American Motorcycle Dealer AMD 216 July 2017 | Page 10
Indian ‘Wrecking Crew’ in AFT Twins
by Vance & Hines series 1-2-3 after
9 rounds; Smith leads Mees by 5 points
The American Flat Track Twins
presented by Vance & Hines race series
has continued to provide quality racing,
but so far also continued to provide
Indian Motorcycle with a race
dominance platform.
Jared Mees took the win on his No. 9
Indian Motorcycle Rogers Racing Scout
FTR750 in the 7th round at the ‘Red
Mile’ at Lexington, Kentucky, (June 3)
extending the Indian ‘Wrecking Crew’
win streak to seven from seven since
the series started at Daytona in March.
At Lexington Harley’s XG750Rs were
fifth (Brandon Robinson), 10th (Kenny
Coolbeth Jr) and 11th (Jake Johnson).
The series then moved on to complete
its run of five mile-long races in six
weeks with a stop at the OKC Mile
presented by Indian Motorcycle in
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for round 8
on June 17.
The Indian riders scooped another
podium sweep, Mees taking a second
consecutive win, with Brad Baker (No.
6 Indian Motorcycle Racing backed by
Allstate Scout FTR750) second and
Grand National Champion Bryan Smith
(No. 1 Indian Motorcycle Racing backed
by Allstate Scout FTR750) third.
The Harley-Davidson XR750 riders
10
Photo credit American Flat Track/Scott Hunter
continued to struggle to keep up with
the pace of the Indians with Briar
Bauman 6th (Zanotti Racing/Rod Lake
Racing/WPS), Danny Elsick 11th (H-D
Statten Island/CR Motorsports),
Brandon Robinson 13th (H-D/Vance &
Hines/Speed & Strength), and Bronson
Bauman 15th (H-D Statten Island/CR
Motorsports).
From Oklahoma it was then on to the
Lima Half-Mile in Ohio on June 24 for
round 9, where Kawasaki rider Briar
Bauman finally burst the Indian bubble,
AMERICAN MOTORCYCLE DEALER - JULY 2017
ending the ‘Wrecking Crew’s’ 8-race
streak, by taking the win.
Mees was assessed a ten-second
penalty for jumping the start not once,
but twice, in his Semi. That added time
put him on the outside of the Main
Event looking in.
Bauman, the 2012 GNC Rookie of the
Year, crushed the competition in both
his Heat and Semi, storming around the
pea-gravel on the high line with
apparent ease, doing much the same in
the Main Event, taking the win by a
2.793 second margin of victory after
tangling with a lapper on the final of the
25 laps, bringing Harley-Davidson's 21-
race unbeaten streak at the Lima
Half-Mile (Mees’ home track) to a halt
in the process.
Brad Baker (No. 6 Indian Motorcycle
Racing backed by Allstate Scout
FTR750) was second, with Jeffrey
Carver Jr. third (No. 23 Carver’s BBQ
Kawasaki Ninja 650), Davis Fisher 4th
and Henry Wiles 5th, both also on Ninja
650s.
Bryan Smith (No. 1 Indian Motorcycle
Racing backed by Allstate Scout
FTR750) was 6th, his worst result of
2017, but it was enough to retake
possession of the AFT Twins presented
by Vance & Hines championship lead by
five points from Mees.
The Harley-Davidson XR750s were 7th
(Ryan Wells), 8th (Brandon Robinson)
and 17th (Dustin Crow).
The series now moves on to Elbridge,
New York, (July 8) for the Rolling Wheels
Half-Mile; followed by the Harley-
Davidson Calistoga Half-Mile
(Calistoga, California July 29h – the
third of three straight mid-season Half-
Miles) before landing in South Dakota
for two races in three days during the
Sturgis Rally – The Buffalo Chip TT
presented by Indian Motorcycle
(August 6) and The Harley-Davidson
Black Hills Half-Mile at Rapid City
(August 8).
www.americanflattrack.com
Indian ‘Wrecking
Crew’ to compete
in X Games 2017
Legendary Road Racer Larry Pegram
to Join Jared Mees, Bryan Smith &
Brad Baker Aboard the Indian Scout
FTR750 at X Games’ Flat Track
Racing Event
Indian Motorcycle Racing will make
its X Games debut in its hometown
of Minneapolis on July 13. The
‘Wrecking Crew’, featuring 2015
inaugural gold medalist Bryan
Smith, 2016 gold medalist Jared
Mees and two-time bronze medalist
Brad Baker, with special guest rider
and veteran road racer Larry Pegram
to make a four strong-team piloting
Indian Scout FTR750s in pursuit of
Gold.
“It’s been an incredible season thus
fa r, which has vastly exceeded our
expectations, and having the
opportunity to compete in the X
Games in front of our hometown is
truly special,” said Reid Wilson,
Indian Motorcycle Marketing
Director. “In addition to being our
first time at X Games, this will be the
first time we have four Indian Scout
FTR750 race bikes in the field.”
“When invited to participate in the
X Games Flat Track Race, one of the
first calls I made was to Indian
Motorcycle to inquire about an
Indian Scout FTR750,” said Pegram.
“There’s no doubt the Indian Scout
FTR750 is one of the hottest stories
within all of motorsports, let alone
the flat track community.”
www.IndianMotorcycle.com
www.AMDchampionship.com