outlook in a hurry.
Former champ Mees did his part in his
ongoing effort to reclaim the throne. He
outlasted a six-rider scrap that stuck to-
gether deep into Sunday's Springfield Mile I,
ultimately beating Bauman in a one-on-one
showdown to the flag by 0.116 seconds.
Third-ranked Brandon Robinson seemed
capable of playing the spoiler but just lost
touch with the draft on the final lap, rounding
out the podium another 0.205-seconds back.
It's safe to say Bauman was less than
impressed by the tactics of fellow factory
Indian star Mees. In his podium interview,
Bauman said, "I can't believe how bad
that dude rides us out there. His bike is so
quick, and he just swerves at us. I don't
want to lose any of my friends. We're having
good, clean racing and the dude is swerv-
ing at everyone."
Mees responded to the tense ceremony
by blowing the field away in Monday's
Springfield Mile II. He built up more than
eight second's distance over a five-rider
pack disputing second before a late red flag
erased the advantage in an instant.
Undeterred, Mees gapped the field yet
again with just two minutes to work with, los-
ing first position to Coolbeth-Nila Racing's
Sammy Halbert only briefly before resuming
his crushing performance at the front.
Mees said, "After the chatter that Briar
had up on the podium last night, I just
figured today I'd drop the hammer and really
put some distance on them to where I could
do whatever I wanted out there."
Bauman again did well to minimize the
damage, although Halbert cost him a few
more points by dropping him to third.
Meanwhile, the aforementioned wild card
threat largely failed to materialize—at least
on a championship-bending scale. Carver
was plenty quick but the Happy Trails Rac-
ing rider suffered a mechanical on Sunday
VOLUME 58 ISSUE 36 SEPTEMBER 8, 2021 P75
MYOWNRACE
1 BRIAR BAUMAN
2ND-3RD SUPERTWINS
Reigning Grand Na onal Champion Briar
Bauman is s ll trying to unlock the secrets
of the Springfield Mile but did well to col-
lect second- and third-place finishes. A er
finishing third in Monday's melee, he said,
"That race was hec c. I got shuffled back,
there was a red, and Jared checked out.
He smoked us, but we survived and came
away with two podiums at Springfield,
which is really rare for me. I want to win
here, eventually. On to Sacramento."
on the front to get us to catch up. I think
if me and Briar were running in front of
Sammy, we could have stayed with him.
All-and-all, it was good fun. With two to
go I tried some side jobs and cut off some
real estate and missed my mark. And then
going into (turn) three I tried another hay-
maker and clipped the rear of Briar's re
and almost went into the air fence."
51 COLE ZABALA
5TH-4TH AFT SINGLES
Honda runner Cole Zabala con nued his
hot form with a pair of top fives—including
a run up from the back of the field a er
coming together with teammate Trevor
Brunner that forced a red flag. Zabala
said, "The mains went good. We had a bit
of a racing incident in the second main
