DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.
(June 29, 2024) – Grand National
Championship leader
Dallas Daniels
(No. 32 Estenson Racing Yamaha
MT-07 DT) checked off another
career goal with a peerless
performance in this year’s
edition of the Lima
Half-Mile presented by Indian
Motorcycle and Drag Specialties, Round
9 of the 2024
Progressive American Flat Track season,
sanctioned by AMA Pro
Racing,
Despite lining up for Saturday’s
Main Event as the only rider
among the leading
Mission AFT SuperTwins title
contenders without a prior win
at the Allen County
Fairgrounds to his name
– and despite Yamaha similarly
being without a premier-class
victory in the history of the
fabled event in Lima, Ohio –
Daniels was simply unstoppable
from start to finish.
The Estenson Racing hero
immediately leapt out into the
lead and set about executing his
escape. Ripping off a series of
laps quicker than anyone had
managed all day long, Daniels
stretched out his advantage by
big chunks over the race’s
opening half.
With some three seconds
separating him from
Brandon Robinson (No.
44 Mission Roof Systems Indian
FTR750) and five from
Jared Mees (No. 1
Rogers Racing/SDI Racing/Indian
Motorcycle FTR750), Daniels was
already deep into traffic by the
race’s halfway point. Even after
easing up late, he would go on
to lap more than half the field
before at last taking the
checkered flag with nearly
six-and-a-half seconds in hand.
Despite the one-sided nature of
the win, there was still a fair
amount of drama near the front.
Reigning champion Mees reeled
Robinson in from a couple
seconds back, ultimately moving
through with an
inside-outside-inside maneuver
as the clocks hit zero.
That development was actually to
Daniels’ benefit – at least for
the time being – as it allowed
him to open his championship
lead over second-ranked Robinson
that much further. He now leads
by 21-points over the Mission
Roof Systems pilot (195-174)
with the factory Indian ace two
points further adrift in third
(172).
Daniels said, “When you’re a
little kid, there are just
certain tracks you dream of
winning. As soon as I got on
that twin, something clicked
(here), but I just got nipped by
some really great riders. It was
a tough pill to swallow because
both years I was fast… I just
knew I had to get the job done
tonight.
“I got a good start, and I just
put my head down those first few
laps, and the rest is history.
We made a little bit of a change
before the Main Event, and I was
a little bit skeptical on it.
But (my crew) sat me down and
said they trusted it, and
whatever they trust, I trust.
Things were just clicking; I
felt like I was on a cloud just
riding. What a night.”
Last year’s Lima HM winner,
Briar Bauman
(No. 3 Rick Ware
Racing/KTM/Parts Plus KTM 790
Duke), got away in fourth but
proved unable to match the
torrid early pace at the front.
Instead, he found himself
fighting a losing battle in his
attempt to keep Davis
Fisher (No. 67 Rackley
Racing/Bob Lanphere’s BMC Racing
Indian FTR750) pinned behind him
to hold the position to the end.
Brandon Price
(No. 92 Memphis Shades/Sody
Ent/OTBR Yamaha MT-07) finished
five seconds back of the
Fisher-Bauman fight in sixth,
followed by Jarod
Vanderkooi (No. 20 JMC
Motorsports/Fairway Ford Ohio
Indian FTR750) and
Dalton Gauthier (No. 79
Moto Anatomy X Powered by Royal
Enfield 650), who was actually
the final rider still on the
lead lap despite taking eighth.
Chad Cose (No.
49 CTR/Indian Motorcycle Of
Oklahoma City Yamaha MT-07) and
Cameron Smith
(No. 34 RVR/KTM/Schaefer’s
Motorsport KTM 790 Duke)
completed the top ten.
Parts Unlimited AFT
Singles presented by KICKER
Tom Drane (No.
59 Estenson Racing Yamaha
YZ450F) overcame the best
efforts of a motivated
Kody Kopp (No. 1 Rick
Ware Racing/Parts Plus KTM 450
SX-F) to win the Parts
Unlimited AFT Singles presented
by KICKER Main Event at
Lima.
While Chase Saathoff (No.
88 JPG Motorsports Honda
CRF450R) took the holeshot from
pole, Drane cut up underneath
him to snatch away the lead
exiting Turn 2 on the opening
lap.
Even though Drane gapped the
field by nearly one-and-a-half
seconds by the time the race hit
halfway, Kopp charged like a
champion once he finally
overhauled Saathoff and fixed
his sights on the Australian.
The Rick Ware Racing star
proceeded to eat up tenths per
lap, closing to within a quarter
of a second as the two
encountered thick swaths of
lapped traffic with just over a
minute remaining.
Just as Kopp was attempting to
execute a decisive move, the two
stormed past a downed rider and
then negotiated another pack of
slower traffic that kicked up a
wave of pea gravel. Whether Kopp
expected a red flag, simply lost
out through the lappers, or some
combination of the two, Drane
took full advantage of the chaos
to emerge with his grip on the
race resecured.
The Estenson Racing ace sailed
on to earn his third victory of
the season by just under a half
second, snapping Kopp’s
three-race win streak in the
process.
Drane said, “(Lima’s) definitely
similar to what we race back
home… To be able to get this win
feels so good. I can’t thank my
whole team enough for all the
effort they’ve put in and all
the training we’ve done so we
can race so hard the whole race.
I could feel Kody coming towards
the end there, and I had to
really put those last laps
together.”
Saathoff took a lonely third,
but his sixth podium of the
season wasn’t enough to prevent
Drane from seizing control of
second in the standings. Kopp
still leads both challengers by
a significant margin,
204-172-168.
The championship’s fourth- and
fifth-ranked riders,
Trent Lowe (No. 48
American Honda/Mission Foods
CRF450R) and James Ott (No.
19 1st Impressions Race Team
Husqvarna FC450), finished in
those same positions on Saturday
but only after chasing down
promising rookie Evan
Renshaw (No. 265
American Honda/Mission Foods
CRF450R), who equaled his
best-career Progressive AFT
finish in sixth.
Aiden RoosEvans
(No. 26 FRA Trust/ATV’s and More
Yamaha YZ450F), Tyler
Raggio (No. 55 Raggio
Racing/Sluggo Racing KTM 450
SX-F), Travis Petton IV
(No. 82 ECG Racing/A.M Ortega
KTM 450 SX-F), and Logan
Eisenhard (No. 66
Hannum’s Harley-Davidson KTM 450
SX-F) rounded out the top ten.
Next Up:
Progressive American Flat Track
will conclude its month-long run
of four consecutive races with
the Memphis Shades
DuQuoin Mile at the
DuQuoin State
Fairgrounds in DuQuoin,
Illinois, on Saturday, July 6.
Visit
https://www.tixr.com/groups/trackenterprises/events/duquoin-mile-2024-80042
to secure your tickets today.
For those who can’t catch the
action from the circuit,
FloRacing is the live
streaming home of Progressive
AFT. Sign up now and catch every
second of the on-track action,
from the first practice to the
victory podium, at
https://flosports.link/aft.
FOX Sports coverage
of the Lima Half-Mile,
featuring in-depth features and
thrilling onboard cameras, will
premiere on FS1
on Saturday, July 6,
at 10:00 a.m. ET
(7:00 a.m. PT).
For more information on
Progressive AFT visit
https://www.americanflattrack.com.
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