Dallas Daniels arrived at the 86th Sturgis Motorcycle Rally with an edge. Two edges, in fact—a double-sided blade he’d use to eviscerate the opposition at the Caterpillar Jackpine Gypsies Super TT.
By Chris Martin | Photography by Tim Lester
That sharpness was both physical and mental. Daniels, a national-caliber road racer in an earlier incarnation, developed his skills on tracks similar to Saturday evening’s multi-layered arena as a boy in Central Illinois and was perfectly suited to the task at hand.
That edge was expected and obvious. His other edge was knowing it. Despite brandishing the number one plate after completing the lifelong goal of winning the Grand National Championship in 2025, the Estenson Racing Yamaha pilot’s confidence had taken a beating during his title defense, as he claimed just two victories over the season’s opening 11 races, compared with the combined nine earned by his Harley-Davidson-mounted rivals.
Daniels’ upper hand was translated to the dirt and pavement through his right wrist and down through the specialized MT-07 that Yamaha typically wheels out only for TTs and remains undefeated in Super TT competition.
But a Daniels runaway wasn’t a foregone conclusion.
Latus Motors Harley-Davidson’s Kody Kopp and Super.com/Rick Ware Racing’s Briar Bauman are similarly talented all-around pilots. In his first TT on a big twin, Kopp threw down the fastest lap in qualifying, while Bauman won his heat in a blowout with a faster best lap than Daniels had managed in his own heat race runaway.
There were signs, however. Bauman crashed in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge dash-for-cash while attempting to keep pace with Daniels, and Kopp was absent from it altogether after struggling to make up for a less-than-ideal start in his heat.
If Daniels got the launch he was looking for in the main, he would prove difficult to handle indeed.
And he did. And he was.
Daniels ripped around the outside and promptly put his head down from the very first lap. Meanwhile, Bauman found himself under fire in second from Moto Anatomy X Royal Enfield’s Dalton Gauthier, while Kopp sat close behind in fourth.
Bauman was forced to defend the position; there would be almost no chance of chasing down Daniels if dropped back to third even for a short stint, but in doing so allowed Daniels to stretch things out at the front.
That proved critical, as Daniels was left vulnerable to an attack approximately a minute-and-a-half into the main event when he caught his foot and was thrown out of the seat. But he’d already built up enough padding to ride through the moment, regain his composure, and set back about piling it on from first.
Even after cruising on the final lap, pumping his fist in the air and pulling a big wheelie, Daniels took the checkered flag by 6.784 seconds ahead of second-placed Bauman.
Daniels’ night was made all the better when Gauthier came home in third to give Royal Enfield its second-ever premier-class podium.
“Me and the team are just jelling really well together right now,” Gauthier said. “I can’t thank Johnny [Lewis] enough for giving me a spot on the team for the rest of the year. And I just got to thank everybody on the team. I’ve just got a good group of guys around me and I can’t thank them enough. It feels good to be back up here.”
Kopp finished in fourth after coming even closer to crashing than Daniels. It happened while looking for a way around Gauthier as the race neared its halfway point. Somehow, he kept it up on two wheels, a save of his season as much as his race. Fortunately for him, the front four had pulled several seconds clear of the next group by then, allowing him to work his way back up to speed without losing any positions.
Still, that outcome saw Yamaha ace Daniels transform a three-point deficit into a six-point surplus in his ongoing effort to repeat as Grand National Champion. He now leads with 226 points to Kopp’s 220, while Bauman remains firmly in the fight at 214.
For Daniels, it’s a strong position with just four rounds remaining, considering he’s been wanting for confidence after coming out the worse in his repeated battles versus the Harley-mounted duo for the bulk of the season.
He said, “It was a good day. I wanted to be fastest in qualifying. I don’t think I’ve fast qualified once this year. It’s actually kind of embarrassing. And I got nipped there in the last qualifying today, but I knew I was kind of the guy. The inside of the starting area was dry, so I gambled with the outside. That’s always risky because you leave the door open.
“But I got a good start. After the dash, I thought it was going to be a dogfight with Briar, but I think he kind of had a rough first couple laps, and he wasn’t really able to close that gap. From there, I just slowly checked out and honestly just put it on cruise control. It was a pretty easy last half of the race for me.
“This feels good. Before today, the races I’d won last year, I had not repeated this year. It feels good to go back-to-back here. I enjoy this track. It’s kind of in my wheelhouse of what I grew up on. Big thanks to the whole team. I’m super pumped.”
The fight from fifth through 10th was jammed up tight as the minutes ticked away. Turner Racing American Honda’s Trent Lowe controlled the position with a defensive line that kept everyone stuck at his protective pace.
That only worked for so long, however, as the Yamahas of OTB Racing’s Declan Bender and DL Racing/HYMMCO’s Henry Wiles finally forced the issue back-to-back with two-and-a-half minutes to go.
Bender held off Wiles for fifth as they raced away from that pack.
“I felt confident going into the main,” Bender said, “but I think I felt the rear wheel spin three or four times before it ended up actually going anywhere on the start. So, it was just kind of one of those deals where there were two good [starting] spots, and then after that, the rest were kind of give or take. I think I just ended up getting the short end of the stick. I mean, we picked it, you know, so that one was my bad. I should have analyzed the spots a little better before I pulled up. But other than the start, it felt great. It felt great all day. I made a good move [for fifth]. I’m not typically an aggressive rider, and we’re making steps forward towards that.”
Lowe, meanwhile, closed the line back off and managed to stay in seventh ahead of Rackley Racing KTM’s Davis Fisher, Bubba Boswell/Smokey Mountain Harley-Davidson’s Aidan RoosEvans, and G&G Yamaha’s Hunter Bauer.
AFT Singles
With prior career highlights of a fifth, sixth, and sixth, Schaeffer’s Motorsports KTM’s Evan Kelleher smashed down the door to claim his first-career Progressive AFT podium in the form of a maiden win.
It didn’t come as a complete shock; Kelleher was strong all day and even led off the line on the race’s opening lap.
Still, he had to share the headlines with the class’s most prominent names like Estenson Racing Yamaha’s reigning champ, Tom Drane, and 1st Impressions Husqvarna’s second-ranked Chase Saathoff, who added two more incidents to their years-long clash.
First, Drane crashed in qualifying and in the process collected Saathoff, who tumbled off his bike after being left nowhere to go but over the downed Yamaha.
More consequently, the two had a second and more high-profile coming together in the main. After the two had dispensed with Kelleher, the motivated Saathoff, who had the speed to repeat at the Super TT and score his first win of the season, forced the issue in an overly ambitious attempt to stuff his bike up the inside in the tight dirt-to-pavement turn.
The two came together, crashed together, and were stuck together. As they fought to free their bikes, Kelleher raced back past to retake the lead.
There would be no smooth sailing from there, however, as Kelleher had to work to keep it in line and upright with Roof Systems/Texas Utility Studies/Vinson Construction’s Tarren Santero all over him in his own bid to secure a maiden Kicker AFT Singles win.
“There were a few times [Kelleher] had a couple bobbles, but I kind of followed suit and had a bobble right behind him,” Santero said. “So it was hard to close the gap. Towards the end, I had thought I might be able to force it up in here, but I figured I would probably take us both down. I mean, we saw that happen with Chase and Tom, and I didn’t want to do that. But we know we were right there. You know, it’s shy of a first. I keep knocking on the door, but we’ll get there eventually, and I think it’s coming.”
Behind, OTB Racing’s Bradon Pfanders rounded out the top three, the LCQ winner slashing his way forward from the back row. “I don’t want to say it was a completely rough day,” he said. “We qualified pretty good. In the heat race, we got taken out with like two laps to go. And yeah, stuff happens. We went to the LCQ, won that. We got some extra track time to figure out how the track was developing. And then we had the dash too, so I had the most laps of anybody tonight. I got a good start [in the main] and made a lot of passes on that first lap. Everybody got bunched up on the first turn on the pavement, so I went around them and started making my way forward, making good passes. Then I saw Chase and Tom go down, and I’m like, ‘Wait, I think I’m third.’ ”
Turner Racing American Honda’s Walker Porter and JMC Motorsports/Fairway GMC’s new addition, Trevor Brunner, completed the top five. Jared Lowe (Big R Racing/Vinson Construction Honda CRF450R) and Turner Racing Honda pilot Kage Tadman came home sixth and seventh, respectively. 1st Impressions Jack Brucks brought his Husqvarna in for eighth, and his teammate, Jett Katarzy, finished in 10th.
Drane remounted for ninth but still leads the points standings with a mammoth 54-point advantage over Saathoff (235-181), who is in turn 17 points ahead of Tadman (164).CN
2026 American Flat Track Round 12 Results
AFT SuperTwins (Top 10)
- Dallas Daniels (Yam) 9:22.568
- Briar Bauman (H-D) +6.784
- Dalton Gauthier (RE) +9.509
- Kody Kopp (H-D) +12.976
- Declan Bender (Yam) +23.243
- Henry Wiles (Yam) +23.968
- Trent Lowe (Hon) +28.057
- Davis Fisher (KTM) +28.452
- Aidan RoosEvans (H-D) +29.633
- Hunter Bauer (Yam) 18 Laps
AFT Singles (Top 10)
- Evan Kelleher (KTM) 7:25.727
- Tarren Santero (Hon) +0.529
- Bradon Pfanders (Yam) +6.452
- Walker Porter (Hon) +8.472
- Trevor Brunner (KTM) +9.444
- Jared Lowe (Hon) +11.295
- Kage Tadman (Hon) +11.620
- Jack Brucks (Hus) +12.892
- Tom Drane (Yam) +19.816
- Jett Katarzy (Hus) +20.940
