come, but not without one
final twist. Rick Ware Racing's
Briar Bauman—who missed his
setup in his heat and, as a result,
started from row three—lurked
aboard his XG750R, positioned
just behind the lead group (a
group that included Vanderkooi,
who had charged his way up
from the back of the grid to fifth).
With just over two minutes
on the clock, Bauman made his
move, slashing past "VDK," Ott,
Daniels, and finally Fisher, all
with apparent ease, before re
-
training his sights on Robinson.
Bauman closed
in and struck
with just under two laps remain
-
ing. Robinson returned the favor
but
had no answer for Bauman's
counter to his counter.
All the while, Daniels clung
onto Bauman and Robinson,
desperately grasping for another
rabbit in his helmet. There was
none to be found, and Yamaha
was forced to host a historic
Harley-Davidson XG750R 1-2 at
its home track.
Robinson was understand
-
ably pleased with his perfor-
mance but left frustrated after
coming so close
to accomplish-
ing a goal he laid out nearly a
decade ago.
"Man,
I don't really know what
to say, Robinson said. "This whole
year's been kind of just different,
right? You know, switching off
the Indian, back on the Harley
XG750R bike that I have a lot of
time on from the development
aspect going back to 2017 and
2018. So, it's very rewarding to
come out here and put it on the
box. But, man, I thought we were
going to be the first ones to win
on that thing in the premier class.
And yeah, it didn't happen. I'm
almost more upset that I got
second tonight than I [was] about
finishing fifth at Daytona, just
because it was so close, and I
led so many laps. You just kind
of get stuck when you're leading
because you don't know if your
line's going away or what the guys
behind you are doing. I'm glad it
was Briar on another Harley that
got around me. We just went 1-2
on Harleys; that's badass. I don't
know what else to say."
Unsurprisingly, Bauman was
an enthusiastic fan of how the
race was plotted.
He said, "Incredible. There
are no words for it. I've lost my
voice; I lost it every inch around
this racetrack with the check
-
ered flag [on the victory lap].
What a
battle. What a sick night.
It was kind of an up-and-down
night for me, but the team, we
never lost faith."
While the preseason narrative
may require some reevaluation,
VOLUME 62 ISSUE 13 APRIL 1, 2025 P103
