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/1498809
Despite the unpredictability—or more likely due to it—the cream, once again, (largely) rose to the top. Factory Indian legend and reigning Mission SuperTwins king Jared Mees and Rick Ware Racing's double Grand National Champion Briar Bauman did what they do, making the best of imperfect situations and sometimes difficult days to somehow still work their way into third and fourth, respectively, by the time the checkered flag flew. Those are exactly the sort of "bad day" results that they have parlayed into a com - bined six consecutive championships. However, it's also a tactic that simply might not be enough in 2023. While Mees and Bauman salvaged valuable points, Dan - iels maximized them with an inch-perfect ride at the front that was barely bothered by even a late race red-flag that wiped away a hard-earned advantage at the front. Rather than wilt, the Estenson Racing Yamaha ace calmly went back to work and ran off with his third victory of the season. ROUND 6 / MAY 6, 2023 VENTURA RACEWAY / VENTURA, CALIFORNIA FLAT TRACK I PROGRESSIVE AMERICAN FLAT TRACK P90 95 JD BEACH 2ND SUPERTWINS Estenson Racing's JD Beach was in strong form at Ventura Raceway, winning his heat, the Mission #2Fast- 2Tasty Challenge, and then finishing second in the Main Event. It was fine way to bounce back from his Dallas crash, although the other Dallas con- tinues to cast a large shadow. Beach said, "This track, the way the groove was, if you got off it at all it was real slick. The way the turns are banked, you think you can run it in hard but when you do, you slip the groove a little bit and it gets real sideways. Dallas was just riding great all day. He's been phenomenal all season long. I feel like myself, I've been off just a little bit, but my crew has been working so hard to get me the best bike possible. I feel like I'm starting to find my mojo a little bit again, after my crash in Dallas. I guess I had to find it there in the dirt." 59 TOM DRANE 7TH SINGLES Estenson Racing Yamaha's Tom Drane looked like a potential race win- ner early in the day at Ventura Race- way, running fast and feeling comfort- able on a track not all that different from what he'd grown accustomed to racing on while coming up through MYOWNRACE Jared Mees (1) battles Johnny Lewis (10) in the second SuperTwins heat race. Mees went on to finish third in the main and Lewis rounded out the top five. Beach (left), Daniels (center) and Mees celebrate on the podium.