THAT'S
FLAT TRACK
AMERICAN FLAT TRACK CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 18 / OCTOBER 6, 2018
MEADOWLANDS / EAST RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY
P92
BY DAVE HOENIG
PHOTOGRAPHY BY FLAT TRAK FOTOS
T
he 2018 American Flat Track season came
to an electrifying conclusion on a cool damp
evening at the Meadowlands Sports Com-
plex, which sits just across the river from New York
City. It was the first time the cushion mile oval ever
hosted a motorcycle race, and by the size of the
crowd of spectators and the quality of the racing,
probably not the last.
Bryan Smith capped off the 2018 with his third
win in the last four races and capped off his last
ride on the Indian team with a win, as well, later
announcing he would be returning to his old Kawa-
saki team for next year.
A light sprinkle delayed the start of practice and
caused a couple of minor delays through the night,
but never really had much effect on the racing sur-
face. The main problem was poor visibility at 120 mph.
Both the AFT Singles and AFT Twins mains
came down to last-lap passes deciding the win-
ner. Smith (Indian Motorcycle/Allstate Motorcycle
Insurance Indian Scout FTR750) got the holeshot
in the 25-five lap Twins main, but he had 2018 AFT
Twins Champion Jared Mees (Indian Motorcycle/
Rogers Racing Indian Scout FTR750) and Chad
Cose (Indian Motorcycle of Oklahoma City/Engle-
hart Research & Technology Indian Scout FTR750)
close behind.
Kenny Coolbeth (Team Nila Racing/Columbia
Avionics Indian Scout FTR750), who was making
Bryan Smith caps off 2018
season with Meadowlands win,
then announces he's going
back to Kawasaki for 2019
