VOLUME ISSUE MAY , P93
The veteran, Jared
Mees (1), couldn't
shake the kid, Dallas
Daniels (32), but did
come away with the
Red Mile victory.
RED
margin of victory was just 0.042
seconds—both riders understood
that Mees held the upper hand on
the evening and the race to the flag
played out as expected.
The victory was Mees' fourth of
the season, his fifth at the Red Mile,
and the 25th Mile win of his deco
-
rated career—placing him even with
Bubba Shobert and Bryan Smith for
third on the all-time slate.
"This place has been really, really
good to me in my career," Mees said.
"I felt good as soon as we unloaded
the truck. And to be honest, in the
main event, Dallas made it more of
a race [than expected] for sure. He
got his bike stronger in some areas
and we just kind of played the game.
In the beginning I tried to get away,
but I couldn't. So, I just went back to
some strategy and we got it done."
The outcome also solidified an
interesting dynamic settling in
between Mees and Daniels, as each
continues to exert increasing yet
differing forms of pressure on the
other. Excluding JD Beach's unsur
-
prising masterclass at the season's
first-and-thus-far-only TT, every win
of 2023 has gone to either Mees
or Daniels. Mees now boasts the
advantage in that regard, four wins
to three, and has come out on top of
every single match-up in which the
two have finished first and second.
