2018 AMERICAN FLAT TRACK SEASON PREVIEW
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Preview
Perhaps the team's biggest
off-season acquisition was AFT
veteran Sammy Halbert, one of
the few riders to consistently run
with the Indians last year. "Sammy
really impressed me," Vance says.
"I love his grittiness. I love the fact
that he's been around the sport
for a long time." The third member
of the 2018 Harley-Davidson team
is 19-year old Jarod Vanderkooi
who shows great potential.
Coolbeth will lead that charge.
"I'm looking forward to giving the
Indian factory team some com-
petition now that we're all on the
same bike," Coolbeth told us.
Fifth overall last year in AFT
Twins and the winner of the
Texas Motor Speedway Half-Mile
on an XR750, Jeffrey Carver Jr.
is sure to be yet another threat to
the factory teams. Then there's
AFT Twins privateer Johnny
Lewis who last year jumped on
an FTR for the very first time at
The Privateers
Indian may have swept the rug in a serious way last year, but with
the company making its superbly functional FTR750 available in
much greater numbers to many of the AFT's top privateers, there
are sure to be challenges to Mess and Co. There's also the con-
tinuing strength of Kawasaki 650-engined race bikes, which car-
ried Briar Bauman and Henry Wiles to wins in three of the four AFT
Twins nationals that Indian didn't win last year. And we're likely to
see some other factory-backed motorcycles this season, too.
Still, it's the FTR750-mounted riders that'll most likely pressure the
factory teams the most in 2018, and three-time GNC champ Kenny
Kolby "The Flying Tomato"
Carlile won the 2017 AFT Single
Championship with world-class
consistency.
