Mees had used for some high-
speed exhibition laps in her
capacity as the event's Grand
Marshal the day before.
Over the course of Sunday—
and with some input from friend-
turned-bitter-rival-turned-friend
Mees—Smith gradually found a
setup to his liking just in time for
the main.
With Mees again torching the
Smith had struggled to come
to grips with his machinery dur-
ing his limited outings this sea-
son and the Crosley/Howerton
Motorsports rider entered his
last day of competition without
so much as a top 10 to his name
in 2021. For his final attempt,
Mees lent Smith one of his back-
up bikes—a Half Mile-biased
Indian FTR750 that wife Nichole
VOLUME 58 ISSUE 37 SEPTEMBER 14, 2021 P117
MYOWNRACE
52 SHAYNA TEXTER-
BAUMAN 2ND-3RD AFT
SINGLES
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing's Shayna
Texter-Bauman was 10 years and one day
removed from her first-ever Progressive
AFT race win on Saturday. She came up
0.024 seconds short of earning her 20th
that day, despite crashing in her semi
earlier in the evening. "It was a li le unfor-
tunate in the semi to get into the air fence
and have to come from the back row.
But we came through to second and got
a front-row start, and I was really happy
with that. And, wow, what a main event.
Five guys just going at it for the en re race.
I just tried to be smart and play the race
the best that I could and put myself in a
great posi on at the end to win it."
20 JAROD VANDERKOOI
2ND-4TH SUPERTWINS
Mission Roof Systems' Jarod Vanderkooi
was in need of a bounce-back perfor-
mance a er electrical issues halted a
nine-race streak of top fives the weekend
before in Springfield. Vanderkooi put
himself right back up front in Sacramento.
He equaled his career-best finish with a
second on Saturday and then backed it up
