champion, Kody Kopp, due to exten-
uating circumstances—as three-time
champ
Kopp left AFT to race in the
brand-new MotoAmerica Talent Cup
Championship for 2025—not to men-
tion the heavy burden of being the
preseason title
favorite looking to
make Yamaha proud in the vicinity
of its American base of operations.
That trend continued to the
conclusion of the evening in Geor
-
gia, where Drane was bested by
Briar Bauman's
Rick Ware Racing
stablemate, Chase Saathoff. The
rivals ultimately ran free at the front,
with Saathoff managing to just hold
Drane at bay despite a near-constant
view of the Aussie's front wheel pok
-
ing its way up the inside.
Saathoff,
meanwhile, mirrored
Bauman's day. Uncharacteristically
saddled with a third-row starting
slot, Saathoff and crew chief Bryan
Bigelow hit on the Honda CRF450R's
setup for the main. Saathoff was
aggressive in exploiting the im
-
provements and railed his way into
the lead a little
over a minute into
the race.
Despite Drane's ceaseless pres-
sure, Saathoff led every lap from
that
point forward.
Of course, it might have been
an entirely different story if heat-
race winners Bradon Pfanders
(Hannum's HD/Pfanders Racing)
and Dalton Gauthier (D&D Certi
-
fied Racing) hadn't collided while
running 1-2
in the AFT Singles 1st
Impressions Challenge race. Nei-
ther rider was able to participate
in the
main event following their
sprint-race crash, making Saathoff
and Drane's tear through the pack
considerably easier.
"I struggled all day long out here,
but I told Bryan [Bigelow] for that
ROUND 3 / MARCH 29, 2025
SENOIA RACEWAY / SENOIA, GEORGIA
FLAT TRACK I AMA PROGRESSIVE AMERICAN FLAT TRACK
P106
Chase Saathoff
won the
Singles main.
