Cycle News

FLAT TRACK AMERICAN FLAT TRACK CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 2/MARCH 23, 2019 DIXIE SPEEDWAY/WOODSTOCK, GEORGIA P68 iii My Own Race: 44 BRANDON ROBINSON 1ST AFT TWINS Brandon Robinson hid his strength to the end. "Timing was everything," said Rob- inson. "Jared is one of the smartest, toughest competitors on the circuit. I knew if I showed my cards too early, he could make a countermove and try to get me back. I just waited. I moved around a little bit to see where it was hooking up and where all the traction was. About halfway, I knew I had something for him. I didn't want to make the pass too early. I didn't want to have him retaliate, so I waited for the five laps to go. I saw a little mistake, and I just made my move. I rolled around on the outside. I just put my head down after that. I just charged to the finish line." 1 JARED MEES 2ND AFT TWINS "The tire started getting warm and kind of greasy. I heard him more and more," said Jared Mees of Robinson's attack. "We made a last-minute call before the main event to go with a different tire. It was the right call, but we just screwed up on a couple small things. I feel like we could have been a little bit better, but he rode a great race and hat's off to him. It was a huge rebound from last week. We just had some terrible luck. We were able to get back on the podium tonight. We are going in the right direction. I felt like I rode pretty consistent the whole time. I knew the back end was starting to get greasy and loose. It's definitely a technical track. Brandon has always shown big strength on these types of tracks. It will be good to get a bit of a break. I'm excited to start a streak again, that's for sure." 14 BRIAR BAUMAN 3RD AFT TWINS "We were on the pole and had a great starting spot," said last week's winner, Briar Bauman. "The team and I made some decisions to change some things before the main event that were pretty big. We, unfortunately, put ourselves in a hole. We thought the track was going to go in a little different direction than it did. All in all, about two or three laps into it, I thought it was game over. I figured we were really go- ing to struggle. To be able to come back and get a third, after the changes we made and where we were at, is great. I think we capitalized on a racetrack that we usually struggle on. We were fast all day. It was just a few changes that we made that just put us back. The biggest change we made was the tire. It finally came in [too late]. It's kind of a bummer because we were catching the leaders there at the end. It's just one of those deals. These race tracks are tricky to figure out, especially this red Georgia clay. Once we found our good lines and the tire came in, we were able to really roll through." 5 JAKE JOHNSON 16TH AFT TWINS "It was a tough day right from the get-go," said Estenson Racing's Jake Johnson who finished third at the Daytona TT. "The track was slick right off the bat. It looked like they had a lot of moisture in it but we went out for the track walk, and I was like, 'man, this thing is going to get slick quick,' and it did. Everybody was thinking the sun goes down, moisture comes up, but it just didn't happen. It seemed like it just got slicker and slicker as the night went on. The main event started out okay. Got a decent start and kind of dove to the bottom and was just kind of riding in the fresh dirt where really no- body had ridden all day. It seemed like I was close to the top 10, at one point, but each lap, I could see that line just getting blacker and blacker and blacker. After about lap eight, 10, no matter where I went on the track, it felt like I was on ice. I kind of moved all over the track, tried a lot of different things, and it didn't seem to help me. I just steadily went backward." 122 DALTON GAUTHIER 1ST AFT SINGLES "It's a crazy feeling after I have been out for two seasons," said Dalton Gauthier. "I won here in 2017 and thought I could do some damage today, honestly. I was fast qualifier, won the heat race and won my semi. Then I got the holeshot, led every lap, and won the main. It's a pretty awesome feeling. I can't thank my tuner, Rob McLen- don, enough for everything he's done for me."

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