to celebrate with the partisan
home-state fans for a second
consecutive season.
The triumph also furthered the
Rick Ware Racing star's disman-
tling of the preseason narrative
that confidently predicted an
Estenson Racing/Yamaha/Dallas
Daniels Championship runaway
in the premier Mission AFT Su
-
perTwins class this season.
Even
California's brightest
star of the modern era, Briar
Bauman, is commonly con-
sidered a Pennsylvanian after
having
happily made the state
his home for several years.
However, the two-time Grand
National Champion is a native of
Salinas, California. He reminded
the gleeful crowd of that by scal
-
ing the Ventura Raceway fences
But the spectators in atten-
dance were instead transfixed
by
what transpired on the dirt
of the beachside circuit, where
another of California's prized
natural resources—motorcycle
racing acumen—grabbed the
spotlight.
Recent Progressive AFT his
-
tory has been largely dominated
by
the riders produced by Mid-
western and Eastern flat track
hotbeds, primarily
Pennsylvania,
Illinois, Ohio, Indiana and Michi
-
gan, along with the occasional
Pacific
Northwesterner.
ROUND 4 / APRIL 26, 2025
VENTURA RACEWAY / VENTURA, CALIFORNIA
FLAT TRACK I AMA PROGRESSIVE AMERICAN FLAT TRACK
P98
18 MAX WHALE
6TH SUPERTWINS
Max Whale admitted to tensing up with
the possibility of a top result before
him but still took the race as a huge
confidence builder. He said, "Best
finish yet, man, it felt good. Just being
close to the front guys, it felt cool. I ran
third most of the race. I just looked at
the clock, and I had six minutes to go,
and I realized I was in third. And then I
just got tense and started freaking out,
so I rode like a turtle or something that
doesn't move. I was riding so good,
and then, just got so tense and just had
no flow. Jarod got 'round me, Robin-
son got 'round me, and then we had
a restart. After the restart, I had great
pace and didn't get tight. All in all, it
was great for my confidence to be just
up there with those guys."
MYOWNRACE
