Archie McDonald: Riding in two hemispheres

2026 will welcome a new motorcycle racing series into the MotoGP calendar, with six rounds and a format that has already been praised and has delivered great racing in both the United States and Europe. We refer, clearly, to the Harley-Davidson Bagger World Cup. Today there is still no entry list and, in general, there is little information about the riders who will compete in the brand new one-make series. However, we can talk about the first rider announced for the new cup dedicated to the so-called "Baggers": Archie McDonald. Yes, because the young Australian from the Joe Rascal Racing Team is a more than interesting racer…

The early years

Born in 2006, Archie McDonald rode a motorcycle for the first time when he was 3 years old, and from there he began racing and achieving race and championship wins. Not in road racing, though: during more than ten years, the kid born in Jindera (in the far southeast of Australia) made a name for himself in flat track and dirt track, where he became five times Australian Champion. Like many other Aussies, including for example Joel Kelso, McDonald started in dirt track, but soon embarked on the path of road racing.

In 2019, he moved to road racing by joining the newly created bLU cRU Oceania Junior Cup, a one-make series for young riders contested on Yamaha YZF-R15 machines and running within the ASBK Australian Superbike Championship. It was an overall positive first season, which saw McDonald finish fourth in the standings with several podiums and also getting the overall win at the round held at Winton Motor Raceway.  

Progress in the Supersport 300 class

In 2020, Archie McDonald moved up to the Supersport 300 class, still within the ASBK championship, and he showed some excellent racing in the few races that were held due to the Covid-19 pandemic, since he finished fourth in Supersport 300 and third in the Yamaha R3 Cup.

The 2021 season then began with very important news: the Australian rider joined the ProGP Racing Junior Team, a squad born from the collaboration between Omar Menghi’s ProGP Racing Team (competing in the Supersport 300 World Championship) and Jake Skate’s JDS Moto Racing. A partnership established with the goal of bringing Australian talents from the ASBK to Europe. However, a crucial season for his career got off to a bad start for McDonald, who was forced to miss the opening round at Winton due to a leg injury suffered while training.

After that, the rider from New South Wales returned to full fitness and immediately showed what he is capable of: three fourth-place finishes at Wakefield, all achieved by charging through the field from ninth on the grid, were then followed by two race wins and the overall victory at the season finale at The Bend Motorsport Park. In short, a season that began badly was later turned around, as McDonald showcased excellent potential.  

The move to Europe

His excellent potential, indeed, convinced Omar Menghi to bring him to Europe and field him in the R3 bLU cRU European Cup, a trophy that takes place alongside the Superbike World Championship in some European rounds.

McDonald therefore left his homeland and his family before even turning 16, hoping to achieve his goal. However, this experience did not get off to the best start either: at the opening round at MotorLand Aragón, and at his very first race on European soil, McDonald crashed in Race 1 after charging from 16th up to sixth place, and was then declared unfit for Race 2. Another crash came in Race 1 of the second round, at Assen, but McDonald was then able to find greater consistency and finished in the points in all the remaining races of the season.

“Maddog” (his nickname) collected five fifth-place finishes in the last six races and he often fought for the podium and even for victory. One example is Race 1 at Most, where he finished fourth just a few hundredths of a second off the podium, only to drop one position for exceeding track limits on the final lap. Final result: ninth place in the standings, still a solid outcome for his first year in Europe and on circuits that were completely new to him.  

His career seemed to take the direction towards the Supersport 300 World Championship. However, things changed quickly...

600cc: From Australia to Europe...and vice versa!

In 2023, Archie McDonald moved into the JuniorGP paddock (later rebranded as MotoJunior) and stepped up to the Stock European Championship, after joining the MRE Talent Team aboard a Yamaha R6. It was a big and difficult move for many riders, but not for him: McDonald considers this step much easier than many others think and, in fact, he feels more comfortable on a 600cc bike than on a 300cc one. His first season went quite well: McDonald narrowly missed the podium on several occasions such as at Portimão, where he finished fourth less than a tenth of a second off third place, and he ended the year fifth overall.

In 2024, McDonald stayed in the European Stock Championship with MRE Talent, but also decided to do something “crazy and unusual”: racing both in Europe and in Australia in the same year. The Australian rider combined his European campaign with a full-time return to the Australian championship, this time in the Supersport class and with the Stop & Seal Racing Team. There were no clashes, and this enabled McDonald to race in two continents and thus become, as mentioned in the title, a “rider of the two hemispheres". Overall, the season was very positive, even though things could have gone even better and there were also some challenges related to traveling constantly between Europe and Australia.

McDonald regularly had to deal with visa-related issues and, for bureaucratic reasons, was even forced to miss the Stock ECh round at Jerez. Nevertheless, there were plenty of great results: McDonald claimed podiums, race wins and overall second place in the Australian Supersport Championship, and he scored a podium and a victory in Europe. The absolute highlight of the season was his first win in the Stock European Championship at Portimão, where McDonald won on a photo-finish and claimed an amazing victory on the weekend he turned 18. A truly special gift for himself, during a tough and extremely intense season.  

As if that wasn’t enough, McDonald was also part of the Oceania Team at the inaugural edition of the FIM Intercontinental Games, held at Jerez. On his one-off return on a Supersport 300 machine, McDonald finished Race 1 in his category in third place, and that's how he contributed to his team finishing third overall.

The two sides of 2025

After an extremely intense 2024 season, McDonald faced a 2025 campaign that was…as intense as the previous year! The young Aussie continued his double commitment in the Stock European Championship and in the Australian Supersport Championship, but with mixed fortunes.

On one hand, McDonald fought for the title at home right until the end, finishing second overall and securing the FIM Oceania Champion title (once again with the Stop & Seal Racing team). On the other hand, “Maddog” faced a troubled season in Europe. He showed again some great speed, by claiming a podium at Jerez and a pole position at MotorLand Aragón, but there were also some strong lows. One example is what happened at MotorLand Aragón, where McDonald was thrown into the air by his bike due to a technical issue, while he was leading the race.

Moreover, McDonald was forced to withdraw from the round held at Misano due to a crash and the fact his team hadn't brought any spare part, leading subsequently to the end of his relationship with the PS Racing Team. McDonald was able to race at Barcelona and Valencia aboard the Honda of Team Laglisse, performing reasonably well, but the season was inevitably compromised. At the very least, McDonald managed to remain at an extremely high level in Australia, losing out by just a few points to his teammate and friend Jack Mahaffy.  

The World Cup opportunity

The talent shown over the years by Archie Bob McDonald (his full name) has nevertheless remained in the memory of many people within the paddock. And also on the mind of James Tonna, CEO and founder of Joe Rascal, a company that is a true reference in the Australian state of Victoria, and beyond, when it comes to Harley-Davidson (and also operates a Ducati dealership). A strong and ambitious business, which did not hesitate at all to enter the Harley-Davidson Bagger World Cup, the new series that, from 2026, will join the MotoGP paddock following the success of this category both in the USA, with the King of the Baggers series, and more recently in Europe, with Bagger Racing League European Cup led by Ruben Xaus.

Same as it did not hesitate to embrace this new project, the Joe Rascal Racing team also had no hesitation in signing Archie McDonald, becoming in fact the first team in the Bagger World Cup to announce its rider. Impressed by McDonald’s talent and by his strong, explosive and outgoing personality, James Tonna is convinced that  young “Maddog” is exactly the right profile for this new adventure, as preparation has already begun with some preliminary testing sessions.  

Taking part in the Harley-Davidson Bagger World Cup would not, moreover, rule out McDonald from continuing his adventure in the MotoJunior (formerly JuniorGP) paddock, also because there are no clashes between the two series. In any case, this major opportunity will finally allow McDonald to step onto the world stage and, above all, to live the MotoGP World Championship dream more closely than ever…