ROUND 3 / APRIL 23, 2022
I-70 MOTORSPORTS PARK / ODESSA, MISSOURI
P102
FLAT TRACK I PROGRESSIVE AMERICAN FLAT TRACK
Jared Mees, Briar Bauman lock horns in Missouri
BY CHRIS MARTIN
PHOTOGRAPHY BY AFT
T
he opening two rounds of the
2022 Progressive American
Flat Track season saw the
sport's acknowledged masters, fac-
tory Indian Motorcycle teammates
Jared Mees and Briar Bauman,
each take a turn atop the podium.
That came more as an expecta-
tion than a development of note, as
the two had effectively reigned over
the premier Mission SuperTwins cat-
egory as their rivalry grew increas-
ingly heated the past few seasons.
However, what had been miss-
ing was a straight fight between the
two for top honors, as they didn't
stand on the podium together at
either Volusia Speedway Park or
Texas Motor Speedway. That was
destined to change as the series
made its maiden stop at Odessa,
Missouri's I-70 Motorsports Park,
located east of Kansas City.
The area's fans had been waiting
since the series last visited nearby
Sedalia in 2005 and deserved a
good show. The universe seemed
determined to stop it, however, as
rain, wind and a downed powerline
kept bikes off track until nearly 7:30
p.m. with more storms on the way.
The universe be damned, an
abbreviated schedule saw an entire
national summed up into a single
practice, qualifying session and
main event for each class. Fortu-
nately, the conditions made for a
racy surface and packed plenty of
punch into that short span.
2019-'20 champ Bauman ripped
away at the start, slotting JD Beach
and his newly potent MT-07 DT in
between the works Indian FTR750s
of himself and Mees.
The two title
rivals—Jared
Mees (1) and Briar
Bauman (3)—went
at in at the I-70
Half-Mile.
BACK-TO-BACK
