Harley at Indy for first time in 102 years

A Harley-Davidson will make the grid at the Brickyard for the first time in 102 years when the XR1200 Cup supports MotoGP this weekend.

The first ever 'motorised' race took place at Indianapolis in 1909, the event was won by an Indian motorcycle but within a grid of seven bikes a Harley rider finished in fifth.

Making an apperance amongst the runners and riders in the one-make series will be ex-GP and hard as nails racer, Jeremy McWilliams. The Ulsterman won the inaugural XR1200 championship in the UK last season with an impressive 41 point lead and will ride for Harley–Davidson of Bloomington - in a return to the MotoGP arena since leaving in 2005 (not counting the ill-fated and near comeback on the Ilmor in 2007).  

22 riders rode in a practice session over two days last week, as shown in the above video, with McWilliams going up against Daytona 200 winners Jason DiSalvo and Steve Rapp alongside the rest of the full-time Vance and Hines XR1200 series riders. After two days of testing only two riders were able to break into the 58-second barrier, as DiSalvo ran a 1:58.342 compared to a 1:58.597 of Rapp.