Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1542014
P116 INTERVIEW I 2025 MISSION AFT SUPERTWINS CHAMPION DALLAS DANIELS typically tracks that were good for me. I knew in advance where I would have a good chance to make ground. "I could not count on that this year with Briar. Yeah, they struggled a little on the power tracks, but he was still up there battling for wins. But really, he's at his prime, and he's just good everywhere. "It was just hard." As the season evolved, Daniels slowly transitioned from over - whelming favorite to unexpected underdog. Outside of the Miles, Bauman was a constant menace, reeling in eight wins, four runners- up and one third. Daniels managed to stay in the fight by responding with an inexorable consistency of his own—notching up a record 23 consecutive podiums, a tear that dated back to the opening of the '24 season. However, that streak ended physically, but even more so, I was unprepared on the mental side of things. "And for that reason, the motorcycle was a lit - tle unprepared too. We didn't do as much testing as we had the year before. We had to do much of our testing at the track." That all makes for a bad mix when thrust into combat with a fully motivated and properly armed Briar Bauman. While the RWR ace had been a race-winning presence throughout the entirety of Daniels' time in the premier class, the two had never really engaged in a protracted confrontation. Instead, they had each served as Mees' primary foils. Bauman from 2019 to 2022, during which time he twice defeated Mees straight-up for the Grand National Championship, and Daniels from 2023 to 2024, when the two elevated the game to new heights. But with Mees now absent, the two were sent into direct competition. The results were spectacular. Daniels soon learned that Bauman posed a very different threat from the one to which he had grown accustomed. "Jared and Briar are two different types of people, two different types of racers, and at two different points in their lives. They do have some similarities; Briar trained with Jared, and Jared was something of a mentor to him. But still, it was different. "I caught Jared at the end of his career. He was older and wiser. But there were some tracks that he struggled with, and those were