Story and photos from americanflattrack.com

The 2022 Progressive American Flat Track season officially reaches its midpoint with this weekend’s Mission Port Royal Half-Mile presented by Appalachian Harley-Davidson at Port Royal Speedway.

That seems like as appropriate time as any to take stock of the season to date. The biggest story coming into the ‘22 campaign was the rule-balancing efforts intended to level the playing field in the Mission SuperTwins presented by S&S Cycle class.

While there are a number of dimensions to that story, one outcome has been the most competitive premier-class title fight at this point in the season since the all-conquering Indian FTR750 made its full-season debut in 2017.

The separation between title leader Jared Mees (No. 1 Indian Motorcycle/Progressive Insurance FTR750) and second-ranked Briar Bauman (No. 3 Indian Motorcycle/Progressive Insurance FTR750) is 16 points. That’s the third closest at this stage since ‘17, where the average separation from first to second has been 23.6 points. In other words, this year is a little tighter than usual in that respect. However, the championship hasn’t lacked for competition at the very top with Mees and Bauman now several years deep into their historic rivalry.

The real difference becomes more evident you dig a bit deeper down the order:

Dallas Daniels (No. 32 Estenson Racing Yamaha MT-07 DT) is third, also 16 points back. That’s the closest of that span, over which the average difference has been 50 points.

JD Beach (No. 95 Estenson Racing Yamaha MT-07 DT) is fourth, 29 points back. That’s also the closest of the time in question, the average of which has been 55.8 points back.

And Brandon Robinson (No. 44 Mission Roof Systems Indian FTR750) sits fifth, 39 points back. That too, is the closest of the span, and 30 points closer to first than the average gap of 69 points back.

Finally, all five of the riders ranked inside the top five have earned at least one victory in ‘22, which is more winners than in any of the aforementioned seasons at this point of the championship. Additionally, four different makes of motorcycles have finished on the podium (Indian, Yamaha, Harley-Davidson, and KTM), underlining the unusually competitive nature of the season.

So just how close is it? While the 39 points that separates first from fifth is a substantial margin, consider that at this point in the season a year ago, Mees was 31 points removed from first and ultimately took the title by 15 points – a 46-point swing that took place during the second half of the season.

Odds and Ends

If you’re going to lay odds, Mees and Bauman will naturally rank as the favorites. Both riders have proven their ability to finish out the campaign strong to secure the #1 plate more than once, and the remainder of the season is loaded with tracks they’ve excelled at in the past. The only races remaining at which neither factory Indian ace has won are the Castle Rock TT, which hasn’t been on the calendar in several years, and the Cedar Lake Short Track, which is brand new to the series.

That said, the shape of the second half also suggests we could be in for a serious Estenson Racing surge.

The Peoria TT and Castle Rock TT not only represent respective home rounds for Daniels and Beach, they also suit both their riding styles and equipment to the point that they may be considered favorites to go 1-2 at both venues.

Additionally, the MT-07 DT was potent enough at the Mission Red Mile that the title fight would likely be that much closer if the two hadn’t encountered separate issues during the doubleheader. Should that imposing Mile form carry over to Springfield and Sacramento, the Yamaha pilots have a chance to do some damage at tracks that otherwise would be expected to go to title leader Mees.

Meanwhile, Mission Roof Systems teammates Robinson and Jarod Vanderkooi (No. 20 Mission Roof Systems Indian FTR750) figure to be spoilers (at the minimum) going forward, having demonstrated race-winning pace at the most recent two rounds.

And that doesn’t even take into account the podium potential of Bronson Bauman (No. 37 Latus Motors Racing Harley-Davidson XG750R) and Davis Fisher (No. 67 Bob Lanphere’s BMC Racing Indian FTR750), who have each earned a runner-up finish already this season, Brandon Price (No. 92 Cory Texter Racing/JCS Racing Yamaha MT-07), who finished as a close runner-up at Port Royal a year ago, and James Rispoli (No. 43 Wally Brown Racing/Haversack KTM 890 Duke), who finished just 0.282 seconds off the win earlier this season at the Mission Red Mile I.

Stat Watch

However fast the Yamahas, Mees did manage to take one of two available wins at the Red Mile. As a result, he now owns 23 wins in the discipline, putting him even with the iconic Ricky Graham in a tie for fifth all time.

Should he sweep Springfield and Sacramento like he did a year ago, he’ll overtake Bubba Shobert and Bryan Smith to claim sole possession of third on the all-time order, trailing only legends Scott Parker and Chris Carr.

While Parker’s 55 Mile wins is realistically all but out of reach (and the inclusion of ‘all but’ is somewhat generous), his Half-Mile mark of 35 wins is very much in jeopardy.

Mees has already scooped two Half-Mile wins this season, moving him to within two victories of a tie with Parker for the all-time lead. And Mees has three more chances to add to his Half-Mile tally this season, starting with this weekend’s Mission Port Royal Half-Mile.

Other Notables

The Mission New York Short Track presented by Mad Max Indian Motorcycle at Weedsport Speedway saw history made when Cameron Smith (No. 34 Thee Cathy Gray/Al Barker Royal Enfield 650) qualified the Royal Enfield Twins FT for the Mission SuperTwins Main Event via the Mission Production Twins Challenge.

Smith’s runner-up result in the Mission Production Twins presented by Vance & Hines Main Event earned the manufacturer its maiden appearance in Progressive AFT’s premier class. While Smith now owns that distinction, it was one that had only been missing due to a combination of misfortune and injury as the team’s regular rider, Johnny Lewis (No. 10 Moto Anatomy X Powered by Royal Enfield 650), had demonstrated plenty of potential on the racebike this season, which continues to look more and more formidable as it develops.

With Smith’s entry, the 2022 Mission SuperTwins field has now seen representation by six different manufacturers (Indian Motorcycle, Yamaha, KTM, Kawasaki, and Royal Enfield), a 100% increase over the previous two seasons.

Smith only narrowly missed taking the Royal Enfield to victory in the Mission Production Twins Main due to the heroics of defending champion Cory Texter (No. 1 G&G Racing/Yamaha Racing Yamaha MT-07). Already slated to go down as the class’ all-time great, Texter has effectively secured his place as the category’s all-time winningest rider. He now boasts 17 Mission Production Twins wins, nearly one-third of the class’ grand total of 52 races.

With eight wins to his name, 2020 class champion James Rispoli could theoretically equal that tally by sweeping the remainder of the schedule. But that would be an unrealistic ask even if Rispoli and Wally Brown Racing weren’t already committed to running a partial schedule.

Texter still has some other win-related goals ahead of him, however, particularly if you include a sibling rivalry component. His sister, Shanya Texter-Bauman (No. 52 Indian Motorcycle/Progressive Insurance FTR750), stands as the winningest rider in Parts Unlimited AFT Singles presented by KICKER history. Her tally? 19 victories, just two more than Texter’s current Mission Production Twins total.

While current Parts Unlimited AFT Singles points leader Kody Kopp (No. 12 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 450 SX-FFE) is a long way off Texter-Bauman’s mark, he’ll move into a tie for tenth all-time with his next win despite only getting his first earlier this season. With five wins in eight races, Kopp stands a real chance of equaling or bettering the all-time class single season wins mark of eight posted by Dallas Daniels in 2020.