VOLUME 58 ISSUE 50 DECEMBER 14, 2021 P117
we were turning it and coming
through this big, tacky rough
section. He had a moment or
two through there that was pretty
big. I had the same kind of feel-
ing: 'Going through this area is
going to make me or break me.'
I started riding around it, but it
was slower, and that's when I
started to lose ground on Briar.
"So, I switched back to going
through that section again. And
right as I switched back to go
through that section, Briar had
a big, big moment. He drifted
high on the racetrack, and I
went by him.
"He was pretty much in the
midst of either gathering it up or
crashing when I last saw him.
When the red flag came out, I
figured he must have crashed.
And I came around and Sammy
[Halbert] is laying there, too. It
wasn't until after the main event
was over that I was able to see
exactly what went down.
"I'll admit it—I was digging as
deep as I could, and I know Briar
knows his limits just like I know
my limits. And maybe he was
pushing past those limits. I'm
not sure, but for me, I was like,
'Well, I've got to ride through this
section to maintain that speed.'
That's why I went back to it, but
I knew going down there and
doing what we ended up having
to do, that it could bite you. That
was the scary part of doing that.
"I'm sure from Briar's point of
view, he probably figured if he
could just survive doing that for
five more minutes, he might have
been champion. He was riding
over the edge, in my opinion.
But we all were-we had to.
That's the way it was."
Even though Mees' bike was
static during the stoppage, his
mind continued to race.
"It sucked. I could tell [Briar]
was hurting by how slow he got
up and the way he was walk-
ing. He went to come back out
and they basically said, 'No, you
can't,' and then he ended up
going out there anyway. I guess
Mees took full advantage of the
Miles late in the championship.
