Even though its factory
presence has been scaled down
to a single entry, Indian is still
officially involved and backing
Jared Mees' title defense.
FEATURE I 2023 AMERICAN FLAT TRACK SEASON PREVIEW
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century prior, in the end, factory
Indian star Jared Mees prevailed
to retain his number-one plate.
Ideally timed to kick off its
landmark new Fox Sports linear
television deal and the resur-
rection of FansChoice.tv, what
must go down as a triumphant
2022 now sees AMA Pro Rac-
ing operating from a position of
relative strength as it looks to
translate its newfound momen-
tum into something even bigger
and sustainable.
Additional rulebook tweaks
have been introduced for 2023,
with a second wave set to fol-
low in 2024.
Last year Progressive AFT
was rebuilt. Now it reloads.
GAINING CONTROL
Any attempt to level the Mission
SuperTwins playing field—no
matter how well intended, con-
ceived or executed—wouldn't
receive the full stress test
necessary until it had a proper
control in place to prove its
experiments.
The modern history of Pro-
gressive AFT has revolved
around a sometimes-conten-
tious, and perpetually entertain-
ing, rivalry featuring reigning
champ Jared Mees and his fel-
low multi-time class king, Briar
Bauman.
Since 2019, the two have
gone bar-to-bar as they battled
for series supremacy as quasi-
teammates, both representing
the Indian Motorcycle factory in
an official capacity. While they
each have their strongpoints,
as title contenders they are as
perfectly matched as is realisti-
cally imaginable. So until Mees
and Bauman were somehow
placed on opposite sides of the
race-only vs. production-based
regulations divide, there would
always be questions just how
"level" the playing field truly was.
While no one doubts the talents
or skills of title challengers
Dallas Daniels and JD Beach,
the fact remains the world has
never seen exactly how either
one measures up to Mees or
