Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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two-horse race. Two-time cham- pion Bauman only figures to get stronger as the season unfolds, and it's worth remembering that Beach was the winningest rider in the class a year ago—especially as the series readies for its first TT next week. Robinson, too, has the tools to remain in contention, and several others are a threat to win on any given weekend. Grand times for the Grand Na - tional Championship, indeed. SINGLES The good news at Senoia Race- way for Parts Unlimited AFT Singles Championship hopefuls was that defending champ Kody Kopp was something less than the dominating force he proved to be at the Daytona opener, and on so many occasions a year ago. The bad news was that his Red Bull KTM teammate Max Whale filled that void with gusto, underlining the 1-2 punch the team comes to the track armed with on a weekly basis. Kopp spent practice and quali - Even with the spotlight on Mees and Daniels, there was plenty of excitement down the order. Despite suffering a huge crash in the opening practice, Robinson charged all the way up to third, only to lose the position to Beach on the final lap. Rackley Racing's Davis Fisher backed up his Daytona ST podium with a fifth, finishing just ahead of JMC Motorsports' Jarod Vanderkooi. Meanwhile, Rick Ware Rac - ing's Briar Bauman got shuffled down deep outside the top 10 early but managed to fight his way to seventh aboard the devel- oping Parts Plus KTM 890 Duke. He was followed home by a pair of KTM 790 Dukes piloted by Fastrack Racing's Bronson Bau- man in eighth and the aforemen- tioned Janisch in ninth, while Lowe rounded out the top 10. Daniels retains the points lead, while Mees moves up to sec - ond. As thrilling as their Georgia shootout was, however, it's far too early to look at this as a ROUND 3 / MARCH 25, 2023 SENOIA RACEWAY / SENOIA, GEORGIA FLAT TRACK I PROGRESSIVE AMERICAN FLAT TRACK CHAMPIONSHIP P84 hurting pretty much all day—the wind was definitely taken out of my sails. It took me all day to start getting a rhythm going. My guys made a lot of good calls throughout the day just to get me more comfortable, and it basi- cally came down to me getting more aggressive. In the main, JD (Beach) got away from me pretty far, and I had to chase him down. I got to him and got by him, but then made every wrong decision possible when it came to the lappers, and JD got me back on the last lap. Buzzkill. Still, I'm happy with fourth. It was a big turnaround from the beginning of the day." MYOWNRACE 19 JAMES OTT 2ND SINGLES With a sixth, eighth and second to open his season, 1st Impressions Husqvarna Racing's James Ott finally looks to be the racer he hinted at in his epic 2019 debut in which he very nearly beat Shayna Texter- Bauman and Mikey Rush to win the Texas Half-Mile. He said, "I feel like I earned this one. The [podium] in 2019, I honestly didn't know what happened, and I've been struggling to get top fives since then. This offseason I put in so much work and I feel better than ever on the mo- torcycle. I felt good all day—not the fastest, but very consistently fast. I won my heat race, finished second in the dash, and had really good starts going. Honestly, Max just had a little bit on us in that main. I felt like I reeled him in a little bit at the end, but he could have been just main- taining. I felt good—second, we'll take it for now." JD Beach made it two Estenson Yamahas on the SuperTwins podium.