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FEATURE I 2026 AMERICAN FLAT TRACK SEASON PREVIEW
In 2025, the supremely gifted
Bauman, reunited with famed
crew chief Dave Zanotti and
mechanic Michelle Disalvo and
riding under the combined Rick
Ware Racing/Latus Motors ban
-
ner, was every bit as spectacular
as he was while outdueling
Mees for consecutive titles in
2019 and 2020.
Bauman is back again with
RWR in '26, now with a year of
XG750R experience under his
belt and teamed up with new
crew chief Bryan Bigelow. To
-
gether, they project as a power-
house pairing fully capable of
building on Bauman's return to
championship contention.
team to grow closer, adapt, and
explore novel solutions with the
bike.
He's even stronger now after
enduring the Herculean task
than he would have been had he
run roughshod over the competi
-
tion as expected.
But as with the mythologi-
cal hero, Daniels' triumph has
brought with it added difficulty.
If you'll recall the second of the
Twelve Labours of Hercules (stay
with me here for a moment), each
time Hercules severed one of
the Lernaean Hydra's heads, the
beast grew back two in its place.
The second Labour of Daniels
provides a similar dilemma.
not nearly with the same confi
-
dence as a year ago.
The challenge that awaits him
will only level up.
HARLEY-
DAVIDSON'S
HYDRA
As impressive as he's been, ef-
fectively a title contender since
first stepping up to the premier
class in 2022 after winning back-
to-back AFT Singles titles in 2020
and 2021, Daniels still has room
to grow. Despite being a near-
automatic podium presence, he
readily admits that things rarely
clicked a season ago. But those
struggles forced him and his
Everyone's going to be going after this guy: Dallas Daniels.
