And yet, in the margins,
there's still room for doubt and
frustration. The season's most
recent six races saw Daniels
repeatedly outclassed by rival
and reigning class champ Jared
Mees. Over that span, Mees
notched up five wins to Dan
-
iels' zero, while transforming a
24-point deficit into a two-point
advantage.
Further complicating Daniels'
title outlook, an upcoming round
that seemed likely to favor
his skills and equipment—the
Buffalo Chip TT—was swapped
out for one more amenable to
his opponents'—the Black Hills
Half-Mile.
Without that three-race unbro
-
ken run of TTs in which he might
stem the bleeding, Daniels
would need to overcome Mees
at the half-mile distance the
legend has won on more times
than any rider in history or see
his title hopes further fade.
It wouldn't be easy. As they
gridded up in New Jersey, Mees'
half-mile wins advantage over
Daniels stood at 36-0.
And they weren't on the track
alone. Daniels' teammate, JD
Beach, clocked the fastest time
in qualifying, won his heat, and
jumped out into the lead early
in the main. Also firmly in the
mix was Rackley Racing's Davis
Fisher, who topped the other
qualifying session and won the
Mission #2Fast2Tasty Chal
-
lenge.
And as the race took shape,
a wild battle up front became
a five-rider affair as another
half-mile genius—Mission Roof
Systems' Brandon Robinson—
(Above) Daniels
worked the high
line to make his
move around
runner-up Jared
Mees. (Left)
Daniels, Mees
and JD Beach
made up the
SuperTwins
podium.
VOLUME ISSUE JULY , P79
early on and didn't get out for either
practice and one did one lap in Qualify-
ing 1. Finally, in Qualifying 2 we got
the thing running. Then the same thing
in the heat race—we just had small
electrical problems and never got to
see our full potential. We went into the
main a little bit blind and unsure how
things would go, but it turned out pretty
good. Jeremy Rackley worked his butt
off all day and we made some pretty
good educated guesses and came out
for the main event pretty close. I wish I
would have figured it out later on. We
were running around seventh but got
passed by [Henry] Wiles and [Jarod]
Vanderkooi late, but it was a good race.
It was good to get back in the top 10."
52 SHAYNA TEXTER-
BAUMAN 10TH SINGLES
Parts Plus/Jacob Companies KTM's
Shayna Texter-Bauman continues
to flash the form that allowed her to
become the winningest rider in class
history even if her best finish of the year
remains eighth. That was true again
at Bridgeport where she mixed it up
near the front before a nagging injury
pushed her down to the bottom of the
top 10 by the end of the main. She said,
"The day was actually pretty good. I felt
like we finally went in the right direction
every time we were on the racetrack. I
had a really good start for the main for
a change. I had a second-row starting
position, which was helpful. Overall,
I feel like I had a good run. I'm still
struggling from a knee injury suffered
at the previous round in New York, so
that made it hard to put weight on it and
pivot where I needed to. But to come
away with the finish that I did, I'm really
happy and excited to build from here."
MYOWNRACE
