap with some other riders bothers him. If anything, it’s fuel.

A testing opportunity opened the door, Joe Rascal Racing took a chance on him, and within one race weekend, Archie had given people a reason to remember his name.

Around in circles
Archie grew up in small-town Australia and was riding motorcycles from the age of four. “Me and my big brother grew up riding dirt track in the backyard,” he says. “Dad took us to the track and we didn’t stop going around in circles. We just loved it.”

It was 10 years of dirt track, with some wins, before he made the move to road racing in his early teens, riding in the Oceania Junior Cup, then 300cc classes, including Yamaha R3, then European Superstock 600. Even so, the results didn’t follow straight away. “I went three years without a single podium,” he says. “I was ready to give up.”

Then Portugal happened. 2024, his second year in the 600 class, brought his first time on the podium as the winner in Portimão. “I’d never podiumed, and to win was amazing because it was such hard work. And it just clicked from there.”

It’s worth holding onto that timeline, because from the outside Archie’s rise in bagger racing can look sudden – a teenager appearing from nowhere to beat a paddock of veterans. But it followed three lean years of trying to make something happen and one race that finally broke the pattern.

Put my name on the list
The route into bagger racing was less a plan and more of a favour that got out of hand. “My friend was mates with James Tonna, and he said he knew someone who was starting up a bagger team,” Archie explains. “I was like, ‘Yeah, whatever,’ until one day he asked, ‘Can I put your name on the list?’ I said, ‘Yep, go for it.’ I’m all about opportunities.”

A testing slot with Joe Rascal Racing followed – and then, more alarmingly, a phone call…

“A few weeks later he rang me saying, ‘You’re going to get a call from the boss. He’s going to ask you why you should race for him, and you have to convince the hell out of him.’ I had 10 minutes to convince him. And here we are.”

A different kind of race bike
Before any of that, Archie’s entire Harley-Davidson^® experience amounted to a single breakfast run. “I think it was on a Fat Boy^®,” he says. It belonged to his old team boss and he rode it up a hill to get to breakfast. “It was massive. It was really cool to have a roaring bike like that.”

A Bagger World Cup machine is a different proposition again, though Archie’s read on the transition is more matter-of-fact than the bike’s size might suggest. “They lift the bike for ground clearance, but there’s no big difference,” he says. “It’s just a bigger bike, higher off the ground. You’re still scraping your knee and turning through each corner, but it’s a properly built race bike. They know how to corner.”

The differences show up once the throttle opens. “The weight and speed are the biggest things,” he says. “The bagger produces a massive heap of torque underneath you, as well as being a heavy bike. But it’s like any other race bike. You’re still racing it, still trying to make it turn and still trying to go fast.” He laughs, thinking of the machine he came from: “My little R6 doesn’t pull the same.”

Young and hungry
Archie doesn’t appear especially troubled by the experience stacked up around him – not from his teammates or from the other riders in the competition. “They’re definitely talented and experienced,” he says. “But I’m just as determined, if not more so because I’m young and hungry. We’re all going for the same championship. There are no rules saying we’re not allowed to be competitive with each other.”

Off track, though, the gratitude is unmistakable. “I’m truly, truly blessed,” he says. “I have such a great team behind me, and I can’t thank them enough for everything they’ve done so far.”

Archie McDonald arrived in the Bagger World Cup as the tester who got his name on a list almost by accident. That version of the story is already out of date. “I’m in it to win it, like any other championship I’ve raced,” he says. “I’m going to go for the win every chance I can. Anything can happen in racing. And normally it does.”

This interview was carried out just before the second round of the Harley-Davidson Bagger World Cup at Mugello.

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