Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1494803
It was a similar story in the Parts Unlimited AFT Singles class, where four different brands earned top-six finishes, three of which fought their way to the podium. It was only appropriate then, that the riders who stole the show were a pair of teenagers—Dallas Daniels and Kody Kopp—who have long been identified as the future of the sport. That future is now. However, it was actually Royal Enfield's Johnny Lewis who charged out to the early lead in the opening laps of the Daytona Short Track I main event. He was followed closely by Briar Bauman who made a stunning debut aboard the Rick Ware Racing Parts Plus KTM 890 Duke, Mission Roof Systems' Indian FTR750-armed Brandon Robinson, and Estenson Racing Yamaha ace Daniels. That diversity wasn't illusory ei- ther. Six different makes of equip- ment scored points, four different makes qualified for the Mission Challenge and thus earned a front- row grid position, and three differ - ent makes landed on the podium. ROUNDS 1-2 / MARCH 9-11, 2023 DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY / DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA FLAT TRACK I PROGRESSIVE AMERICAN FLAT TRACK P100 MYOWNRACE 10 JOHNNY LEWIS 8-10 SUPERTWINS Any doubts that the Royal Enfield Twins FT could be competitive in the Mission SuperTwins class, at least under the right conditions, were immediately put to rest. Moto Anatomy X Powered by Royal Enfield's Johnny Lewis won a heat race, led a handful of premier-class main-event laps, and scored a pair of top 10s. After Thursday's opener, he said, "I joked all day that I felt like a rookie, coming back into this class after being in the production class the last three years developing this bike. In the main, I lined up next to Dallas Daniels, who had been a prodigy of mine since he was 10 years old. It was the first national we actually raced against each other. I was able to pull the holeshot on him, so at least I have that on him. Half- way through we were having some brake issues, which was messing up getting into the corners. I knew I was slow and a couple guys got past me, then Sammy [Halbert] flat-out ran my foot over and cleaned me out. It was frustrating. Luckily, we were able to regroup and line back up. We got another good start and got up to eighth, which was cool." It was a very promising weekend for Dallas and his Estenson Yamaha team. Defending champ Jared Mees (1) and Davis Fisher (67) went at it Saturday night. Fisher got on the podium in third; Mees just missed out getting on the box both nights.