working, and I kept working too."
Still, as novel of a start to the
season as the Robinson-Beach
1-2 represented, a looming feeling
of inevitability came storming up
behind the two late in Friday's main.
Mees lost touch with the
leaders early in the contest after
going bar-to-bar with "Slammin'
stalked and pressured Robinson
in the main en route to a close
second-place result.
"To get back on the podium is
awesome," said Beach. "First off,
I have to thank the team. They
worked so hard and there's no
lying—last year was really tough.
They stuck with me and kept
IIIMY OWN RACE:
36 KOLBY CARLILE
(6-10) SUPERTWINS
While his Estenson Yamaha teammate
JD Beach arguably stole the show on
Friday night, Kolby Carlile's massive
improvement should not be overlooked.
His sixth-place opener comes following
a rookie season in which he never came
close to breaking into the top ten. "I'm
so happy to get my career-best finish,"
he said. "Last year, the best the bike and
I had was 13th. To be able to cut that in
half to sixth felt so good. What makes me
more excited is knowing I have more in
the tank."
VOLUME 58 ISSUE 11 MARCH 16, 2021 P77
37 BRONSON BAUMAN
(7-6) SUPERTWINS
Bronson Bauman was encouraged by his
showing in his return to independent
status a er racing for the Indian Wrecking
Crew the past two seasons. Equipment
issues prior to the event had Bauman le-
gi mately worried about even making the
grid, but he showed glimpses of returning
to his 2019 self come race day. "I feel like
I really rode how I know to ride," he said
of Saturday's sixth. "It s nks the track was
so hard to pass on. I feel like I could have
go en a lot be er result if I'd been a wee
bit more aggressive. But I wanted to keep
it clean—it's early in the season and I
wanted to make it through to the end. I'm
really happy for the team's first ou ng and
excited how we're moving forward."
