Cycle News

P98 Interview FLAT TRACK RACERS JARED MEES & BRYAN SMITH and we move on. It's damn nice winning 10 races—don't get me wrong—but the big picture is the number-one plate. With having Bryan on a different machine this year and maybe a little bit more competition from some other ar- eas as well, does that get your competi- tive juices going? Because you've been so dominant in the last couple years, do you look forward to that challenge? Yeah. For sure it was kind of cool for a couple years for Bryan and I to jump on the same exact bike to see how everything stacked up. It's no secret—when I was on the XR, and he was on the Kawasaki, and we were on the miles, I was at a disadvan- tage. I didn't have the straightaway speed that he had. It's not saying excuses, it's just a stone-cold fact. That Kawi was fast. It was a modern motorcycle, where the XR was 1970s technology, 30, 40 years-old technol- ogy. I feel like what we've done in the sport on that thing against the modern bikes, it was pretty incredible for our team's standpoint. Tolbert had the fastest XRs, but they had their day, and we had to move on. I think there were interviews where he said that the XR was better on some of the half-miles. Then I would do an interview and say that the Kawi was better on the miles. So, I think it was good to get on the same thing and leave all the excuses behind us and let it go. But now I think the entire time he's been on the Indian, he always felt like he was better on his Kawasaki. So, I guess now it's going to be fun to try and keep the same results and prove that the Indian is the best bike and it's not the Kawa- saki. I'm not saying there's more motivation, but we're looking forward to the challenge. Has Harley approached you about coming back to their team? No. Before 2017, before I signed my Indian contract, I was approached by an indi- vidual about riding on the Vance & Hines Well, I think honestly it just kind of depends on what track we're at. I think, of course, the miles, Smith. But the TT's, Bauman and Wiles. The half-miles and some of the miles, for sure, Jeffrey Carver. So, it just kind of depends on track to track. Brandon Robinson is probably going to have some solid finishes this year, as well, getting back on an Indian. I think overall for the championship I think it's going to be Carver. Carver and Bauman are my picks. I think going in, most people would consider you the favorite. What kind of approach do you take going into this season? Pretty much the same approach to the last couple. Just put in the work in the off-season and approach each race indi- vidually and do the best I can in each race and move on. The goal is to go and win as many races as I can, but more importantly, it's to win the champion- ship. So, I guess at the end of the year if I only win four races or three races and I still win the number-one plate, we got the job done, The landscape is changing a little bit with Bryan doing the Kawasaki thing, and Yamaha getting a little bit more in- volved. Who do you look at this year as maybe your primary competition? Smith is eager to fight and get the AFT championship back. Not saying it's going to be easy by any means, but I think we'll be more in the hunt on the Kawasaki than I was on the Indian on the half-miles. – Bryan Smith

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