It’s no secret that Indian hired, perhaps, the three best flat track racers on the planet for the debut season with its new FTR750. Reigning Grand National Champion, Bryan Smith (coming from Kawasaki) teams with former Grand National Champions Brad Baker and Jared Mees (both formerly Harley riders) as Indian attempts to take the title in the 18-round series. The first race is tonight at Daytona.
UPDATE: Indian finished 1/2 in the race with Jared Mees taking the win ahead of Indian teammate Bryan Smith. Henry Wiles finished third on his Kawasaki.
Here is the pre-race press release from Indian:
Daytona, FL (March 14, 2017) – The DAYTONA TT marks the start of a new era of flat track racing as Indian sets out to unleash its FTR750 and Wrecking Crew consisting of Bryan Smith, Brad Baker and Jared Mees.
Look out for the race number 1 for Bryan Smith, race number 6 for Brad Baker and race number 9 for Jared Mees.
The freshly rebranded American Flat Track series (formerly AMA Pro Flat Track) has an expanded 18-round schedule and includes a mix of track configurations (six Miles, seven Half-Miles, two Short Tracks and three TTs) and boasts the most number of rounds ever on a schedule since 2011.
Here are the dates of the 18 rounds:
Mar 16: DAYTONA TT – Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, Fla
Mar 25: Atlanta Short Track – Dixie Speedway, Woodstock, Ga
Apr 1: Charlotte Half-Mile – Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord, NC
May 13: Arizona Mile – Turf Paradise, Phoenix, Ariz
May 20: Sacramento Mile – Cal Expo Fairgrounds, Sacramento, Calif
May 27-28: Springfield Mile I* – Illinois State Fairgrounds, Springfield, Ill
Jun 3: Red Mile – The Red Mile, Lexington, Ky
Jun 17: OKC Mile – Remington Park, Oklahoma City
Jun 24: Lima Half-Mile – Allen County Fairgrounds, Lima, Ohio
Jul 8: Rolling Wheels Half-Mile – Rolling Wheels Raceway Park, Elbridge, NY
Jul 29: Calistoga Half-Mile – Calistoga Speedway, Calistoga, Calif
Aug 6: Buffalo Chip TT presented by Indian Motorcycle – Campgrounds, Sturgis, SD
Aug 8: Black Hills Half-Mile – Black Hills Speedway, Rapid City, SD
Aug 13: Peoria TT – Peoria Motorcycle Club, Peoria, Ill
Sep 2-3: Springfield Mile II** – Illinois State Fairgrounds, Springfield, Ill.
Sept. 9: Williams Grove Half-Mile – Williams Gove Speedway, Mechanicsburg, Pa
Sept. 23: Lone Star Half-Mile – Texas Motor Speedway, Fort Worth, Texas
Oct. 7: Perris Short Track – Perris Auto Speedway, Perris, Calif
* AFT Singles will race a TT on May 27
** AFT Singles will race a Short Track on September 2
On race day, Indian Motorcycle owners can receive a limited edition, race-inspired patch. These patches will also be available from Indian Motorcycle of Daytona Beach dealership throughout Daytona Bike Week.
Everyone can watch the race live online at http://fanschoice.tv/american-flat-track on Thursday 16th March.
The AFT Twins Race (25 laps) kicks off at 03:10am Central European Time [7:10 Pacific Standard Time].
See more of MD’s great photography:
Watching video now on YT. Not saying I wouldn’t go depending on proximity to the track, but am saying, based on the home brew likely-mobile phone video (admittedly barely acceptable quality), this does not impress like the half mile tracks of my youth, and “miles” away from the mile tracks (pun intended).
That “track” is a one time thing to kick the season off. They’ll be back to regular venues this weekend in Georgia.
Just curious why some of the comments are blaming NASCAR. What have they got to do with anything here? Are they involved in AFT in some way?
I missed it. So is there no way to watch the race? It only airs live?
You can now find it on youtube. Do a search for it.
Please post search terms. A dozen different search terms failed (all included the date).
Thanks Gary. Couldn’t find it unfortunately. Maybe the owner of the video was informed that he didn’t own it after all and had to take it down.
Race was great to watch despite the buffering on Fanschoice. Was the track ideal? No. But it wasn’t the disaster I expected from NASCAR either.
The Big Twins on the TT and short track may excite the casual fan but history shows that a smaller displacement engine is faster.
Memory is fuzzy, was Steve Eklund the one to end the domination of Peoria with a Yamaha 500?
It was beautiful! The Indians had a pig roast in celebration!
Really? … All you can do is “updated race results?” You are missing out on some great article titles …
Indians massacre Hogs at the inaugural Daytona TT!!
Indians feast on Hogs at Daytona TT BBQ.
The list is endless.
Congrats to Indian and American Flat Track racing, this should be a great series.
We get no love in the Northeast 🙁
Really! At least Michigan fans can get to beautiful Lima,Ohio for some racing.
vspracing.com
Michael Lock is an impressive fellow. He did a lot to help establish a good dealer network for Ducati, communicated well with the Italians about needed changes in everything from machine reliability to the clothing lineup. He seems to be doing good things for Flat Track (though I wish it was still called “Dirt Track’)!
Agreed .. this recent interview with him was one of the more interesting motorcycle industry related discussions I’ve heard in some time. Worth a listen.
Two Enthusiasts Podcast #44 – Michael Lock
http://www.asphaltandrubber.com/podcast/two-enthusiasts-podcast-episode-44/
Great job by Don Mullin to win his heat race and run up front;a real workman effort. Jake Johnson did amazing to coax that XG around that tight track layout..Sad to say but I doubt that track as laid out and the weird qualifying format will draw many folks from the Main Street bars and clown show that makes up so much of what Bike Week has become. If there was a decent Mile track ala Springfield down there they might have good chance-that’s the spectacle people would turn out for.
Flat track is great racing and deserves more exposure. This season should be exciting.
Chris Carr “designed” this track??? What design? All the places that have run TT tracks over the years and this is the best they can do? An oval with a short, tight “S” turn and a slight jump now qualifies as a TT track? My local short track/TT course in Geneva, NY was better than this. On a Saturday night Swannie’s was the place to be! And for you left coasters, how does this compare to Ascot?
I had high hopes for the coming season with the return of Indian and all the other makes along with Harley’s new bike. If this is the quality of the product that the AMA is going to use to appeal to the young, extreme sport, online, digital generation then flat track will go down sooner rather than later. The whole program with it’s odd qualifing towards the finals (the LCQ was run before the Semis) smacks of the heavy hand of NASCAR and the France family of Clown princes and princesses.
Then there was that guy in the pits Bubba Blackwell, some has been Evel Knievel wannabe. The fact that he is so heavily sponsored by Harley should have disqualified him from being on the air let alone that he doesn’t know s**t from shinola about flat track. He’s a “Bubba” alright!
Whaaaaaaat?
No crying please. I was there and it was great… better racing as the track got better. I’m sure they might change it a bit next year, but with the “bounds” they had to do it in, it was a great first year effort. They really didn’t have much room, but the racing was much better than past racing on the white limestone surface.
Track could have been better but in the physical confines they had to do it and the overall product delivered upon entering the speedway… 100% AWESOME… Sorry you missed it and yes, I get it… everything’s better in NY! 🙂
Glad to hear a first hand report. Wish I was there ..
re: “No crying please…”
…in Flat Track or Baseball.
this is “dude code” now get yourself together.
With 27 years to grow in legend since its demise, nothing can possibly compare to Ascot. Your mention brought back the memory of my first visit there (for sprint cars, not bikes) some 50 years ago, although I can smell the alky fumes even now and remember the terrifying and beautiful music.Thanks for the nostalgia.
Good racing last night. I think I enjoyed some of the AFT Singles races better than the Twins. Dalton Gauthier got the win on his Yamaha (loved the throw back colors – bike and leathers).
The Indians looked strong all night in the Twins. I don’t think Indian could’ve scripted a better night than a Mees and Smith 1-2 finish, with the exception of Baker’s crash. I hope he’s okay. That looked incredibly painful and potentially very dangerous from an injury standpoint.
A great night for Indian! Cant wait to see them on a Mile track. The Daytona TT track, while certainly a cool idea, needs to be longer to really let those twins do their thing. I am sure it will get better as time goes on.
I wouldn’t want to part of any racing team called “Wrecking Crew”.
It’s bad Karma at the very least.
man up, its a good name with a great history behind it! what are you a millennial? did you go to school wearing a bicycle helmet? lol
ROFL
PS I think it was a football helmet
Well, it may have been shown live today, but I don’t see it now to view. 🙁
Alright! The March 25th date at the Dixie Speedway is only 20 minutes from where I work. Go to the races folks.
I had no idea till earlier this morning…I’m 5 minutes away..buying tix today!!!
Hope they do well. FLat Track was a pretty big deal when I was a young man. Would be nice to see if co e nack.
it come back