Now, just an upcoming doubleheader away from turning the corner from the season’s first half to its second, the 2026 Grand National Championship is on paper a raging three-way battle among three evenly matched protagonists.
Just 10 points separate the primary Mission AFT SuperTwins title contenders. This short list is led by three-time 450cc champion Kody Kopp, who has finished first or second in six of his seven career premier-class starts. He’s closely trailed by two-time Grand National Champion Briar Bauman and defending class king Dallas Daniels.
By Chris Martin | Photography by Tim Lester
While the standings after seven of 16 rounds suggest it’s still anyone’s game, and it is, the ground truth suggests otherwise for now.
Super.com RWR Harley’s Briar Bauman has completely flipped the script since it looked like he may have made a tactical error by (again) reshuffling his crew over the off-season, when he kicked off his campaign with a discouraging 7-6 performance at the Daytona double-opener.
Bauman, crew chief Bryan Bigelow and co. have not only gotten on the same page since, but they’ve also authored a new narrative in which no one else has stood much of a chance.
Bauman has now registered four successive triumphs, all in relatively convincing fashion. And the most recent of those four—taken at the inaugural Caterpillar Nashville Short Track presented by Memphis Shades at Billy Lane’s Sons of Speed Nashville Short Track venue—was the most convincing yet.
Kopp and Daniels entered the day determined not to let it happen again. The Latus Motors Racing Harley rookie was especially adamant, openly stating his desire to “stop the bleeding.” He looked more than capable of doing so, posting the fastest laps throughout qualifying and then powering to a heat race win.
However, come the main, Bauman had something extra. Kopp quickly worked his way up to second but couldn’t close the gap to his budding rival. In fact, he did the opposite in his desperate attempts to do so, as his bike chattered into corners and occasionally wheelied on the way out as he chased as hard as he dared.
While that ragged pursuit allowed Bauman to make his escape, it did pull Kopp away from the pack en route to a fourth runner-up result, good enough to hang onto his season-long (but rapidly eroding) points lead.
Kopp’s best chance for victory came long after he’d given up on having any. Bauman concluded an inch-perfect ride at the front with a near fall in the race’s final corner. Still pushing while on guard for a late lunge from his opponent, not realizing Kopp had been put some three seconds behind him, Bauman hit a hole and was almost thrown over his bars just meters from the checkered flag.
But he wasn’t, and his emerging narrative remained intact. He took the checkers 2.7 seconds ahead of Kopp.
“It’s kind of frustrating,” Kopp said, “but Briar’s riding unbelievable right now. There’s a reason he’s won championships, and it’s hard to run with somebody who is that perfect for a whole main event, right? We’re trying. I mean, my team, we’re not going to give up. We’re quick throughout the course of the day, and then Briar is just untouchable in these main events.”
For Daniels, the day was all about damage control, and he controlled a great deal of damage by ending the night in third.
As it was, the Estenson Racing Yamaha star never found a competitive pace around the high-banked clay oval. He was just 10th-fastest following qualifying and only improved to ninth-fastest after the heats.
His early form in the main didn’t suggest a huge improvement, as he ran in sixth position for more than half the race, usually with FRA Trust Advisors’ Harley-Davidson’s Aidan RoosEvans et al. on his tail, attempting to push him further down the order.
But he gradually fought his way forward, passing Chad Cose of Parker Racing Yamaha for fifth on lap 17, Cameron Smith of Fredericktown Yamaha for fourth on lap 20, and finally Declan Bender of OTB Racing Yamaha for third on lap 25 of 31.
That run up through his fellow MT-07-mounted opponents kept him firmly engaged in his title defense, but he still needed to find a way to erase the six-plus seconds that stood between him and Bauman on this night.
Bender held on for fourth, a major step forward after struggling to break into the top 10 this season, while RoosEvans finished fifth.
Sixth went to Rackley Racing’s KTM Davis Fisher, who made his own climb to respectability after running as low as 10th earlier in the contest.
Smith finished seventh, followed by Turner Racing American Honda’s Trent Lowe, Cose and Jarod VanDerKooi, who again subbed for Brandon Robinson on the Mission Roof Systems Harley-Davidson.
After the race, Bauman looked and sounded as confident as he deserved to be. He said, “I just have a comfort right now on the bike that I haven’t had in a long time, maybe ever. I don’t think ever, personally.”
“When you start on a motorcycle you’re not comfortable with, like I was at Daytona, and then you get to where we are now, my guys could put the front wheel on the rear right now, and I’m going to trust them. That’s where we’re at right now. It’s the honeymoon stage, but at the same time, we’re running scared. I just want to keep it going.”
AFT Singles
Estenson Racing Yamaha’s Tom Drane was in need (more in a psychological than a points sense) of a strong response after coming to Tennessee fresh off his worst result of the season.
While a quiet fifth would be cause for celebration among many Singles riders, for the Australian, fifth just doesn’t cut it.
Drane also needed to reclaim some momentum from Turner Racing’s Kage Tadman, who moved into second in the title fight and was zeroing in on Drane after two wins in the previous three races.
And Tadman was in his high-line, fishtailing form in Nashville, harrying Drane from close behind.
But Drane simply wouldn’t let him pass. He held a defensive line throughout, gained an edge at the end of the straight by shifting when few others did, and immediately countered whenever Tadman managed to nudge ahead.
Drane made that strategy work to the checkered flag, forcing Tadman to settle for second.
“I got a good start and led maybe half a lap,” Tadman said. “And I was riding behind Tom, and the whole race was super fun. I had a great time but, you know, I’m kind of disappointed to finish second. I felt good the first half of the race, but it just doesn’t always work out your way.”
Tadman’s teammate, Walker Porter, was the man on the move for a moment or two, reeling in the leaders and looking for his own path into the lead. However, that bid ended when he almost crashed. He recovered to join a fight for third with Roof Systems/Vinson Construction Honda’s Tarren Santero and 1st Impressions Husqvarna teammates Chase Saathoff and Jack Brucks.
The experienced Saathoff put moves on Porter and Santero in the race’s final two laps to claim the final podium spot.
“My day was pretty mediocre really,” Saathoff said. “I started out slow, ended out pretty slow. I just had to do some digging and find some lines to put myself where I wanted to be. I’d like to finish up higher, but we’re chipping away at it each time, and that’s about it.”
Santero finished fourth, followed by the youngsters Porter and Brucks.
Schaeffer’s Motorsports’ KTM’s Evan Kelleher, OTB Racing’s Yamaha’s Bradon Pfanders, BigR Racing’s Honda’s Jared Lowe, and Scott Stump/Joel Laub’s Yamaha-backed Dylan Cunningham rounded out the top 10.
Drane extended his title lead to 20 points with his third win of the season, now leading Tadman 134-114. Saathoff is a close third with 110 points.
AFT ProSport 450
Tom Drane’s younger brother, Sam Drane, returned to AFT ProSport 450 competition after missing the previous three rounds because of injury and scheduling conflicts. The time away did little to slow his roll.
The Estenson Racing Yamaha rider who won the opening two rounds picked up a third win in Nashville, but only after holding off Tadman’s Turner Racing teammate Adam Costan-Wood in a race that served as a preview of the upcoming Singles shootout.
Durelle Racing’s Dillon Durelle, on a Yamaha, worked past ThrottleFest winner Bayne Nantz on the Nantz Bros KTM to finish third.
Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. (BTR)
Madicela Rodriguez (No. 113 Royal Enfield/Parts Unlimited/Arai/Alpinestars) picked up her first victory of the 2026 Royal Enfield Build.Train.Race. (BTR) season in convincing fashion.
Rodriguez, who’d taken two thirds and a fourth in the year’s three prior races, finally found her race-winning form of a year ago in the season’s penultimate round. She executed an impressive outside pass on early leader Julia Heess (No. 13 Royal Enfield/Parts Unlimited/Arai/Alpinestars) and then powered off into the distance.
Despite seeing her season-long win streak come to an end, points leader Emma Gottsch (No. 5 Royal Enfield/Parts Unlimited/Arai/Alpinestars) minimized the damage by working around Heess to come home second.
Heess notched up her fourth podium in four races by locking down third.CN
2026 AMA American Flat Track Round 7 Results
SuperTwins (Top 10)
- Briar Bauman (H-D) 31 Laps
- Kody Kopp (H-D) +2.689
- Dallas Daniels (Yam) +6.510
- Declan Bender (Yam) +7.005
- Aidan RoosEvans (H-D) +8.733
- Davis Fisher (KTM) +8.921
- Cameron Smith (Yam) +9.726
- Trent Lowe (Hon) +11.152
- Chad Cose (Yam) +11.737
- Jarod VanDerKooi (H-D) +13.327
Singles (Top 10)
- Tom Drane (Yam) 24 Laps
- Kage Tadman (Hon) +1.060
- Chase Saathoff (Hus) +2.092
- Tarren Santero (Hon) +2.222
- Walker Porter (Hon) +2.523
- Jack Brucks (Hus) +2.884
- Evan Kelleher (KTM) +6.373
- Bradon Pfanders (Yam) +7.003
- Jared Lowe (Hon) +8.045
- Dylan Cunningham (KTM) +8.583
