P102
Interview
AFT TWINS CHAMPION JARED MEES
THE RACING
Although the numbers were pretty much on par, it was a
different season for Mees. A season where he pretty much
steamrolled his way through the first half, but had some con-
troversy early on and some misfortune at the end. Still, when
the dust settled, Mees was happy with 2018.
"I would say that year-for-year, they were pretty on par,"
Mees said. "Obviously, last year I missed one podium due to
jumping the start at Lima. This year I missed a couple podi-
ums—Peoria, and the bike breaking at Minnesota—and then
the whole Atlanta thing. So I guess podium-wise it was a little
bit better last year, but I think, honestly, this year I was more
dominant. I was straight out of the gate this year and was able
to clinch the championship earlier than last year. So I was
very happy with the season for the most part."
He did make a big statement in his title defense with anoth-
er win at the Daytona TT, the series' season opener, but then
was mired in controversy at round two in Atlanta. His race win
"Whatever they
found on the tire that
day wasn't something
that my team or my-
self put in there."
at the Atlanta Short Track was taken
away after getting disqualified for "tire
doping." It was a big blow to take early
on and if he let it mess with his head, it
could have easily derailed his forward
march on the season. But not Mees.
He took the punch, put his head down
and went back to winning, first at
Texas and then he went on to win nine
of the next 11 races.
Mees is more about looking for-
ward, but the tire scandal still hangs
over his head. "It still bums me out,"
he says. "I still would like to know
more about it, honestly. Obviously,
no one's going to sit here and believe
me, so it's like, 'Yeah, okay, what-
ever, here we go.' But the thing is,
whatever they found on the tire that
day wasn't something that my team or
myself put in there. We got accused
of that years ago and obviously the
season we had last year and the sea-
son we had this year—why would we
It was another
dominant AFT
Twins season
for Mees with 10
wins and another
Grand National
Championship.
