UPDATE June 6, 2025
This weekend’s Short Track at Lucas Oil Speedway, scheduled for Saturday, June 7 in Wheatland, MO, has been postponed due to inclement weather. The event has been rescheduled for Friday, July 18.
The Short Track at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Missouri, round six of the 2025 American Flat Track season, is scheduled for Saturday, June 7.
This is a press release/race preview from AFT…
Title Favorites vs. Tadman at Lucas Oil Speedway
Daytona Beach, FL (June 4, 2025) – An AFT Singles presented by Kicker title fight that has both met and defied expectations resumes on Saturday, June 7, with the inaugural Short Track at Lucas Oil Speedway, Round 6 of the 2025 Progressive American Flat Track season, sanctioned by AMA Pro Racing.
The Big Picture
As the series arrives in Wheatland, Missouri, the championship standings stand precisely as predicted in the preseason – at least from a big picture perspective—with Tom Drane (No. 59 Estenson Racing Yamaha YZ450F) and Chase Saathoff (No. 88 RWR/Parts Plus Honda CRF450R) leading the way.
Drane has a narrow five-point advantage due to superior consistency, while Saathoff holds the upper hand in having shone brighter on his brightest nights thus far in ‘25.
However, the domination that was both hoped and feared from the duo in the wake of Kody Kopp’s (No. 1 Bob Lanphere/KTM/Fastrack Racing KTM 450 SX-F) transition to road racing has not materialized.
Drane is currently mired in the longest winless streak of his pro career since waiting until his eighth start to get a maiden Progressive AFT win, while Saathoff is still seeking to attain the sort of podium regularity that frequently defines a successful championship campaign.
Meanwhile, 80% of this season’s wins belong to either the exiting champion who participated in only the opening two races or the fresh-faced newcomer who has participated in just the most recent two.
With a month to regroup, look for Drane and Saathoff to come out swinging this weekend in an attempt to re-assert their assumed authority over the class with 11 races still in play.
Bigger than the Big Picture
As alluded to above, the stunning emergence of rookie Kage Tadman (No. 288 Roof Systems/Old Oak Ranch KTM 450 SX-F) during the California swing is arguably the class’ biggest story of the season to date, whatever the championship standings may suggest.
Tadman became the first rider in AFT Singles history to win each of his first two Main Events as a professional. Not only that, he did so with remarkable speed and style, while snaring every available checkered flag along the way, be it heat race, challenge race, or Main Event.
What can Tadman possibly serve up as an encore to the encore?
It’ll be fascinating to see how he reacts as the spotlight brightens while he travels further away from home to compete.
The pressure is on, and at some point he has to actually look like a rookie, doesn’t he?
While there’s a lot standing in his way if he hopes to make it three-for-three, he’ll be aided by the fact that Lucas Oil Speedway is an unknown for everyone involved, not just the rookies.
On the Horizon
The focus on Tadman has both removed some pressure from, and raised the bar for, another heralded rookie set to make his class debut this weekend.
Before the season, it was Walker Porter (No. 100 American Honda/Mission Foods CRF450R) not Tadman, who garnered the lion’s share of the attention afforded to the series’ newcomers.
Having finally turned 16 earlier this month, 2024 Nicky Hayden AMA Flat Track Horizon Award winner Porter will join his teammate, 2019 Nicky Hayden AMA Flat Track Horizon Award winner, Trevor Brunner (No. 21 American Honda/Mission Foods CRF450R), under the Turner Racing banner.
Porter is a big-league talent. Ignoring the accomplishments of Tadman, it’ll be interesting to see how quickly he adapts when presented with pro-caliber competition.
Meanwhile, while the focus on Tadman could allow Porter to come in somewhat under the radar, the same could be true for Brunner in regards to Porter.
Don’t look now, but Brunner has positioned himself as a sneaky strong title contender. Off to a quiet start in his return to AFT Singles action, Brunner beat Drane and Saathoff to score his first podium of the season last time out, closing to within 14 points of the title lead in the process.
Brunner is a highly decorated rider with Rookie of the Year honors in both AFT Singles and Mission AFT SuperTwins to go along with his Horizon Award. He also ranks in the career top ten in AFT Singles victories and stands as just one of five career Grand Slammers in the class.
While Drane and Saathoff continue to search for answers, Brunner has an opportunity to provide his own solution and at last secure the championship that has thus far eluded him.
Embarrassment of Riches
Beyond the riders already discussed, the class boasts a number of riders who have demonstrated the potential to break out to claim a first Progressive AFT victory on any given weekend.
Fourth-ranked Tarren Santero (No. 75 Mission Roof Systems Honda CRF450R) was on the box two rounds again at Ventura.
Fifth-ranked Aidan RoosEvans (No. 26 FRA Trust/ATV’s and More Yamaha YZ450F) is performing as well as he ever has on a week-in, week-out basis and is notoriously strong at four-wheel biased venues.
2023 Nicky Hayden AMA Flat Track Horizon Award winner Evan Renshaw (No. 65 1st Impressions Race Team Husqvarna FC450) claimed his first podium earlier this season and is hungry for more.
Bradon Pfanders (No. 83 Hannum’s HD/Pfanders Racing KTM 450 SX-F) is the definition of a breakout waiting to happen, flashing front-running speed whenever Lady Luck allows.
Build. Train. Race.
Royal Enfield’s hugely successful and popular Build. Train. Race. (BTR) program is back in action this weekend for its penultimate round.
Since its inception, BTR has injected new talent and excitement into the series as highlights, celebrates, and encourages the involvement of women in flat track racing.
Through three races, three different riders—Emma Gottsch (No. 5 Royal Enfield/Parts Unlimited/Arai), Taia Little (No. 11 Royal Enfield/Parts Unlimited/Arai), and Madicela Rodriguez (No. 113 Royal Enfield/Parts Unlimited/Arai) – have split top honors.
Can someone else step forward to make it four in four?
UDPATE June 3, 2025
Bauman Leads the Charge into Inaugural Short Track at Lucas Oil Speedway
This is a press release/race preview from AFT…
Daytona Beach, FL (June 3, 2025) – Progressive American Flat Track, sanctioned by AMA Pro Racing, will conclude its unprecedented run of six consecutive Short Tracks to open the 2025 campaign with the inaugural Short Track at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Missouri, on Saturday, June 7.
Missouri Loves Company
This weekend marks the Grand National Championship’s 20th visit to the “Show Me State,” although just its second in the last 20 years.
Previous stops were hosted by Wentzville, St. Louis, Sedalia, Joplin, and Odessa, with Wheatland now set to join that list.
An all-new racing venue known as Wheatland Raceway opened on the east side of town in 2001. Within five years, new ownership completely transformed the facility with a multi-million dollar renovation that resulted in Lucas Oil Speedway, aka, the “Diamond of Dirt Tracks.”
Featuring a pristine 3/8-mile clay oval, a 1.2-mile offroad track, and go-kart circuit, and the drag-boat friendly Lake Lucas – and top-notch facilities and amenities to boot – Lucas Oil Speedway represents a full half of Wheatland in terms of acreage and stands as a national powerhouse on the four-wheeled dirt track racing scene.
The addition of the world’s greatest two-wheeled dirt track racers only further cements the venue’s outstanding reputation.
Keep It Rollin’
The month-plus layoff between rounds may have come as a relief to some of the Mission AFT SuperTwins pilots, but title leader Briar Bauman (No. 3 RWR/Parts Plus/Latus Motors Harley-Davidson XG750R) would have likely preferred to keep lining up every week on end.
The Rick Ware Racing ace carries the momentum of three consecutive victories into Lucas Oil Speedway, making his achievement of claiming the Harley-Davidson XG750R’s first premier-class victory at Senoia’s Round 3 feel almost like a distant memory.
Prior to the start of the ‘25 season, among the top 15 riders on the Grand National Championship’s career win list, only Dick Mann, Kenny Roberts, and Bauman achieved that distinction with zero Harley-Davidson wins on their résumés.
The caveat for Roberts and Mann was that a substantial portion of their GNC race victories came on pavement, while for Bauman it was rising to prominence during an era of Indian dominance.
Bauman has exited that company three quick H-D-powered wins this season. However, he now trails only Roberts in terms of most career wins among riders with no XR750 victories.
While it still has a long way to go and an impossible mission before it to live up to the standard established by the XR, the XG750R is rolling along just fine at the moment, thank you.
Bauman’s mastery of the bike will face a new test this weekend as they prepare to do battle on unfamiliar grounds.
Inauguration Day
By contrast, Dallas Daniels (No. 32 Estenson Racing Yamaha MT-07 DT) may have welcomed the opportunity to reset and refocus. His ‘25 season has not gone poorly by any stretch of the imagination – he’s currently building upon a modern-era record of 18 consecutive podiums that has long since left every previous reunification era (2010-on) podium streak in the dust.
However, despite that week-after-week success, the heavy preseason favorite now finds himself in a double-digit deep points hole as the Mission AFT SuperTwins title fight arrives in Missouri.
Historically, Daniels has performed very well when the field is thrown into a new arena. Not quite to the level of former rival Jared Mees—but better than anyone else, and Mees is no longer in the picture.
Since Daniels stepped up to the premier class in 2022, the series has visited eight all-new venues while returning to a pair of others that it hadn’t been to in decades.
At those 10 races, Mees led the way with six wins, while Daniels earned two victories. The remaining two wins were split by JD Beach and Brandon Robinson (No. 44 Mission Roof Systems Harley-Davidson XG750R).
Meanwhile, Mees landed on the box in 90% of those outings, with Daniels was not far off at 70% (despite missing one he likely would have been favored at due to injury). Beach was third with podiums in five of the ten races, followed by Bauman at four.
The raw numbers suggest that Bauman has not been at the same level as his elite-caliber rivals at unfamiliar venues, however, over half of the time in question was spent developing the KTM, which proved something of a weekly rollercoaster ride regardless of locale.
Robinson, meanwhile, took two podiums in those ten races, a number equaled by Jarod VanDerKooi (No. 20 Fastrack Racing/Wally Brown Racing KTM 790 Duke), another key player with a chance to step up to meet the opportunity presented by this weekend.
Fisher…
Absent from that list is Davis Fisher (No. 67 Rackley Racing/Bob Lanphere’s BMC Racing KTM 790 Duke). That said, over the course of his career, Fisher has always been more likely to finish fourth, fifth, or sixth, than first, second, or third.
Or he always was, anyway.
However unlikely, Fisher has stepped his game up right from the jump in a transition from Indian to KTM that appeared daunting from the outside. As it stands, he’s already looking like a bigger threat on the Duke than he ever was on the FTR750.
He comes to Lucas Oil Speedway with two podiums and four top fours in five races. Last time out, he finished second – trailing only Bauman and ranking ahead of Daniels.
In terms of the points, he now sits third – trailing only Bauman and Daniels, and ranking ahead of Robinson, VDK, and everyone else.
As he’s been uniformly strong at pretty much every variety of Short Track presented thus far this season, there’s little reason to think he’ll be anything but at Wheatland.
Who else could compete for a podium this weekend? The standings point to James Ott (No. 19 G&G Racing Yamaha MT-07), Max Whale (No. 18 Moto Anatomy X Powered by Royal Enfield 650), Trent Lowe (No. 48 American Honda/Progressive Insurance Honda Transalp), and Dan Bromley (No. 62 Memphis Shades/Vinson Construction Suzuki GSX-8S), the riders who rank sixth through ninth, respectively.
They’ve all had their moments this season, and each one has a story supporting their efforts: Ott as a premier-class rookie, while Whale, Lowe, and Bromley have collectively shone a spotlight on the diversity of equipment currently enjoyed by the class in its first season as an all-production-based showcase.
…Price
Unfortunately, Brandon Price will not be in that mix. Last week, he announced that he’s chosen to step away from the sport on the advice of his doctors.
If that’s it and Price never enters another Progressive AFT event, he can look back on an impressive career in the sport with pride.
He’s destined to go down as one of the best to have never won a premier-class Main Event. During his run, Price earned Mission AFT SuperTwins runner-up finishes in four separate seasons, while coming within a second of victory more times than that.
Not too shabby for a premier-class career that almost never happened.
If you’ll recall, Price, who finished second in the 2017 AFT Singles presented by KICKER championship, was leading the ‘18 title fight before suffering a catastrophic fall at the Springfield TT.
In that crash, he was knocked unconscious, broke his scapula, bruised his lungs, lacerated his liver, and suffered a subdural hematoma that required a hole be drilled in his skull to relieve the pressure. After regaining consciousness a couple days later, doctors informed him he was unlikely to ever race again.
Instead, he returned to action later that season, stepped up to the premier class the next year, and proceeded to give some of the greatest riders in the sport’s history serious fits with regularity.
Well done, Brandon.
On the bright side, Price’s absence provides an opening for another deserving rider in Declan Bender (No. 70 Memphis Shades/Luczak Racing Yamaha MT-07), who assumes his vacated seat at On the Box Racing.
Bender found his form late in his first professional season in 2023, scoring three finishes of seventh or better in the final four races to steal away AFT Singles Rookie of the Year honors.
He nearly pulled the same trick in his rookie Mission AFT SuperTwins campaign a year ago, registering six top tens over the final seven races – including a fourth at the Black Hills Half-Mile – to secure a top-ten championship ranking.
Despite that impressive debut season, Bender was left without a ride for 2025. Credit him for staying fit and ready, as proven by a couple top tens in AFT Singles spot duty.
Now he’s back where he belongs.
It’s a Whole Vibe
Fans in attendance this weekend will have an opportunity to experience all that Progressive AFT and Lucas Oil Speedway have to offer, both on the track and off.
The Fan Party – complete with a Rider Q&A session – will run from 5:00 p.m. local time right up until opening Ceremonies at 7:00 p.m.
A DJ will keep the energy levels high between sessions, and a fireworks display will close out the evening’s festivities.
Additionally, spectators can enjoy on-site go-karting, the Kids Zone, the Diamond Bar, a multitude of vendors lining the midway, Jumbotron viewing, designated motorcycle parking, and a variety of food and beverage options.
Ticket Talk
General Admission Grandstand tickets for the Short Track at Lucas Oil Speedway are just $25 (kids 12 and under free with a paid adult ticket), while Reserved Grandstand tickets are available for $40 (all ages). Students can purchase a GA Grandstand ticket for just $20 at the gate the day of the event with a valid ID.
There are multiple options to enjoy the facility’s 21 VIP Luxury Suites, starting with an Individual Suite ticket ($99), which includes a private outdoor box seat along with access to the indoor lounge.
Private Indoor Suites are available for groups of up to 18 ($2000) and 30 ($3000), both of which include infield group experience with a guided tour of the infield podium and start/finish line, photo op included, and earlyrace viewing from the infield.
Also available for purchase is the Opening Ceremonies Trackside Fan Experience ($99), which includes reserved seating, a guided tour of the infield podium and start/finish line, photo op included, and up-close viewing of Opening Ceremonies and a portion of the night’s race action.
Finally, fans have the option to purchase the Practice Viewing Trackside Fan Experience as a $25 upgrade to a GA Grandstand or Reserved Grandstand ticket, which provides a guided tour of the infield podium and start/finish line, photo op included, and up-close viewing of a practice session.
Visit https://www.tixr.com/groups/americanflattrack/events/2025-lucas-oil-short-track-141381 to reserve your seats today.
Gates will open for fans at 3:00 p.m. ET/12:00 p.m. PT with Opening Ceremonies scheduled to begin at 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT.
How to Watch
FloRacing
For those that can’t catch the live action from the circuit, FloRacing is the live streaming home of Progressive AFT. Motorsports fans can subscribe to FloRacing to enjoy over 1,000 live motorsports events in 2025. FloSports is available by visiting https://flosports.link/aft or by downloading the FloSports app on iOS, Android, Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire and Chromecast.
FS1
FOX Sports coverage of the Short Track at Lucas Oil Speedway, featuring in-depth features and thrilling onboard cameras, will premiere on FS1 on Sunday, June 15, at 11:00 a.m. ET (8:00 a.m. PT).
For more information, visit www.americanflattrack.com
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