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career Mile victory—now trailing only legends Scott Parker and Chris Carr on the historic order. "Man, I was so pumped that the racetrack shaped up like it did for the main event where we could roll off that groove," Mees said. "I was looking forward all day to racing like that. Du Quoin is an awesome place. In 2015, I didn't know if I'd ever be able to come back here and race this place. Thankfully, they promoted it and got us back to this iconic race. I really wanted to win the Du Quoin Mile before I called it quits." Of near-equal significance to Mees, Robinson nipped ahead of Daniels at the line by 0.064 of a second, snapping the sopho - more's season-long run of first- or second-place results. Meanwhile, Bauman, who looked to have a very real shot at victory a minute earlier, found himself off the box altogether, independent FTR750, exploiting a higher line than the others, which allowed him to carry addi - tional speed down the straight. And Estenson Racing Yama- ha's Daniels was right there the entire time, of course, as he has been all season long. Repeated mock runs to the stripe and their associated les- sons were rendered obsolete just as the contest entered the final two laps. Following 14 min- utes counting down to the deci- sive circulations, the lead pack finally began to eat its tail. One lapper broke up the contenders momentarily at a critical mo- ment, and while the four came back together as one on the final lap, any carefully mapped final-corner attack plans were rewritten on the fly as a result. The one who adapted most successfully, unsurprisingly, was also the most experienced. Mees held on to claim his 26th ROUND 9 / JUNE 17, 2023 DU QUOIN STATE FAIRGROUNDS / DU QUOIN, ILLINOIS FLAT TRACK I PROGRESSIVE AMERICAN FLAT TRACK P96 3 BRIAR BAUMAN 4TH SUPERTWINS Following another up-and-down day as his team continued to dial in his Rick Ware Racing KTM, Briar Bau- man thought he was finally going to take the promising machine to victo- ry—until he didn't. "For the main event, we made some pretty big chassis changes and went out there; from lap one, I knew we were in a good spot. Man, as crazy as it sounds, it felt like we were in control on the Rick Ware KTM. I felt so strong. We would fade back to fourth place and I could get back to the lead within a lap or two. We could corner really well and do everything we needed to be able to do to win. From halfway on, I thought I was going to win this thing, but unfortunately with two to go, we had a lapper swerve right in front of me and Brandon Robinson and basically broke us up. It was just enough." 21 TREVOR BRUNNER 6TH SINGLES Estenson Racing Yamaha's Trevor Brunner was the unlucky rider to fin- ish sixth in a six-rider showdown to the checkered flag. "We had to start on the second row, but got off to a decent start," he said. "There were five or six of us battling the entire race, dicing back and forth. The big MYOWNRACE Brandon Robinson (44) outdueled Dallas Daniels (32) for second place.