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FLAT TRACK 2018 AMERICAN FLAT TRACK SERIES ROUND 5 / MAY 13, 2018 TURF PARADISE / PHOENIX, ARIZONA P64 iii My Own Race: 1 JARED MEES AFT TWINS 1ST Using a tried and true strategy Jared Mees is dominating the series like few if any ever have. "I'm glad to be able to pull off another win. I wanted to get a good start and run my own race," said Mees. "I didn't want anybody in front of me, so I wouldn't have to worry about the dust. The dust was in like pockets. When you hit the pockets it was like, boom—bags of dust went off. The last few laps I got into some lappers and it was getting darker and harder to see. I looked back and I had a huge lead, so I didn't see any point in pressing it. Brad was starting to catch me there at the end. I could have dug deeper and pulled some more speed out, but we brought it home and I'm looking forward to Sacramento. All in all, for me, it was good." 6 BRAD BAKER AFT TWINS 2ND Brad Baker had a strong run, but came up nine-tenths of a second short, still looking for that first win aboard an Indian Scout FTR750. "We were so evenly matched in the semi that in the main event I knew I had to get off with Jared," said Brad Baker. "I figured if he got away from me the only way I would be able to catch him would be if he made a mis- take and Jared is not a rider that makes mistakes. I didn't really make any mistakes either. We kind of hung the same distance for a while. He would distance me out a little bit then make a mistake and I would catch back up. I wasn't fast enough to be able to make up that ground, unfor- tunately. When we started getting into the lappers at the end, I caught up to him. It was just too little, too late. My hat's off to him." 17 HENRY WILES AFT TWINS 3RD Henry Wiles held on to third at the finish line every lap, but Bauman was all over him the whole race, trying the inside and outside just hoping to force a mistake. "I didn't see Briar much. He got around me a few times when I made mistakes," said Wiles. "I actually kind of lost him a little bit in one of the corners when he made a mistake. I honestly thought that I had pulled clear of him after he got a little wide on a corner and then he poked right back up in there. I thought, 'Okay, he is still right there, hanging in there.' I was able to get back on him and get back by. It was just a tough track and we were running into lappers. I was happy to get by Briar and get on the podium." 14 BRIAR BAUMAN AFT TWINS 4TH "I got a good start and made some passes and got to Henry. That was about it for the whole main," said Briar Bauman. "It was 20 laps of him and I going back and forth. Hopefully we gave the crowd something to watch. I can't thank Dave [Zanotti] enough for giving me that bike; it was so good in the corners. Once again, the Indians were good on the straightaways. I think we are getting closer. If we can just get a little more straightaway speed, I think we will be okay. I passed him once going through one and two. I thought I had him cleared. The stronger corner for me tonight was three and four. I went in there knowing that I was ahead of him and blew it off the groove. He went back by. I passed him on the white flag lap going into three and went around on the outside. I was hoping that I could get through three and four bet- ter than he could. I led off turn four, but he went by me and had a bike or two on me at the checkered flags."

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