Nine races into the 2017 American Flat Track season, someone not named Smith or Mees has won an AFT Twins national event. The betting line was that Sammy Halbert and his Estenson Racing Yamaha FZ-07 would be the rider to stop the Indian dominance, but it was Zanotti Racing’s Briar Bauman who upset the apple cart during this weekend’s Lima Half Mile at the Allen County Fairgrounds.
Since Baumann’s fourth-place finish at round two the team has had mixed results at best, with several mechanical issues, but it all came together at Lima.
“I can’t even put it in to words,” Bauman said after the race. “I’m just really proud to get this win. I put a lot into it. I can’t thank the team enough for believing in me, and Dave Zanotti for giving me the opportunity. I’ve broken, I think, four or five times this season. We would leave the track, and he (Zanotti) would be stressing. We would be pretty fast throughout the day and break. I owe all this to him. He would be all week long and not sleeping and work on the bikes nonstop. Dave, Bill Werner and Michelle Disalvo just work their tails off.”
AFT Twins
While Bauman didn’t get the holeshot in the 25-lap Lima National, it didn’t take long for him to dispatch early leader Henry Wiles (Willy Built/Mad Dog Racing Kawasaki) and Jeffrey Carver (Ben Evans Racing/Carver’s BBQ Kawasaki) and pull to a comfortable lead. Brad Baker (Indian Motorcycle/Allstate Insurance) had a rough start to the race and had to work his way from sixth to second where he and Halbert were fighting it out.
A red flag for Dustin Crow’s turn two accident would change a lot. While Crow was able to rejoin the race, Halbert’s Yamaha suffered a terminal mechanical failure and his race was over. Bauman nailed the restart and once again pulled away.
“It’s hard not to be nervous about a restart, but I knew I had a big gap,” Bauman said. “I thought if anybody was going to get up there and mix it up, it was going to be Brad and Sammy. Whenever you have a red you just think, ‘Oh no, I wish I could just keep that thing rolling.’ Luckily I got a good start and got through that.”
The restart found Baker and Carver locked in what was the best race of the year.
“Briar just ran a great race, he did an amazing job,” Baker said. “He was riding like an animal, right up against the top. I didn’t really have anything for them. Jeffrey [Carver] and I started racing. He would pass me and come up the inside [and] I would kind of let off and cut to the inside. We high-lowed each other probably every single lap after the restart. Jeff and I grew up racing together. He’s a guy you can really trust. It was good fun racing with him. Unfortunately it was for second and not for first.”
Davis Fisher (Bob Lanphere/Beaverton Motorcycles Kawasaki) made a last-lap pass on Wiles to finish fourth, his best AFT Twins finish ever. Wiles was fifth while defending series champion Bryan Smith (Indian Motorcycle/Allstate Insurance) was a short distance back in sixth. Smith’s sixth place finish was good enough to move him back into the AFT Twins points lead.
Entering the day, factory Oklahoma City Mile winner and Lima event promoter Jared Mees held a narrow advantage in the points battle, but a rare miscue in his semi (actually two mistakes) left Mees on the outside looking in come main event time. Mees jumped the start and was sent to the fourth row penalty line. When the 10-lap race did get underway, Mees worked his way up to fourth and looked to be main-event bound. In a post-race review it was determined that Mees had also jumped the second start and per the rule book was assessed a 10-second penalty. That placed Mees 11th, two away from the transfer. Under the new format, there are no provisional starts in the main, which meant that Mees’ night was over.
“It was my fault; there’s no one to blame but myself,” Mees said. “The rulebook is clear as day, black and white. They added 10 seconds to my time, and that pushed me out of the main event. It’s very unfortunate. My wife and I promoted the heck out of this event, and I definitely wanted to be out there racing. I felt awesome in the semi, but rules are rules, and that’s the way it is.”
Smith now holds a five-point lead over Mees. Both are well ahead of their teammate, Baker, who is 50 points behind Smith.
AFT Singles
In Lima AFT Singles action the main event was all Parker Norris (Racin’ Jason Promotions/Wittkopp Racing Honda) as he led all 15 laps. Norris also had to endure a restart as the race was topped on lap seven when Jesse Janisch fell in turn three. Norris wasn’t as dominant after the stoppage.
“We were going good the whole race until the restart,” Norris said. “I was struggling a little after that. On the last lap Kevin (Stollings) started gaining on me big time.”
Stollings (Ben Evans Racing/Dave’s Cycle s Honda) ran Norris down and ran out of laps at the same time, coming up just .155 of a second short of the race win. Kyle Johnson (Parkinson Brothers Racing Honda) filled out the podium over 4 seconds back.
Th AFT Singles points race is still led by Shayna Texter (Richie Morris Racing/McElroy Packaging Honda), who worked her way up to a sixth-place finish. Brandon Price is now in second, 22 behind Texter. Kolby Carlile came into the day in second place but had the misfortune to lose his exhaust pipe while running away with his semi and miss going to the main. Carlile is just two points behind Price.
2017 American Flat Track Series
Lima Half Mile presented by Indian Motorcycle
Allen County Fairgrounds
Lima, Ohio
Results: June 24, 2017 (Round 9 of 18)
AFT Twins Main
1. Briar Bauman-Kaw
2. Brad Baker-Ind
3. Jeffrey Carver Jr.-Kaw
4. Davis Fisher-Kaw
5. Henry Wiles-Kaw
6. Bryan Smith-Ind
7. Ryan Wells-HD
8. Brandon Robinson-HD
9. Johnny Lewis-Duc
10. Bronson-Bauman-Kaw
11. Chad Cose-Kaw
12. Justin Jones-Kaw
13. Mikey Rush-Yam
14. Nick Armstong-Yam
15. Jeffrey Lowery-Kaw
16. Shawn Baer-KTM
17. Dustin Crow-HD
18. Sammy Halbert-Yam
AFT Singles Main
1. Parker Norris-Hon
2. Kevin Stollings-Hon
3. Kyle Johnson-Hon
4. John Vanderlaan-Hon
5. Brandon Price-Kaw
6. Shayna Texter-Hon
7. Ben Lowe-Hon
8. Wyatt Anderson-KTM
9. Morgen Mischler-Hon
10. Cameron Smith-Hon
11. Oliver Brindley-Kaw
12. Tristan Avery-Hon
13. Shane O’Banion-Hon
14. Jeremiah Duffy-Hon
15. Dave Pouliot-Kaw
16. Nicholas Myers-Hon
17. Jesse Janisch-Yam
18. William Kent-KTM
For more results, visit www.amaprolive.com/ft
Your Privacy Choices