Cycle News Staff | September 6, 2023
A genuinely riveting Progressive American Flat Track season concluded with something of a twist ending. What had played out as an epic-if-familiar showdown featuring the archetypal master matched up against the budding young superstar was reframed in the finale.
Instead, that emerging rivalry was put on hold—presumably to be resumed in 2024—and instead this year’s season-ending Springfield Mile doubleheader transformed 2023 into a celebration of the career of Mission SuperTwins king Jared Mees.
Jared Mees (1) leads Briar Bauman (3) and Brandon Robinson (44) en route to Saturday’s win. Photography by Mitch Friedman.
Coming in with a one-point advantage, the tiebreaker in hand, and an overwhelming track record at an event he also co-promotes with his wife, Nichole Mees, the factory Indian ace was largely viewed as the pre-event favorite over young challenger Dallas Daniels. That said, no one predicted such a convincing finish to what proved to be one of the greatest title campaigns in Mees’ career of great title campaigns.
The champ controlled the proceedings on Saturday, ultimately making a narrow escape from his pre-Daniels thorn, Briar Bauman, to secure a commanding lead with just one race to go.
Sunday’s winner Bauman leads Mees during the final race of the season.
And then, despite requiring only a modest result to lock up the crown on Sunday, Mees again raced with Bauman for top honors. This time, though, he thought better of risking a late-race push and gladly accepted second en route to his historic accomplishment.
Just how historic? Mees’ third-consecutive Grand National Championship goes down in the books as his ninth in all (2009, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022, and 2023). That places him directly alongside the once-thought unmatchable Scott Parker for most in the 70-year history of the series.
Mees said, “I’m a little bit lost for words. I had a goal when I was young to try to match the all-time great, and we got it done. A lot of kids dreamed about this, and I’m not saying I didn’t dream it, but I made it my goal, and there’s a difference between a dream and a goal. Year after year, we grinded it out. This one here feels really special.”
Despite an injection of talent to go with renewed depth and increased parity in the premier class, Mees still managed to notch up nine wins, achieve an average finishing position of 2.1 (second best in the modern era), and string together a still-active 14 podium streak (longest in the modern era).
In other words, there’s plenty of evidence suggesting that nine is just a temporary stop in Mees’ ultimate Grand National Championship treasure hoard.
That said, the level of difficulty associated with adding to that tally should only increase.
Two-time Grand National Champion Bauman flashed repeatedly throughout an up-and-down season aboard the Rick Ware Racing KTM Duke 790. But in Springfield, he looked every bit the match for Mees that he had been in his factory Indian days when the two went tooth-and-nail for GNCs.
With a full season of development under their belt, the team, rider and bike should pose a huge threat to Mees’ supremacy in ‘24.
Likewise for Daniels, who gave Mees everything he could handle right up until the finale. The Estenson Racing prodigy scored five wins, while registering an average finishing position of 2.3 (tied for third-best of the modern era) and put together the second-longest podium streak of that span with 13 top-threes in a row.
Dallas Daniels (32) needed a pair of wins to take the championship but he didn’t show up with his best stuff.
It’s unfortunate that the only time he truly lacked race-winning potential in 2023 was at the finale, when he needed it the most. Prior to Springfield, Daniels only failed to finish on the podium when he crashed out of second just over a lap from the finish in Peoria. But at the Illinois State Fairgrounds, he faded to a distant fifth on Saturday. He picked up the pace on Sunday and only narrowly missed out on the box in fourth. Still, even then, he was more than five seconds back of the fight for first.
“The whole weekend was a little bit of a struggle,” Daniels said Sunday. “For whatever reason, I just struggled really bad at this track. I’m not sure why. We made big headway today. Yesterday we weren’t even close, and today I was in a battle for a podium. But that’s obviously not what I want, I want to be battling for the win. And coming in one point down, I had to be battling for a win. We just had a bad weekend when we couldn’t. It’s a bummer for sure, but we’ve got to be proud of what we accomplished and build on it.”
Consider it a hard but important lesson for a rider who just so happens to be a quick study. It would come as no surprise if Daniels, who just assembled one of the strongest seasons of the past two decades, takes another big leap in 2024.
A handful of B-plots wrapped at Springfield as well. Mission Roof Systems’ Brandon Robinson ran up front on Saturday and came away with his fourth podium of the season in third. However, any hopes he had of ending the year as the highest-ranked independent Indian were squashed by Rackley Racing’s Davis Fisher, who earned his second podium of the season on Sunday to finish the season ranked fifth, trailing only Mees, Daniels, JD Beach and Bauman in the standings.
Mees and family celebrate Mees’ third consecutive SuperTwins title.
Speaking of Beach, he had a fitting finale, finishing fourth and sixth in a season in which he was generally in the mix, but just a tick removed from victory contention (save, of course, at the TTs where he furthered his case for GOAT consideration).
2023 Springfield Mile American Flat Track Results SINGLES
Red Bull KTM’s Kody Kopp couldn’t have possibly scripted it any better. He entered Springfield with contrasting statuses as both the reigning champion and dominant points leader, but also a glorified whipping boy when it came to the Miles.
Kopp could have taken it easy at a track where he was the underdog and scooped up his second straight Parts Unlimited AFT Singles title quite comfortably.
But he had unfinished business. Not only was there a second title to be had, but Kopp had taken aim at Dallas Daniels’ single-season wins record of eight after falling one short of the mark in 2022. Additionally, he and his team viewed their Mile shortcomings as an opportunity to prove their quality, regardless of whatever horsepower and height/weight disadvantages they’d previously encountered.
Kody Kopp (1) successfully defended his number-one plate and won Saturday’s main.
Saturday’s race played out primarily as a duel within a larger melee as Estenson Racing’s Tom Drane and Turning Racing Honda’s Chase Saathoff traded haymakers at the front of a six-rider pack. Kopp stalked them both throughout, however, occasionally testing his ability to slot up to second or first when he could.
The final lap saw Saathoff drive past Drane for the lead in turn two, only for his maneuver to be countered by the Aussie in turn three. But Kopp followed the Yamaha ace through and pulled out of the draft at the last possible moment to capture his second championship, first career-Mile win, and a piece of the single-season wins mark in one fell (0.010-seconds) swoop.
Tom Drane (59) capped off the Singles season with a win and second in the championship.
As dramatic as it was, Sunday may have produced an even more entertaining race. This time a huge pack that slowly whittled down to a still hefty nine-rider crew charged for the checkered flag in unison. Again, despite continual overtakes and reshuffling, Drane and Saathoff were the primary protagonists.
Saathoff’s dream finale would have seen him finally break through after so many near misses, but instead, Drane poked past to end the year on top of the box by 0.043 seconds.
The win was the fast-rising Estenson Racing pilot’s fourth this season, which also included 10 podiums over the final 12 races and a second-place ranking in the championship.
Saathoff, meanwhile, racked up nine podiums, six of those runner-ups, and fourth place in the final standings, albeit still looking for that first Progressive AFT win.
Sandwiched between them in the standings is Drane’s Estenson Racing teammate, Trevor Bruner, who notched up a pair of fourths in Springfield en route to third overall.
Sunday’s last podium position went to Kopp, who upped his season’s top-three tally to one, one better than Drane’s. Kopp will be looking to stay ahead of his emerging rival in 2024. The Red Bull KTM rider announced his intention to return to the Parts Unlimited AFT Singles again next season in a bid to completely rewrite the class’s record books before making his long-awaited graduation to the premier class.
“I wanted to win a Mile more than anything all year,” Kopp said. “It’s no secret we were down on power to start the year. And then to win the Springfield Mile and cap off a second championship and get eight wins to match Dallas’ records, that was pretty cool. We’re going to be back on Singles next year, so maybe we can get a TT win and finish this Grand Slam and try to go for three championships.”
2023 Springfield Mile American Flat Track Results – Saturday SuperTwins
- Jared Mees (Ind) 25 laps
- Briar Bauman (KTM) +0.340
- Brandon Robinson (Ind) +4.348
- JD Beach (Yam) +4.412
- Dallas Daniels (Yam) +5.734
- Davis Fisher (Ind) +5.992
- Ben Lowe (Ind) +15.060
- Jarod Vanderkooi (KTM) +15.371
- Henry Wiles (Ind) +17.820
- Johnny Lewis (RE) +18.200
2023 Springfield Mile American Flat Track Results – Saturday Singles
- Kody Kopp (KTM) 18 Laps
- Tom Drane (Yam) +0.010
- Chase Saathoff (Hon) +0.092
- Trevor Brunner (Yam) +0.486
- Morgen Mischler (Hon) +0.638
- Declan Bender (KTM) +0.676
- James Ott (Hus) +5.500
- Trent Lowe (Hon) +5.505
- Max Whale (KTM) +5.609
- Chad Cose (Hus) +5.742
2023 Springfield Mile American Flat Track Results – Sunday SuperTwins
- Briar Bauman (KTM) 25 Laps
- Jared Mees (Ind) +0.075
- Davis Fisher (Ind) +5.575
- Dallas Daniels (Yam) +5.599
- Brandon Robinson (Ind) +5.836
- JD Beach (Yam) +6.132
- Bronson Bauman (KTM) +15.726
- Ben Lowe (Ind) +15.960
- Henry Wiles (Ind) +15.973
- Jarod Vanderkooi (KTM) +17.949
2023 Springfield Mile American Flat Track Results – Sunday Singles
- Tom Drane (Yam) 18 Laps
- Chase Saathoff (Hon) +0.043
- Kody Kopp (KTM) +0.159
- Trevor Brunner (Yam) +0.203
- Morgen Mischler (Hon) +0.325
- Trent Lowe (Hon) +0.481
- Declan Bender (KTM) +0.587
- James Ott (Hus) +0.603
- Max Whale (KTM) +0.637
- Cole Zabala (Hon) +2.934
Get the complete results here.
By Chris Martin
Photography by Mitch Friedman
