tact at the checkered flag, while
Lewis charged his way back up
to eighth after restarting from
the back of the grid.
Race winner Daniels said, "I
grew up watching the other guys
on the podium win here. They
were my heroes. And now I want
to beat those guys. It's very
rewarding."
Reigning Grand National
Champion Jared Mees and
fellow title hopeful JD Beach
finished fourth and fifth, respec
-
tively, but only after taking full
advantage of the late break—the
way that legitimate champion
-
ship contenders always seem to
do. Prior to that, Mees had run
as low as 12th, while Beach was
stuck in ninth for much of the
contest.
Robinson worked his way
past Bauman and then Lewis
to take the lead, threatening to
check out in the process. Once
Daniels slashed his way to sec
-
ond, he gobbled up Robinson's
near second advantage and
ultimately executed a late strike
for the lead.
With two laps remaining,
a top-three finishing order of
Daniels-Robinson-Bauman
seemed assured, at least until
Martin Trucking/Castrol-backed
Sammy Halbert ran his Yamaha
up the inside of Lewis' Royal En
-
field, knocking Lewis down while
he ran inside the top five.
The incident brought out a
late red flag and the potential for
drama. Despite this, the top three
survived with their positions in
-
VOLUME ISSUE MARCH , P101
1 JARED MEES
4-4 SUPERTWINS
Rogers Racing/Factory Indian star
Jared Mees left Daytona with a pair
of fourths, one of which could have
been considerably worse and one
that could have slightly better had
things gone a bit differently. While
not the dream start to his Mission
SuperTwins championship defense,
Mees' '22 title campaign was built on
a similar sort of consistency and he's
sure to have stronger races ahead.
"This place is frustrating for me," he
said. "To walk out of here with two
top fives, I'm pretty pumped on that.
Obviously, everyone trains really
hard and focuses on this one to come
in and win. But after practice today,
I was ready to go home. So, to get
fourth is good… I kind of felt I gave a
podium away, being too cautious and
not riding hard. Davis [Fisher] snuck
it around the outside. All-in-all, pretty
solid weekend. Really happy to get
out here and get going."
48 TRENT LOWE
4-4 SINGLES
American Honda/Mission Foods'
newcomer Trent Lowe earned a pair
of fourths in his team debut, includ-
ing one in which he missed out on
the podium by just 0.084 of a second.
MYOWNRACE
