race expectations once the green
light shone, however. Daniels
jumped out into the lead aboard
his Estenson Racing Yamaha
MT-07 with another Yamaha pilot,
OTB Racing's Declan Bender,
providing temporary cover for
Daniels' impromptu escape just
behind in second.
Bauman and Kopp both
pushed past Bender within the
race's first minute-and-a-half. Soon
after, Kopp made a run at Bauman
for second. Bauman allowed Kopp
to dive under him, then sprung
out of the corner after their lines
crisscrossed, not only taking the
position back but powering ahead
of Daniels in one fell swoop.
With clear air in front of him, Bau
-
man threatened to shake free, but
a tenacious Daniels just clung on,
always within a half-second or
thereabouts of the lead.
That gap, combined with
Daniels' repeated trial runs div
-
ing low on the approach to turn
one, teased a potential last-lap
slide job to steal the win.
And the champ executed it to
near-perfection. But the "near"
was enough to provide Bauman
the space required to immedi
-
VOLUME ISSUE JULY , P105
83 BRADON PFANDERS
6TH SINGLES
Memphis Shades/Corbin/OTB
Racing's Bradon Pfanders backed
up his DuQuoin fifth with a strong
sixth-place showing at his home
round. The Pennsylvanian was
quick all day and threatened to
contend for the box before his setup
proved misaligned for the track that
greeted him come the main. He
said, "The day went pretty good for
us. I qualified P3 overall, and I'm
not usually a qualifying guy. I got
second in my heat race and felt like
I had pretty good pace. I got the
holeshot in the challenge race, led
about a lap, and then just rode my
line, which I knew would probably
come in later in the main once I
could get my momentum up. But
then somehow we went out for the
main, and the track was different,
and my setup wasn't quite perfect.
But it was still a good night overall."
MYOWNRACE
