VOL. 56 ISSUE 11 MARCH 19, 2019 P83
NOTABLE NON-
QUALIFIER
JD Beach didn't make it to the
Twins main event after crashing
in his semi. "It was a good day for
sure leading up to the semi, but I
just made a mistake with the front
brake," said JD Beech. "I think the
track kind of caught me off-guard
because the moisture started to
come up a little bit, and I lost the
front. We got the bike back going
again, but of course, by then I was
too far back. We'll just try again
next weekend."
TEXTER SPECTATES
Shayna Texter made her Red Bull
KTM debut in the Singles class,
but she didn't make it past the
heats. "Today was a little bit of a
challenging day for me," Texter
said. "I felt like I've made a lot
of progress compared to other
TT races in the past. One of the
things I worked on a lot in the
off-season was jumping, and I felt
really strong off the jump. I was
struggling a little bit through the
dirt track sections, which is a little
bit unusual for me, but the track
was rough, and I experienced
a little bit of tank slapping. But
overall, it gives us a good base
to improve on from here on out,
and I'm looking forward to Atlanta.
I feel like I have a great bike and
a great team behind me and I'm
ready to go racing ovals!"
WARD'S FLAT TRACK
DEBUT
Former Pro Motocross/AMA
Supercross Champion and Indy
Car driver Jeff Ward attempted his
first professional flat track race.
He had some promising moments.
He rode his Blackmore Ranch/
Monster Energy-backed KTM 450
SX-F to 24th in timed qualifying.
He then grabbed second place
in his heat race. Unfortunately for
him and his many fans, an 11th-
place finish in his semi ended his
night prematurely.
NUMBER-ONE
HOOLIGAN
Along with being the event's Grand
Marshall, Roland Sands added
his Super Hooligans Series to the
festivities. Former Grand National
Champion Joe Kopp powered his
Latus Motors Triumph/Estenson
Racing-backed Triumph 900 to
the win. Defending series Champi-
on Andrew DiBrino (H-D) finished
a close second. Ben Ludlow (H-D)
led Johnny Murphree (Indian) and
Chris McDougal (H-D) filling out
the top five.
TWINS ENTRIES
DOWN
The third year of the Daytona TT
saw a drastic fall in entries in the
AFT Twins class. Only 25 riders
entered, which is down 12 from
last year. The AFT Singles class,
however, remained about the
same with 64 entries, one more
than last year.
ROOKIES
At round one, there were only two
rookies in the AFT Twins class,
Kolby Carlile (Estenson Racing)
and Brandon Price (Roof Systems).
Both made their first AFT Twins
main, with Price finishing 13th, and
Carlile finishing 16th after dropping
out while in sixth place.
Briefly...
