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/801507
FLAT TRACK 2017 AMERICAN FLAT TRACK SERIES ROUND 1 / MARCH 16, 2017 DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY / DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA P80 that. It was amazing." Anderson was a disap- pointed second over Carlile with Janisch, who had been the fastest AFT Single rider in qualifying, a close fourth. England's Oliver Brindley finished fifth on his Kawasaki UK-backed Kawasaki. Ben Lowe led Spanish rider Ferran Cardus (Neumaticos Herma- nos Rojas) home in sixth. Michael Inderbitzin, Jay Newton and former Class Champion, Kyle Johnson rounded out the top 10. CN TT: 1. Jared Mees (Ind) 2. Bryan Smith (Ind) 3. Henry Wiles (Kaw) 4. Jacob Johnson (H-D) 5. Bronson Bauman (Kaw) 6. Donald Mullen II (Kaw) 7. Sammy Halbert (Yam) 8. Jeffrey Carver Jr. (Kaw) 9. Andrew Luker (Kaw) 10. Jake Shoemaker (Kaw) SINGLES: 1. Dalton Gauthier (Yam) 2. Wyatt Anderson (KTM) 3. Kolby Carlile (Hon) 4. Jesse Janisch (Hon) 5. Oliver Brindley (Kaw) 6. Benjamin Lowe (Hon) 7. Ferran Cardus (Hon) 8. Michael Inderbitzin (Hon) 9. Jay Newton (Yam) 10. Kyle Johnson (Hon) It was undoubtedly a monumental task to "build" a brand new racetrack within the confines of the super speedway's tri-oval. The challenge was even greater as it had to be built after NAS- CAR's 500 and around the Supercross race. "We've dedicated a lot of money and resources to building this track," said AMA Pro Racing's Chief Competi- tion Officer Chris Carr. "We've worked around the clock, bringing in special dirt and removing the supercross track. They (Daytona International Speedway) have put a lot into this. The whole width of the track (outside to outside) is only 140 feet. The length is over 900 feet, but that is all the width we have to work with." While far from perfect, the track and the racing got better as the night went on. The first-time event did look to draw a good crowd of spectators, and AMA Pro Racing's Chief Executive Officer Michael Lock stated that pre-race ticket sales surpassed the ticket sales of both of last year's short track races together. The chilly night may have kept some away, but it appeared to be a good crowd. Along with many other changes, 2017 bought a new race format to the series. No longer does your heat-race finish guarantee that you will be in the main event. Riders move from the heats and a LCQ to two semis where the top nine advance to the main. The first to pay the price was fast qualifier Briar Bauman. Bauman took his Zanotti Racing Kawasaki to a second-place finish in his heat, which would have put him in the main last year. Unfortunately he was unable to finish his semi and was forced to the truck. Current points leader, Jared Mees weighed in on the subject, "I'm not a fan of the new semi format. I like if you win your heat race and you get the job done, you go directly to the main event," said Mees. "The problem is when you have the semis now, you go out there and the track has changed and you run the semi and you come in. If you are semi number two, you come in and tech your bike and bam AFT Singles are out there on their main event. You've got to be up there right away, so we have no time. I like to have a little time. It's the same for everybody. Everybody has to do it, but me personally, I like the old way better." While many spent the winter trying to adapt their "flat track" twins to ride the TT, two teams, Chad Cose's Ritchie Reynolds Racing Kawasaki and Henry Wiles' DPC Kawasaki built their bikes as much as could be like the DTX single machinery. Both were able to get in the main with Wiles posting a solid third and Cose fighting mechani- cal gremlins to finish twelfth. "We are on a different motorcycle. Where my bike would be good maybe theirs wouldn't be," said Wiles. "They were good hooking up on the last corner and then I figured out how to ride the corner a little better, which helped me. They could even make a mistake and I would roll through real nice, but I was still giving up too many bike lengths down the front straightaway." The third member of the Factory Indian effort, Brad Baker, got off hard in his heat race and had to be transported to be checked out. Fortunately, other than a headache, Baker checked out okay. Unfortunately, Baker was just one of many that found the ground on the day as the tight, slick track took it's toll. Briefly... cont. on page 82