FLAT TRACK
PROGRESSIVE AMERICAN FLAT TRACK CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUNDS 11-12 / OCTOBER 3-4, 2020
DIXIE SPEEDWAY / WOODSTOCK, GEORGIA
P68
Saturday's race was also a thriller, but this
time it was a war between the veteran and
the young Price. The up-and-coming rider led
most of the race and held off a hard-charging
Mees for as long as possible. Whatever Mees
dealt him, he fired back. In his efforts to get
past the 20-year-old, Mees ended up sliding
into the wall on the back straight, bending
his foot peg into his rear brake. The veteran
regrouped and even with the damage to his
machine, made his move to the front and
held onto it for his fifth win of the season. His
efforts closed the points gap on Bauman to
12 points with four rounds remaining, Bauman
joining the duo on the podium.
"We got a good start and then here came
Brandon right up the inside right away,"
Mees said. "I'll be honest; I didn't expect
him to be the player tonight, by any means.
He's young, so I thought, 'All right, settle
in.' Then all of a sudden, he was putting his
bike exactly where I wanted to put my bike
at. I was trying to move around, and then I
hit the wall. When I hit the wall, the foot peg
got jammed up into the brake pedal. The
Mees and Halbert continued to battle for
second, but the factory Indian rider was
able to get clear and chase down Bauman.
It was another battle for the ages, this time
between championship contenders. Neither
one was willing to give an inch, but in the end
Mees came out on top by 0.308 seconds.
"It was about time for me to get back in
the hunt like that," Mees said. "I just wanted
to come in here and win. That's all I needed
to do and wanted to do. I love those kinds of
scraps like that. The last few, honestly with
the exception of the Springfield Mile, every
race this year in the SuperTwins class has
just been boring. Somebody ran away with
it. So I think that was good for the fans and
good for the sport, for sure."
All eyes were glued on the battle up front,
but the battle for third was fierce, as well.
Halbert found himself under attack from
Roof Systems of Dallas, Texas' Brandon
Price and Bauman's younger brother and
teammate Bronson. In the end, the other
Bauman won out to make it an Indian Motor-
cycle Progressive Insurance team sweep.
Brandon Price
stepped up
Saturday with
second place after
finishing fifth on
Friday.
