2024 AMA American Flat Track Round 7 Results

| June 18, 2024

Estenson Racing’s Dallas Daniels came into this pivotal stretch of four races in four weeks leading the Grand National Championship but also very much in need of a win.

He earned his placement atop the standings in the same way he controlled much of last year’s Mission AFT SuperTwins title fight—via unmatched consistency—owning a perfect podium record through the opening six rounds of the 2024 season.

Dallas Daniels at 2024 AFT Orange County Half-Mile — **Dallas Daniels nabbed his first win of the season, and none too soon.**

By Chris Martin | Photography by Tim Lester

However, while he won the season opener at Daytona, with that consistency came the indignity of having to routinely explain on the podium why he did not win the next five races. Through gritted teeth and forced smiles, he repeatedly spoke of all the lessons he was learning and the improvement he and his team were making, even if the results didn’t (entirely) yet reflect them.

With a few weeks following round six’s Silver Dollar Short Track to prepare for the month-long run that will no doubt play a huge role in deciding the year’s champion, it seems as if Daniels and company were able to externalize the lessons learned and put them into practice effectively.

For at least at Orange County, the Yamaha ace was simply unstoppable pretty much all day long, despite slippery conditions and a track that saw its optimal line swerve radically from extremes on multiple occasions and with little warning.

Briar Bauman at 2024 AFT Orange County Half-Mile — **Briar Bauman gave chase but couldn’t catch the flying Daniels.**

That dominance lasted all the way through to the checkered flag, which Daniels took more than five seconds before runner-up Briar Bauman on the Rick Ware Racing KTM and nearly 10 seconds ahead of the fight for third.

Unsurprisingly, the smile came easily after the day-long masterclass. Daniels said, “What an amazing day. Just from the beginning, we were on point. These are the days you dream of. The Estenson Racing Monster Energy Yamaha team has been working so hard behind the scenes, and it’s starting to pay off. I can’t give it up to my guys enough. We struggled here last year; although we got third, Jared [Mees] smoked us. But we came here today and got the job done in dominating fashion. It means so much going into this string of races. I’m so pumped.”

Bauman was also quite impressive relative to the remainder of the field, quickly dropping the pack in a hopeless attempt to push Daniels for victory.

Dalton Gauthier (79) and Billy Ross at 2024 AFT Orange County Half-Mile — **Dalton Gauthier (79) and Billy Ross provided the excitement as to who would get the last spot on the podium.**

While there was precious little drama in determining first and second, the situation behind more than made up for it.

There were two separate battles of keen interest. First was a heated scrap for third waged by championship-hopeful Brandon Robinson, armed with the Mission Roof Systems Indian, and Kawasaki-mounted Billy “The Kid” Ross, who missed the opening six rounds after suffering a preseason injury.

Well behind them were nine-time Grand National Champion Jared Mees, who looked miserable on track pretty much all day and found himself mired down in 12th in the early going, and Dalton Gauthier, who ran as low as 10th while making his debut on the factory Royal Enfield while subbing for the injured Johnny Lewis.

Dalton Gauthier could have hardly scripted a more perfect return to the premier class and debut outing on the Moto Anatomy X Powered by Royal Enfield. Sitting in for the injured Johnny Lewis but with Lewis on-site in a team manager capacity, Gauthier demonstrated both his and the bike’s potential with a stirring, final-corner podium performance.

Billy Ross burst back onto the scene after missing the opening six rounds due to injury with a near (as in two-thousandths of a second near) podium ride aboard his privateer Kawasaki Ninja 650.As Ross and Robinson slugged it out, Mees and Gauthier hooked up and slashed through a big pack of riders, ultimately inserting themselves in the podium picture just as the clocks hit zero and only two laps remained.

Ross’ maiden premier-class podium seemed all but assured, at least until Gauthier slotted the Twins FT underneath Ross’ Ninja 650 and transformed the race into his maiden premier-class podium by two-thousandths of a second at the checkered flag.

Kody Kopp at 2024 AFT Orange County Half-Mile — **Kody Kopp solidified his points lead with another win in the Singles division.**

Mees, meanwhile, pulled the same move on Robinson. That allowed him to salvage fifth-place points from what had been a brutal day, avoiding any catastrophic damage to his quest for an unprecedented 10th Grand National Championship.

Memphis Shades/Roof Systems’ Brandon Price finished seventh, followed by Fairway Ford’s Jarod Vanderkooi, Mission Foods/Zanotti Racing’s (Indian-mounted) Trevor Brunner, and Rackley Racing’s Davis Fisher to round out the top 10.

Daniels now leads the title fight with 149 points to Mees’ 133, while Robinson (131) and Bauman (120) remain firmly in the hunt.

SuperTwins podium at 2024 AFT Orange County Half-Mile — **Daniels (center), Bauman (left) and Gauthier celebrate on the OC SuperTwins podium.**

AFT SINGLES

Rick Ware Racing’s Kody Kopp has frequently been compared to Daniels, and their career trajectories have been eerily similar to date, from Nicky Hayden Horizon Award-winning amateur careers to Progressive AFT rookie stardom to back-to-back championship runs in years two and three.

That path diverged when Kopp elected to return to the Parts Unlimited AFT Singles class for a fourth season, whereas Daniels had jumped up to the premier class at that point.

Delaying the inevitable set the KTM-mounted star up for a historic run in the feeder series, and more and more the record books’ sections concerning the Singles category are reading like a Kody Kopp hagiography.

Chase Saathoff at 2024 AFT Orange County Half-Mile — **Chase Saathoff was runner-up in the Singles main.**

Rather than follow Daniels’ path at Orange County, he preceded him in domination on Saturday night, breaking out of an early four-rider scrap to storm to his fourth win of the season.

That bumped his career tally to 19, putting him equal with Shayna Texter-Bauman for the all-time lead in the class. It also moved him to within one of Texter-Bauman in career Half-Mile wins. He already owns the all-time record in the Short Track discipline and is rapidly closing in on a third class crown, which would snap his tie with Daniels for the most ever in the class.

The day’s second-, third- and fourth-place positions fell to the riders who hold those same positions in the championship standings: JPG Motorsports’ Chase Saathoff, Estenson Racing’s Tom Drane, and Turner Racing Honda’s Trent Lowe.

The race wasn’t quite as predictable as that quick summary suggests, however, and that’s primarily thanks to J&H Racing’s Justin Jones.

The New Yorker—who won a race and finished third in the points in 2015 but hasn’t ranked higher than 19th in limited starts since 2017—was in rare form. He repeatedly showed Kopp and crew the fast way around, right through practice, qualifying, the heats and the Al Lamb’s Dallas Honda Challenge.

**Rookie Trevor Brunner picked up his fourth top 10 of the season.**

He even grabbed the lead from pole before handing over the spot following a short back-and-forth scrap with Kopp. Despite a spirited effort, he lost fourth to Lowe on the final lap. He had to be content to secure a second top-five of the season after previously registering the feat at the Daytona opener.

Kopp is well and firmly in control of the points, now boasting more than a full-race lead with 158 points to Saathoff’s 132. Drane is third at 126, followed by Lowe with 108. CN