VOLUME 59 ISSUE 7 FEBRUARY 15, 2022 P85
AGENT SMITH
Unsurprisingly, identifying and
solving the underlying issues
driving these disconcerting
trends has been of utmost prior-
ity for the management staff and
tech department at AMA Pro
Racing for some time now.
Progressive AFT made some
aggressive adjustments to the
rulebook midway through last
season in hopes of finding a bet-
ter balance between the pur-
pose-built FTR750 and its street
bike-based competition.
Despite the midseason course
correction, word around the pad-
dock was the well-funded and
high-profile Estenson Racing
effort—with support from Yamaha
Racing—had seen enough and
was prepared to park its MT-07
DTs and go find another racing
series to participate in for 2022.
That same weekend Bryan
Smith ended his magnificent
career in style. Smith, who won
the final Grand National Cham-
pionship of the pre-FTR era in
2016 on a Ricky Howerton-built
Kawasaki Ninja 650, had fol-
lowed an interesting career path
ever since.
Along with Howerton, Smith
helped usher in the new era of
Indian dominance, hired by the
brand to bring over his talents
(and the number-one plate) as
the marque returned to the flat
track scene with its first factory
effort since the 1950s. Over the
next two seasons, Smith would
guide the fledgling FTR750 to
seven race victories and a cham-
pionship runner-up.
He and Howerton spent the
following three seasons in a diffi-
cult and largely unsuccessful bid
to defeat that same beast as its
ranks exploded in numbers—first
back on a Kawasaki-powered
machine, then on a factory
Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson
XG750R, and finally with an
FTR750 mill slotted inside a
Howerton-designed chassis.
Following those frustrations
and hoping to end his career on
a brighter note, Smith asked old
friend-turned-bitter-rival-turned-
old-friend-again Mees for a favor.
That favor resulted in one final
vintage performance from the
"Mile Master" in Sacramento
aboard Mees' spare FTR750.
Smith finished on the podium as
runner-up while boosting Mees'
ultimately triumphant champion-
ship campaign in the process.
Right now, if you're not on
an Indian in the SuperTwins
division, odds are strong
you're not going to win. Is
this good for the sport?
