| September 7, 2022
The 2022 Progressive American Flat Track season was dealt a cruel blow by Mother Nature, (largely) raining out the series’ crown jewel event. A Labor Day weekend dirt track extravaganza that was intended to showcase six main events at the Illinois State Fairgrounds—each one promising significant title implications—was reduced to a single Mission Production Twins presented by Vance & Hines race before inclement weather brought Saturday’s Springfield Mile I to an early conclusion and washed out Sunday’s Springfield Mile II before it ever got rolling.
By Chris Martin
No rider was impacted by this development on the same magnitude as reigning Mission SuperTwins presented by S&S Cycle Champion Jared Mees, who came into the weekend as both the leader of a tight title fight and the event’s new co-promoter alongside wife Nichole.
Mees the promoter was no doubt left hugely disappointed. Mees the racer almost certainly was as well, although it’s debatable what it means for his title defense going forward.
The factory Indian ace came into the weekend as the winner of five of the last six Springfield Miles. Last year, he took a timely double win which played a critical role in his reclaiming the crown back from rival/teammate Briar Bauman. A similar performance this season would have put him in an exceptionally strong position heading into the season’s final two rounds.
If no replacement races are added to the schedule (the possibility of which is still unknown), Mees loses a pair of advantageous opportunities to pad his nine-point lead on Bauman before the season concludes at two venues where Bauman stands to prove hyper competitive. And with 25 points going to the winner and 20 to the runner-up at each stop, nine points is a tenuous lead with two races still to go.
While arguably fortuitous for Bauman and less-than-ideal for Mees, the loss of the Springfield Mile doubleheader seems to do serious damage to the dark horse championship hopes of Estenson Racing Yamaha’s Dallas Daniels and JD Beach.
As stellar as Mees’ recent record has been, the new rules put into effect in order to level the playing field this season had been most evident at the Mile tracks, where Yamaha had won two of three races in ‘22.
While, admittedly, Mees and Mission Roof Systems’ Brandon Robinson looked like the favorites in the lead-up to Saturday’s main, Daniels and Beach were both firmly in contention and in serious need of big weekends to narrow their respective 16- and 29-point deficits.
Instead, every rider was paid a single point and paid Saturday’s posted purse based on their qualifying efforts, and two decent chances to make up ground were removed from the equation.
It was an unavoidable situation that robs the championship some multi-manufacturer/four-rider championship intrigue, but, at the same time, ratchets up the tension and drama on the Mees-Bauman front.
Meanwhile, a static championship situation in Parts Unlimited AFT Singles presented by Kicker only strengthens the position of runaway title leader Kody Kopp.
The Red Bull Factory KTM pilot retains his 48-point lead, meaning, if the season holds just two more races, Kopp needs only acquire two more points to seal the championship. One 17th-place finish would be enough to achieve that, a tally that is almost guaranteed with a provisional start still in his pocket.
The weekend’s solitary main event delivered huge amounts of drama, but relatively little movement in terms of the championship even though it had enormous potential to do so.
Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson’s Jesse Janisch suffered a mechanical DNF early in the twice-stopped race, creating an opportunity for reigning Mission Production Twins champion Cory Texter to eat up nearly the entirety of the 24-point gap that separated the two.
However, the G&G Racing Yamaha star struggled mightily to compete up front all day, instead struggling just to break inside the top 10.
He ultimately finished ninth, clawing back just seven points on Janisch and leaving the Wisconsin native relatively unscathed. He now boasts a still-healthy 17-point advantage heading into the season’s penultimate race in his home state.
With title fighters and championship regulars Janisch and Texter suffering from unusually off nights, class part-timers James Rispoli, Dan Bromley, Cole Zabala and Mikey Rush stole the show.
Wally Brown Racing’s Rispoli and Helipower Racing/Las Vegas Harley-Davidson-backed Rush initially battled it out before Memphis Shades/Corbin/Vinson Road Boring teammates Bromley and Zabala worked together to draft back into contention.
A late red flag set up a final sprint to the stripe. Rush was forced to start from the back of the pack after his bike overheated during the stoppage but still managed to slash up to fourth.
Ultimately, Rispoli gave the developing WBR KTM 890 Duke a second win, edging the Yamahas of Bromley and Zabala by 0.096 seconds and 0.145 seconds, respectively.
Rispoli said, “When the red flag came out, I knew it would put these guys back in the game, and I was like, ‘Man, we’ll be off the podium if we do this wrong.’ So I tried to put my head down. Wally Brown Racing has made so many updates to the motorcycle and we’re continuing to get better and better.”