joined the party.
Mees overtook Beach a little
less than four minutes into the
10-minute-plus-two-lap main
and subsequently controlled
from the front. The factory
Indian ace held his line and had
an answer each time someone
attempted to slash under him
entering a corner, patiently
squaring them back up and
coming out the other end with
his lead intact.
However, at half distance,
Daniels worked out a high line
that promised him superior
speed should he find a way into
the lead where he could properly
exploit it. After a few desperate
attempts to dive under Mees fell
short, he simply rolled up high
until he finally catapulted past
Mees on the top side with three
minutes left on the clock.
After some adjustments,
Mees worked out what Daniels
was doing and drew back in
for a final-corner strike where
he came sliding up hard with
the checkered flag in sight. But
rather than be intimidated and
chop the throttle, Daniels invited
the clash and held firm, holding
on by 0.095 of a second at the
stripe.
Update: 36-1.
In the process, Daniels' two-
point deficit became a two-point
advantage, and he reclaimed the
title lead he had held all season
up until the previous round.
Afterward he said, "That line I
found that was working around
the top, I had to get a few laps
to get it rolling. It was tough to
get around them, which is why I
was dive-bombing them a little
bit. But once I got in front and
was running good laps, nobody
was coming by me. But I kind of
knew what Jared was going to
do on the last lap. I set up for it
and stuck to my guns.
"This is probably the best-
feeling win of my career other
than my first at Kentucky last
year. This is the sort of track
Jared and the Indian are so
dominant at, and it feels so
good to win and beat them here.
It was just a great, clean race
with everybody."
Less than a half-second back,
Beach held off Fisher to snap
a five-race run of fourths and
fifths and return to the podium
for the first-time since the Sac
-
ramento Mile in mid-May.
Robinson rounded out the
top five, while sixth went to Rick
Ware Racing's Briar Bauman,
who made a push in the early
going to join the fight for the win
aboard his KTM before slipping
a few seconds back. He was
followed by JMC Motorsports'
Jarod Vanderkooi in his now
customary finish in seventh,
Briggsauto.com/Martin Truck-
ing's Henry Wiles, Fisher's Rack-
ley Racing teammate, Ben Lowe,
and Martin Trucking/Frederick-
town Yamaha's Cameron Smith.
ROUND 13 / JULY 22, 2023
BRIDGEPORT SPEEDWAY / SWEDESBORO, NEW JERSEY
FLAT TRACK I AMA/PROGRESSIVE AMERICAN FLAT TRACK
P80
Tom Drane dominated
the Singles class by
winning everything in
sight, including the main.
