his only defeat during that span
at the 2019 Peoria TT.
"For me, I've won 'races,' but
now I feel like I've won a flat
track race," Beach said. "This
race is historic—all the others
were like Super TTs or one-offs
with asphalt. Those were awe-
some, but to win Peoria. Wow.
I've had a lot of good times here
and this was one track as a kid I
always wanted to race at.
"Once the race got going, I had
Briar right on me the whole race.
He's a two-time champion and
riding so good. To have him there
the whole time, I was nervous. But
we got it done. It feels so good."
son put the Rackley Racing
Indian FTR750 fifth in front of his
home crowd after starting from
the back of the pack.
Early-season title contender
Brandon Robinson finished in
eighth, marking his third result of
seventh or lower in his last four
attempts. As a result, he's better
positioned to defend third from
Vanderkooi and Beach than he
is to push Bauman and Mees for
the title, although that aforemen-
tioned run of Miles could simi-
larly work in his favor.
For Beach, the win is his
fourth in the series' most recent
five TTs, while also making up for
Mees right back into the podium
mix, however, and he took full
advantage.
The multi-time GNC champion
reclaimed the position with three
laps remaining and then held
strong to the flag.
In doing so, he helped his
championship outlook in a small
way that could prove much big-
ger soon enough. Bauman leads
Mees by a healthy 25-point mar-
gin. However, Mees has shown
the capacity to tear through the
Miles and there are four such
high-speed showdowns lined up
next on the schedule.
Hard-charging Robert Pear-
ROUND 11 / AUGUST 22, 2021
PMC PARK / PEORIA, ILLINOIS
P82
FLAT TRACK I PROGRESSIVE AMERICAN FLAT TRACK
Third-place
Jared Mees lost
a little ground to
championship
leader Bauman.
