| May 14, 2024
Last year’s Grand National Championship fight was undeniably compelling as a candidate for GOAT honors and the sport’s crown prince raised their games ever higher in their competing quests for the crown.
Briar Bauman becomes the fourth different winner of the season with Ventura ST victory
By Chris Martin | Photography by Tim Lester
The sheer entertainment factor provided by reigning king Jared Mees and rising rival Dallas Daniels also did well to mask the fact that their combined excellence happened to suck up all available oxygen with the efficiency of a thermobaric munition, resulting in the fewest number of main event winners the premier Mission AFT SuperTwins class had seen in years.
While still early, 2024 is shaping up to be equally dramatic and potentially much more diverse; in just five races, the season has already delivered four different winners, matching last year’s end tally. Several other early-season podium finishers and prior-year race winners are awaiting an opportunity to strike.
At Ventura, the spotlight shone down on Briar Bauman. The two-time Grand National Champion came into Ventura Raceway having yet to finish on the podium through the year’s first four races after earning squatter’s rights on the box in seasons past. The Rick Ware Racing star rectified that situation in absolutely crushing form, controlling the race from start (to restart, to restart) to finish.
After struggling to get just near the podium earlier this season, Briar Bauman dominated the Ventura Short Track and became the fourth different SuperTwins winner in 2024.
The lopsided performance was actually somewhat welcome after an overdose of drama drenched the race in its earliest moments as a result of crashes in each of the race’s three starts.
In the first, Moto Anatomy x Royal Enfield’s Johnny Lewis caught traction and was sent surging up the track, where he bounced off the wall and crashed back into the pack. The resultant chain reaction also caught out Rackley Racing’s Ben Lowe, promising GOMR rookie Declan Bender, and Big Red Super Twins’ Morgen Mischler, who actually impacted Lewis and his fallen machine, sending him flipping through the air.
Incredibly, all four riders walked away from the accident, although only Lowe continued on to the second start.
That one was similarly abbreviated with local ace (and Mission Roof Systems suspension tech) Kayl Kolkman crashing early, forcing him to line up at the back of the field for the third start after running as high as second following the initial launch.
Dallas Daniels is the new SuperTwins points leader.
The third and final start very nearly suffered the same fate, but Rackley Racing’s Davis Fisher jumped right back up and remounted his Indian quickly enough to rejoin the fray before the field could make its way around the short and scenic beachside track.
The early chaos must have hit the racing gods’ quota for mayhem, as Bauman faced little resistance while clearing off from that point forward, ultimately lapping up inside the top ten en route to his win.
The outing may prove to be the breakthrough ride Bauman felt coming. Despite having a year of experience on the KTM and with the Rick Ware Racing operation, the two-time Grand National Champion started from scratch in some equally pivotal ways for 2024. Following years of working in close collaboration with Dave Zanotti and Michelle Disalvo, Bauman elected to start fresh this season, now circled by wife and de facto team manager Shayna Texter-Bauman along with fellow Grand National Champions Kenny Coolbeth and Jake Johnson while riding an all-new chassis designed by Ricky Howerton.
The revamped program flashed some promise in the opening four rounds. It demonstrated dominance in its fifth. The weeks ahead will shed light on what the point of the night was exactly, high point or turning point.
“We’ve got a new group with the Rick Ware Racing team, and it’s taken us a little bit to get going,” Bauman said. “It’s round five and we hadn’t been on the podium yet. Unfortunately, that had become the standard for us—just wanting a podium. I kept telling my team the next move was a win. I felt we were just a click off from winning one. To do it in Ventura… I saw some people I hadn’t seen in a while here in California, and to do it for Shayna, Kenny and Jake—it’s very rewarding for me to give it to them because they deserve it a lot.”
Second place went to new title leader Daniels, who fought his way up from fifth to second in a hurry. Once there, he found himself unable to chase down Bauman, at least once the KTM-mounted rider got a sense the Estenson Racing ace was making a concerted push to do so.
“After that second restart, I was back a little bit, but I felt like I was running a pretty good pace and we had some good mid-corner speed,” Daniels said. “I felt like I could sit back and stalk Briar for a little bit, but he saw me there. It’s different racing these guys who have won some championships; they just have another gear when they need it. That’s something I need to figure out.”
Third went to reigning champ Mees, who did the Mees thing by salvaging a podium after looking to be in danger of finishing fifth with Fairway Ford’s Jarod Vanderkooi and Mission Roof System’s Brandon Robinson in hot pursuit.
Bauman, Daniels and Jared Mees made up the Ventura Short Track SuperTwins podium.
While outside the top five, Fastrack KTM’s Bronson Bauman and Underground Suspension Yamaha’s Kolkman were two of the better stories of the night. Bronson pulled off a magician’s trick to avoid running over the downed Lewis and then completed a charge from 15th to sixth. Meanwhile, Kolkman advanced the same number of positions, restarting in 16th (dead last) to an eventual seventh.
Kayl Kolkman has long made his presence felt in limited opportunities, scoring top 10s pretty much every season despite only entering a race here or there each year. He was expected to excel at his hometown Short Track in Ventura, even while pulling double duty as Brandon Robinson’s suspension tech. He didn’t disappoint, even if he might have been left wondering what might have been if he hadn’t crashed and been forced to restart from the back of the field.
Kayl Kolkman was left wondering what might have been if he hadn’t crashed and been forced to restart from the back of the field.
Kolkman said, “I felt like the bike was pretty solid right off the truck. I tried a couple of things for the heat race and felt like I kind of went the wrong way with that. I corrected it, and the bike felt really good in the main event. I think I was actually up to second at the first start, but we had the restart, and I cut the inside too short and got into the side of Vanderkooi and went tumbling. That started us all the way in the back, and I just put my head down and did the best I could coming from last with a bent-up bike.”
Mission Foods/Zanotti Racing’s Trevor Brunner, Memphis Shades/Vinson Construction’s Dan Bromley, and Latus Motors Harley-Davidson’s Max Whale all added additional top 10s to their respective stats sheets by finishing eighth through 10th, respectively.
Daniels now leads over Robinson (103-101) with Mees (93) and Bauman (84) very much in contention.
Trent Lowe (48) and Tom Drane (59) battle for the early lead in the Singles main.
AFT Singles
JPG Motorsports Chase Saathoff looked set to prove the wisdom of the old racing adage that second wins are easier than first wins, rocketing to an immediate one-second advantage in the Parts Unlimited AFT Singles main.
Of course, second wins aren’t exactly handed out either, as Saathoff learned after being tracked down and dispensed by Aussie Tom Drane and former class champion Dalton Gauthier on the D&D Certified KTM.
Lowe had a strong outing and was rewarded with a spot on the Singles podium.
Estenson Racing runner Drane slammed through, shut the door on a counter attempt, and then set sail.
Gauthier was a bit more patient but found his way by as well. “I felt like I was the fastest guy on the track at the beginning, but I took too long to get past Chase,” Gauthier said. “Tom rode a really good race. Those guys kind of duked it out for a little bit, and I was waiting for a mistake to try to pass them both maybe. But I’m cool with the second and bouncing back from the DNF last week. I feel like my hard work is paying off.”
Dalton Gauthier (79) and Drane mix it up before Drane ran off with the Singles win. Drane trails championship leader Kody Kopp, fourth in Ventura, by 14 points.
Matters only got worse for Saathoff. Before it was over, he lost two more positions, with Turner Racing Honda’s Trent Lowe and Rick Ware Racing KTM’s Kody Kopp working through to claim third and fourth, respectively.
Turning Racing Honda’s prodigious rookie Evan Renshaw is starting to show the skills that earned him a big reputation in the amateur ranks, battling more and more with the established front-runners each week. And he did so in Ventura even though he was still on the mend after crashing out of podium contention at the previous round in Fort Worth.
Turning Racing Honda’s prodigious rookie Evan Renshaw is starting to show the skills that earned him a big reputation in the amateur ranks
Renshaw said, “I’m stoked just to be here after my crash in Texas. I got away with just a sprained ankle, and I healed up pretty quickly. P6 is great; I’ll take it.”
The result tightens the title fight somewhat, although Kopp remains in control in his hunt for an unprecedented third title with 108 points to Drane’s 94 and Saathoff’s 90. CN
SUPERTWINS
- Briar Bauman (KTM) 42 laps
- Dallas Daniels (Yam) 4.613
- Jared Mees (Ind) 7.170
- Jarod Vanderkooi (Ind) 7.812
- Brandon Robinson (Ind) 9.251
- Bronson Bauman (KTM) 9.978
- Kayl Kolman (Yam) 12.627
- Trevor Brunner (KTM) 14.414
- Dan Bromley (Hon) 14.979
- Max Whale (H-D) 41 laps
SINGLES
- Tom Drane (Yam) 27 laps
- Dalton Gauthier (KTM) 1.394
- Trent Lowe (Hon) 2.105
- Kody Kopp (KTM) 2.744
- Chase Saathoff (Hon) 3.329
- Evan Renshaw (Hon) 6.385
- Tarren Santero (Hon) 7.619
- James Ott (Hus) 7.937
- Logan Eisenhard (KTM) 8.896
- Tyler Raggio (KTM) 11.820