BY CHRIS MARTIN
PHOTOGRAPHY BY MITCH FRIEDMAN
T
he 76th Peoria TT featured
not one but two grand
competing narratives. And
it says plenty that the eighth
TT win in JD Beach's last nine
attempts was arguably not the
bigger of the two.
Nevertheless, that's where
we'll start. During that remark
-
able run of left-right-jump suc-
cess, the versatile Beach has
enjoyed full days in which he
looked completely unbeatable.
Sunday was not one of them.
Indian Racing's Jared Mees,
Beach's Estenson Racing team
-
mate Dallas Daniels and Rick
Ware Racing's Briar Bauman all
spent time atop the order as the
day's practice, qualifying, heats
and Mission #2Fast2Tasty Chal
-
lenge played out.
While ever in the mix, Beach
showed little to none of the ex
-
pected dominance. That is, until
the main event, where that's
pretty much all he showed.
Beach broke off into the lead
early and checked out as the
Peoria pretenders settled in
behind him.
And that's where the greater
intrigue was to be found. Daniels
ran second throughout—some
-
times under significant pressure,
sometimes less so, but never
seriously threatened by Bauman
in third or Mees in fourth.
In fact, with just over a lap to
go, Mees had backed off com
-
pletely, while Bauman sat close
in third with no realistic oppor-
tunity to claim second save for
some calamity for Daniels.
VOLUME ISSUE AUGUST , P79
MATTERED
