VOL. 52 ISSUE 3 JANUARY 20, 2015 P89
great time in Australia and this is
the best way to finish it off."
Second went to the man who
throughout the day looked to
be the American with the best
shot at defeating the hordes
of Aussies on their home turf,
Henry Wiles. The hugely popular
Michigan man, back for his sec-
ond time at the TBC, came with
a much-improved machine and
looked the goods leading into
the final. However, like Mees,
Wiles didn't get the start—indeed
it was one of the very few races
in which Wiles didn't get the
holeshot—meaning he was stuck
in fifth place leading into turn
one. A strong ride saw him pow-
er to second with four laps to go,
but by then Mees was long gone
and at the flag, the tiny nature of
the track did little to make Mees'
victory look anything other than
dominant.
"The race kind of got away
from me in the middle there,"
Wiles said. "I was struggling
with the bike and the track was
changing a lot, but later in the
race it started to come good
again, and I could move a bit
closer to the front. Hopefully I'm
invited back next year, because
I think I have a few solutions up
my sleeve to get some more
speed—it might be third time
lucky for me!"
Third went to evergreen dirt
track veteran Paul Caslick. The
grandfather rider with 22 Austra-
lian Dirt Track and Long Track
Championships to his name
turned back the clock in spec-
tacular fashion at Taree, leading
the fancied AMA regulars for the
first 13 laps of the 21-lap final and
in that time held a faster pace
than Mees' qualifying time from
Superpole.
In the end, he was forced
to concede to both Mees and
Wiles, but he did manage to
hold off Bayliss and his lightning
fast KTM for the final spot on
the podium and a high point in
Husqvarna Australia's so far very
limited dirt track program.
"I broke my wrist here at the
Aussie titles last year in my first
ride on this bike so to come here
and get this result means a hell
of a lot," said a clearly emotional
Caslick. "I honestly have to give
every credit to my wife, as some-
one that supports and loves me,
it makes it much easier to go fast
when I have someone like that in
my corner."
Bayliss came home fourth in
his namesake final, unable to
replicate his popular victory of
2014 on a track that was proving
to be a headache for not just the
riders but also the track man-
Halbert couldn't hold off a charging Bayliss (21) late in the final.
