Daniels responded by diving
back up the inside entering turn
three and then holding strong at
the front to the checkered flag,
winning by 0.037 of a second.
For Ott, the near-miss was still
a career achievement, marking
his first career premier-class
podium finish.
While Ott and Bender threw
everything they had at a poten
-
tial maiden professional victory,
Daniels was calm,
confident and
calculated in working the final
laps.
While Ott ran around the out-
side of Daniels to claim the lead
exiting turn two for the final time,
VOLUME 62 ISSUE 27 JULY 8, 2025 P87
of in the mix all day. It was just pretty
evident early on that… it still felt like
we were on a restricted Indian, just
a little down on power compared to
the Yamahas. I felt like it was a little
better through the corners, getting
better drives. We could get down
the straightaway, and there was
just not much you can do with them,
especially [James] Ott and [Declan]
Bender. They're probably 50 pounds
lighter than me and a foot shorter,
and they're not pushing any wind
really. So, it is what it is, man. That's
kind of the race; that's kind of racing
in general. It's give and take. You
take the pros and cons of your body
size and your bikes from track to track
and make the best of it. And we were
fourth best tonight. So, that's all she
wrote."
MYOWNRACE
Meanwhile, Bender got his
first Progressive AFT podium
of any kind, just 0.129 of a
second removed from the win.
Stacked atop his eye-opening
performance in his OTBR debut
a week earlier at Lima, it ap-
pears the team made the right
decision indeed when
forced to
find a replacement for Brandon
Price, who stepped away from
racing due to medical reasons.
Bauman, meanwhile, was
held off by Robinson, further
Declan Bender (70) was in the heat of battle and nipped Briar Bauman
(3) and Brandon Robinson for the last step on the podium.
