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Cycle News 2026 Issue 36 September 9

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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to the flag by 0.009 of a sec- ond. Lowe secured his second podium of the weekend and the year in third, another 0.057 of a second back. "I felt good from the start of the day, always when I show up here," Lowe said. "I guess it's something about this place. I feel like it's actually been pretty technical the past couple years. You've got to move around on the bike a lot, but if you move too quickly, the bike gets upset and you lose all your drive. There's a lot that goes into it, but I wouldn't have been able to do it without a good team behind me giving me a fast bike to run up front." Daniels somehow rejoined the lead pack at the very end, charg- ing late as Fisher and Drane clashed. That allowed him to get close enough to slip past Kopp on the final lap for fourth. Still, the fifth-place finish allowed Kopp to pass Bauman and end his rookie season ranked sec- ond overall. The win was Fisher's second of the season, with the first also coming in season-ending fash- ion at the 2021 Charlotte Half Mile. It also shone a spotlight on a quietly stellar season that had gone under the radar because a pair of early-season 15ths ef- fectively knocked him out of title contention. Despite that setback, Fisher finished with a flourish, scoring six podiums in the season's final nine races (the same number as Bauman and twice as many as Kopp), ending the campaign atop the box. a full-spectrum upset. Bauman looked like a serious threat to win until being forced to withdraw from contention once again. Daniels, meanwhile, simply lost the lead draft just before half-distance. While Kopp remained with the front group, the race was dominated by the back-and-forth battle between Fisher and wild card Tom Drane, the AFT Singles superstar who pulled double duty over the weekend and had already finished fifth on Saturday with three fourth-place finishes. Crucially, Fisher managed to keep Drane behind him heading into turn three for the final time, allowing him to win the dash the whole team, all my friends, family, supporters—everybody that came here. It's a home race for me. I'm just super thankful and pumped that it happened here." With the championship de- cided, Sunday's finale offered everyone an equal opportunity to go for broke. The assumption might be that it would only make title contenders Daniels, Bauman and Kopp that much more dan- gerous, with no points-preser- vation concerns holding them back. However, after combining to win all 15 previous races and with at least two of them on every podium, the finale proved ROUNDS 15-16 / SEPTEMBER 5-6, 2026 ILLINOIS STATE FAIRGROUNDS / SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS FLAT TRACK I PROGRESSIVE AMERICAN FLAT TRACK P76 Tom Drane, who had already clinched the Singles title, also competed in the SuperTwins class. He finished fifth on Saturday and second on Sunday.

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