DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.
(July 6, 2024) – Reigning
Grand National Champion
Jared Mees (No. 1
Rogers Racing/SDI Racing/Indian
Motorcycle FTR750) demonstrated
his Mile mastery yet again with
a victory in Saturday night’s
Memphis Shades DuQuoin
Mile, Round 10 of the
2024 Progressive
American Flat Track season,
sanctioned by AMA Pro
Racing.
The Mission AFT
SuperTwins Main Event
at the “Magic Mile” was a
race-long struggle of nerves and
consistency. Mees attempted
throughout to shake loose at the
front while a three-rider pack
of pursuers consisting of
Dallas Daniels
(No. 32 Estenson Racing Yamaha
MT-07 DT), Brandon Price
(No. 92 Memphis Shades/Sody
Ent/OTBR Yamaha MT-07), and
Briar Bauman
(No. 3 Rick Ware
Racing/KTM/Parts Plus KTM 790
Duke) did everything in their
collective power to prevent that
eventuality from playing out.
Daniels’ early strategy was to
keep Mees corralled the best he
could, continually running
underneath him on corner
entrance in hopes of limiting
the Indian star’s opportunity to
run with clear air in front of
him.
Ultimately, the Estenson Racing
ace was riding a tightrope in
those efforts, and once Mees
finally managed to maintain the
lead for a full lap, he
stretched open those crucial
couple of tenths he needed to
grasp a firm grip on the race.
While he was unable to make an
escape, the trio of contenders
behind were also unable to draw
back near enough to make any
further assaults from that point
forward.
That nearly changed when
Dalton Gauthier’s (No.
79 Moto Anatomy X Powered by
Royal Enfield 650) bike broke
with less than a minute
remaining, resulting in a thick
cloud of smoke that settled in
across the track. The lack of
visibility forced Mees to check
up ever so slightly, allowing
Daniels to close from more than
a half-second back to just 0.234
seconds with only two laps
remaining to decide the winner.
Mees stayed calm and regrouped
to eked back out to a
0.389-second margin of victory
at the flag. While unable to
pull off the upset, Daniels did
execute his secondary mission of
minimizing any damage done to
his championship hopes by
holding on for second.
The victory was the 75th of
Mees’ record-breaking career,
moving him to within three of
second-placed Chris Carr.
It also elevated his career Mile
wins mark to 28, just one behind
Carr for second in the
discipline as well.
“It felt really good, just to
feel good again, honestly,” Mees
said. “The bike worked really
good from the start, and we knew
coming in here we were going to
be a big player. The Rogers
Racing/SDI
Insulation/Progressive Insurance
Indian Motorcycle was really
strong tonight. Big thanks to
everyone… So many great people
are big contributors to our
success. I had a lot of fun
tonight, for sure.”
Price earned his second podium
of the season in third, just
0.055 seconds back of Daniels,
while Bauman finished fourth
less than a quarter of a second
further in arrears.
Davis Fisher
(No. 67 Rackley Racing/Bob
Lanphere’s BMC Racing Indian
FTR750) edged rookies
Declan Bender (No. 70
GOMR/BriggsAuto.com/Martin
Trucking Indian FTR750) and
Trevor Brunner
(No. 21 Mission Foods/Zanotti
Racing Indian FTR750) for fifth
in a fight that took place
approximately six seconds behind
the lead group.
Meanwhile, Brandon
Robinson (No. 44
Mission Roof Systems Indian
FTR750) suffered a blow to his
title efforts in eighth, with
Cameron Smith
(No. 34 RVR/KTM/Schaefer’s
Motorsport KTM 790 Duke) and
Jarod Vanderkooi (No.
20 JMC Motorsports/Fairway Ford
Ohio Indian FTR750) rounding out
the top ten.
The race served as a fitting
conclusion the week-long
celebration of motorcycle dirt
track racing at the
DuQuoin State Fairgrounds in
DuQuoin, Illinois, that also saw
the sport’s future stars crowned
at the 2024 Mission
Foods AMA Flat Track Grand
Championship, sanctioned
by the American
Motorcyclist Association,
before the greatest riders of
today took centerstage to put on
a show.
2018 Nicky Hayden AMA
Flat Track Horizon Award
winner Daniels now leads 2001
Nicky Hayden AMA Flat
Track Horizon Award
winner Mees 216 to 197 in the
fight for the 2024 Grand
National Championship. Robinson
was relegated to third at 186.
Parts Unlimited AFT
Singles presented by KICKER
Chase Saathoff (No.
88 JPG Motorsports Honda
CRF450R) finally pulled it off.
After finishing less than 0.1
seconds from victory in the most
recent five Parts
Unlimited AFT Singles presented
by KICKER Mile Main
Events, the JPG Motorsports
pilot took Saturday’s win by an
official 0.001 seconds following
ten minutes and two laps of epic
pack-war action.
The high drama actually got
underway even before the race
itself did. Double defending
champion Kody Kopp
(No. 1 Rick Ware Racing/Parts
Plus KTM 450 SX-F) lost his
chain during the citing lap,
threatening his participation in
the race while promising to
leave his hard-earned points
lead in tatters.
While Kopp’s Rick Ware Racing
crew frantically worked to fit a
new chain in the Turn 4 area,
the field blasted off and worked
its way around to complete the
opening lap.
Kopp was finally released into
the fray one lap down, but his
incredibly bad luck was swapped
out for some incredibly good
luck when a red flag was thrown
as a result of debris on the
racing line. That led to a
complete restart, which put Kopp
back in the fight and back on
the lead lap, albeit forced to
start from the back of the pack
after failing to line up on the
grid for the original start.
At the restart, Saathoff resumed
his battle for first with the
likes of Tom Drane (No.
59 Estenson Racing Yamaha
YZ450F), James Ott (No.
19 1st Impressions Race Team
Husqvarna FC450), and
Trent Lowe (No. 48
American Honda/Mission Foods
CRF450R), among several others.
However, Kopp made the most of
his second opportunity, powering
his way all the way up from 18th
and into the lead in the span of
seven laps.
A 12-rider lead pack slowly
whittled its way down to six by
the time the clock hit zero.
That was immediately reduced to
five when race leader Lowe
encountered a mechanical issue
of his own moments after taking
the two-to-go flags.
On the decisive final
circulation, Kopp blew up
pre-race favorite Drane’s
last-lap strategy, pushing him
up the track ever so slightly
where the Aussie lost his drive
and drifted back to fourth. Kopp
then zeroed in on Saathoff, and
the KTM-mounted champ very
nearly pulled off the
last-to-first win, coming up
mere millimeters short of edging
ahead of his opponent’s Honda as
they stormed over the line.
While it was technically
Saathoff’s second career
victory, it was the first time
he actually did so under live
action with the checkered flag
waving.
Afterward, he said, “The main
thing for me was to focus on my
job, and I had to have a
gameplan the whole day. But that
entire Main Event, I didn’t know
what the heck was going on. I
didn’t know if I should try to
lead or make a pass at the
finish. Towards the end, I came
around Turn 3 and I was leading,
and I thought, ‘I’m just gonna
do it!’ It was a crazy race. I
can’t thank everyone enough… I’m
so happy I got to take the
victory lap with Bryan
(Bigelow). That meant the world
to me.”
Third place went to Ott – his
first podium of the season –
just 0.044 seconds off the win
and 0.044 seconds ahead of
Drane. Fifth was taken by
impressive rookie Evan
Kelleher (No. 131
Schaefers Motorsports/South
Shore Design KTM 450 SX-F), who
slugged it out with the best
riders in the class to finish
just 0.204 seconds off the win.
Kopp’s potential championship
catastrophe was not only
avoided, he actually maintained
his pre-race advantage of 32
points, only now with Saathoff
back in second (225-193) and
Drane falling to third at 188.
Next Up:
Progressive American Flat Track
will return to action on Sunday,
July 28, with the World
Famous SC2 Peoria TT presented
by Backyards Saloon at
the Peoria Motorcycle
Club in Peoria,
Illinois. Visit
https://www.tixr.com/groups/peoriamotorcycleclub/events/peoria-tt-2024-80043
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 Memphis Shades
DuQuoin Mile, featuring
in-depth features and thrilling
onboard cameras, will premiere
on FS1 on
Sunday, July 14,
at 12:00 p.m. ET
(9:00 a.m. PT).
For more information on
Progressive AFT visit
https://www.americanflattrack.com.
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