VOL. 55 ISSUE 11 MARCH 20, 2018 P101
Kawasaki Ninja 650) and Henry
Wiles (Willy Built/Bandit Indus-
tries, Kawasaki Ninja 650).
All eyes were on the leaders,
however, and Mees was able
to muscle his way to the front in
the tight right hand-turn after the
jump. "In the very beginning, I
had to get physical with Brad a
couple times. I knew I had to get
by," said Mees. "Over the jump I
had a real good line, which
Indian factory rider Bryan Smith
(Indian Motorcycle/Allstate In-
surance, Indian Scout FTR750)
were right on his tail. Baker
opened a small gap, but once
Mees disposed of Beach that
lead disappeared and it became
a contact sport.
The lead pack, made up of
Baker, Mees and Beach were
joined by Briar Bauman (Zanotti
Racing/Western Powersports,
son Racing's Jake Johnson. Johnson
made his first ride on their Yamaha
FZ-07, but they also have a Harley-
Davidson XR750 waiting in the wings.
After more testing the team could be
joining the Indian ranks as they have
one of those available, too. "My first
ride was eventful. I felt real good all
day," said Johnson. "Looking at lap
times, I was a little bit off the pace,
but I wasn't too worried because I felt
pretty comfortable. Obviously after
finishing fourth here last year, I was
wanting to get on the box. I was hop-
ing to come here and be in contention
to win. It was tough this year. Last year
I got a lot of gifts because there were
a lot of guys that fell down up front.
The guys that were fast tonight were
flawless. We came out of here in sixth.
It's not ideal but it could have been
worse. I could have been laying on
the ground or watching the thing. In
the break before the next one, we will
hopefully do some more testing and
get a little more time on the bike. You
never know what's going to happen
here at Daytona. We survived, and we
will keep moving."
TOUGH START
AFT Singles defending champion
Kolby Carlile's night didn't go well at
all. He set the second-fastest time in
qualifying and won his heat race, but
it was all down hill from there. A fall
resulted in a seventh-place finish in his
semi, which qualified him for the main.
He injured his shoulder in the spill and
was unable to ride in the main.
ONE WAS ENOUGH
Of the 63 entries in the AFT Singles
class, only one was a KTM and Dan
Bromley put the KTM 450 SX-F on top
of the box leading all 15 laps. "All the
Briefly...
