2024 American Flat Track Round 16 Results

| September 17, 2024

As the 2024 Progressive American Flat Track season reached its conclusion at the inaugural Lake Ozark Short Track, reigning series king Jared Mees could have easily chosen to battle no one, effectively ignore the field, and simply focus on completing the task at hand. With just three points required to do what no rider in the series’ seven-decade history has done before—claim an unprecedented 10th Grand National Championship—it would have been a reasonable decision had the factory Indian Motorcycle legend elected to stay safe and cruise his way to immortality.

Jared Mees (1) at Lake Ozark Short Track — **Jared Mees (1) leads the way early in the SuperTwins main.**

By Chris Martin | Photography Tim Lester

Of course, that was in opposition to the approach that put him in the position to up that championship tally to double digits. So, instead, he chose to battle everyone, past, present and future. Mees took on the iconic Scott Parker and his once-untouchable nine GNCs; Chris Carr with his 78 main-event wins (second all-time) and nine Short Track victories (tied for first); Mission Roof Systems’ Brandon Robinson—the only rider who could hope to stand in his way for title number 10; Dallas Daniels—the rising star who earlier put Mees’ Mission AFT SuperTwins Championship chances on the ropes before missing time due to injury; and every other rider in the world’s most talented field of dirt trackers, all who hoped to end their season with a highlight performance.

Mees didn’t only battle them; he defeated them all in one final triumphant ride—as he officially announced his retirement the morning after the race—that serves as the exclamation point in his application for Greatest of All Time consideration.

His trademark fighting spirit was on display from the start as Mees and Robinson engaged in an early back-and-forth scrap for the lead that made obvious Mees’ intentions to do more than circulate midpack in an extended tour of half-speed victory laps.

Dallas Daniels (32) at Lake Ozark Short Track — **Dallas Daniels (32) did everything he could to stay in championship contention but had to settle for second in the race and third in the championship.**

In fact, Mees’ relentless push at the front ultimately broke the desperate Robinson’s pursuit, leaving his challenger more than a second back in his wake as Mees took the halfway flags.As the champ was escaping the fray, Daniels was finally joining it. Stuck down near the bottom of the top 10 in the race’s opening laps and facing fitness concerns at a physically demanding Short Track approximately two months removed from breaking his femur, the Estenson Racing hero’s 12-race perfect podium record on the season seemed destined to fall in the season finale.However, Daniels proved himself beyond doubt again, first working his way past Zanotti Racing’s Trevor Brunner and Sody Enterprises/Memphis Shades Suzuki-mounted Dan Bromley. Next up on his hit list were Rackley Racing’s Davis Fisher and XR750-armed Sammy Halbert.

Daniels then dispatched Rick Ware Racing’s Briar Bauman and quickly closed in on another podium with only Mees, Robinson, and Fairway Ford/JMC Motorsport’s Jarod Vanderkooi left in front of him as the minutes ticked away.

Mees re-entered the picture as he negotiated heavy traffic; Daniels’ charge past Robinson and Vanderkooi nearly brought him to within striking distance of the champ by the time the race opened its final lap.

But Mees held on in first—as history dictated—to reign victorious in the final AFT race of his storied career.

Among a stunning and lengthy list of achievements, Saturday’s triumph elevated Mees to first all-time in Grand National Championships at 10 (2009, ’12, ’14, ‘15, ’17, ’18, ’21, ’22, ’23 and ’24), tied for first in career Short Track wins at nine, and second all-time in total GNC main event wins at 78, while already boasting the most-ever Half-Mile wins at 37 and second most Mile wins at 30.

Jared Mees and crew at Lake Ozark Short Track — **The Mees crew celebrated his record-setting 10th AFT Championship at what was his final race in AFT.**

Even though Daniels came up short of the championship and of victory on the night, he still managed to make his point loudly and clearly. Rather than stew on what might have been, the ascendant pilot can instead look ahead to what will be, as he projects to be the odds-on Grand National Championship favorite in 2025.

“I could stand up here and tell you a novel about what I learned about myself these past few weeks,” Daniels said. “My mom was putting my dang socks on for me eight weeks ago, and now we’re standing up here on the podium. Family, friends, everyone up in the stands—you learn who really cares about you when you go through hard times. I knew all that before, but it was good to have that reminder.

“Today was a weird day. I hate to say it felt good to struggle, but it felt good to keep chipping away at it. It was fun. It was fun to be back and work together with the team and come out with a bike that was capable of winning. It was an awesome race. And what can you say about Jared Mees? That guy something else. Obviously, I can sit here and give you my sob story and say I think I could have won it or wish I would have or whatever. But at the end of the day, you’ve got to make it to the end, and he did—10 times. Man, you battle for that thing once or twice, and you earn some new respect for the guys who have won it once. He’s an animal. And if it was his last race or not, it was a pleasure racing with him. I learned so much from him.”

Jarod Vanderkooi (20) at Lake Ozark Short Track — **Jarod Vanderkooi (20) finished out the SuperTwins Championship on the podium and sixth on the year.**

Vanderkooi locked up his second podium of the season in third, while Robinson completed the best all-around season of his career with a fourth-place finish that secured his first-ever championship top two four points ahead of Daniels.

Bauman wound up ranked fourth with a season-ending run to fifth.

Mission Roof Systems’ Brandon Robinson added a 13th top-five finish of the season to round out what was a career year for the decorated veteran who ended up second in the championship. Reflecting on his ’24 campaign, he said, “The season overall was fantastic, probably the best year in my career. I’m pretty pumped on how the year went for me. P2 is cool. It was a little lucky with the unforeseen instances happening with Dallas and whatnot, but regardless, my team deserved it. They put a lot of effort into it this year and gave me everything and anything I needed to go out there and win races. Kudos to them. Those guys make it possible.”

Following the race, Mees spoke like a racer who was planning on riding off into the sunset in some fashion or another, although his official announcement of retirement wouldn’t come until the next day. He said, “What a day. I came in with a pretty good cushion on the lead, and I wanted to cap my career off not with just 10 championships but with a last win and walk away in style. All day long, we were just a tick off and Brandon was going really, really well all day. We were just missing that piece of the puzzle but found it for the main event. I just kept putting my laps together and tried to stay smooth. We ran into some lappers, and I knew they were holding me up bad. I didn’t want to get to them too quick and jeopardize anything. I’m just glad it all worked out the way it did. I’m going to soak this one up for sure.”

Sunday morning, Mees made it official. “2024 is closed up,” he said. “We ended it with a big win last night and a 10th Grand National Championship, and I’m officially retired. Thank you, guys, for an incredible run. I couldn’t have done it without the support from all of my friends, family and supporters that became like family. Last night was a dream way to cap off an awesome career.”

SINGLES

Rick Ware Racing’s Kody Kopp came into the weekend approaching a similar landmark to Mees and under similar circumstances. Despite seeing his factory KTM ride evaporate prior to the start of the season, Kopp was just a handful of points removed from becoming the first rider to score three Parts Unlimited AFT Singles crowns.

Jared Mees and Kody Kopp at Lake Ozark Short Track — **Mees and Kody Kopp finished out the AFT season with the number-one plates. Kopp was third on the night in the Singles main, which was enough to lock in his third Singles title.**

His initial plan of attack was not all that far removed from Mees’ either. After initially dropping back to fifth to take stock of the conditions and his competition, Kopp slashed his way forward, passing Turner Racing Honda’s Evan Renshaw and Estenson Racing’s Tom Drane in one fell swoop to claim third. He then tracked down and overhauled Renshaw’s teammate, Trent Lowe, to take control of second. But Kopp’s pursuit of race leader Chase Saathoff was interrupted when a red flag flew with under a minute remaining on the clock.

And any plans to end the season atop the podium were reformulated when the race restarted amid a flurry of two-wheeled haymakers. Throwing the biggest blows were rivals Saathoff and Drane, who had been provided with one last opportunity to gain the upper hand on the other.

This time around it was Drane who came out on top, a most satisfying outcome for the Australian after ending up on the ground in two prior entanglements, a result that also saw him edge Kopp for most wins this season with seven to Kopp’s tally of six.

Tom Drane at Lake Ozark Short Track — **Tom Drane won the Singles main and finished out the year second in the championship.**

“That restart really helped me there at the end,” Drane said. “I was able to fight back and had a good battle with Chase. It was good to finally get something back on him after all the stuff he’s done to me this year. It was good to see that. I can’t thank my team enough for all their effort all year. That was a good ride, and we’ve done a lot of work all season. The bike was working good, and I can’t thank my guys enough.”

Meanwhile, Kopp struck on the final lap to steal the final podium place away from Honda teammates Renshaw and Lowe, allowing him to celebrate his third consecutive class crown from the rostrum.

Brandon Robinson at Lake Ozark Short Track — **Brandon Robinson added a 13th top-five finish of the season and ended up second in the championship.**

Parts Unlimited AFT Singles Rookie of the Year Evan Renshaw notched up his best Progressive AFT finish yet at the season finale, finishing in fourth just 0.251 of a second off the win. The Turner Racing Honda pilot showed flashes of even greater potential throughout the season—potential he hopes to more regularly tap into in ’25 with a year of experience under his belt. He said, “My year had a lot of ups and downs, but we got a lot of good notes from it that will transfer over to next year that we’ll be on top of. First year, I came out and expected more from myself, so I’m bummed this last round. I was close to a podium, but we learned a lot. There’s nothing to complain about—it was my rookie year. I’ll just take what I learned and see what I can do next year.”

Kopp is widely expected to graduate to premier-class duty in 2025, but with whom and on what still remains to be seen. However, he certainly left his mark on the 450cc class as he exits with more championships (three) and race wins (22) than any other rider, among a long list of records and accomplishments.

Kopp said, “This was an absolutely unreal season. To go from basically getting my ride revoked following two championships to then building this one heck of a team, family-based operation, in Rick Ware Racing. It feels way better than the other two, I’ll tell you that. This is my favorite by far. It wasn’t without adversity and maybe we didn’t check off our wins goal for the year. But tonight, I think I had the speed to win it, but we just played it safe because championships are worth way more than those race wins. I’m just super thankful to everyone who backed this whole thing, going back to when I was 4 years old and started riding a motorcycle.

“This is the third championship, but we’re just getting started. We’ll see what next year brings. See you in 2025. If I had plans, I would talk about them, but I don’t have any at the moment. I want to be going in circles, and I want to be on the big bikes.” CN