Progressive American Flat Track closed out its 2026 campaign with its most prestigious event at its most iconic venue, and it did so in doubleheader style via the Caterpillar Springfield Mile I & II.
Spread across two days, both the Mission AFT SuperTwins and Kicker AFT Singles classes followed a similar theme: Saturday was all about mythmaking and taking care of business. Sunday, meanwhile, was reserved for mayhem, where voices that were more often hushed ultimately got the final word.
By Chris Martin | Photography by Dean Phelps
AFT SuperTwins
Coming in, reigning Grand National Champion Dallas Daniels was in an enviable position, knowing exactly what he needed to do to repeat as the premier-class king. With a 20-point advantage after his Peoria TT triumph, the math said he needed only to win on Saturday for the number one plate to remain his.
While seemingly simple on the surface, the calculations became quite a bit more complicated with the use of the Mission Triple Challenge format, which involves three races of increasing distance and points to determine the overall results.
Main-event one saw Estenson Racing Yamaha MT-07-armed Daniels join the front, alongside ’25 Springfield winner Trent Lowe aboard the Turner Racing American Honda CB750 Hornet and Rackley Racing’s Davis Fisher on his KTM 790 Duke. Fisher then continued the breakaway on his own, shaking free to take first blood in convincing fashion, with Daniels nipping Lowe for second.
Daniels’ title hopes grew even brighter in main-event two, in which he won over Lowe and Latus Motors Harley-Davidson’s Kody Kopp, while Fisher faded back to fifth. Even more significantly, RWR Harley-Davidson’s second-ranked Briar Bauman pulled out of the race after fighting up front with an apparent mechanical issue.
Bauman got what vengeance he could in main-event three, powering to the win. Daniels, meanwhile, juggled numbers in his head to figure out where he needed to finish to claim the overall victory and the ’26 crown. Second would do just nicely, and that’s where he ended up, edging Lowe yet again to get the job done.
Lowe ended the day second on the combined order, while Bauman’s win in the heavily weighted main-event three lifted him all the way to the podium despite being credited 15th in main-event two.
As a result, Daniels now ranks among the elite riders to have won more than a single Grand National Championship, and he’s done so at just 23 years of age.
Buoyed initially by his historic consistency in a season when most of the wins went to his Harley-mounted rivals, Daniels found his form late. He strung together four consecutive victories en route to the title, including his Sturgis sweep and back-to-back wins at the series’ most fabled races, the Peoria TT and Springfield Mile, both of which just so happen to be in his native Illinois.
He said, “The day was kind of a mirror of the season. I kind of came alive when it mattered. You know, the whole year was up and down. I got wins when I needed to, but, more or less, I was a second- or third-place guy. But I knew going into Sturgis that it would be a good few rounds for me, and we found a few things with the bike and just started clicking.
“All in all, a fantastic year,” he added. “This is something I’ve dreamed of. I wasn’t sure if it would ever happen, but it did, and I clinched my second championship. A big thanks to the whole team, all my friends, family, supporters—everybody that came here. It’s a home race for me. I’m just super thankful and pumped that it happened here.”
With the championship decided, Sunday’s finale offered everyone an equal opportunity to go for broke.
The assumption might be that it would only make title contenders Daniels, Bauman and Kopp that much more dangerous, with no points-preservation concerns holding them back. However, after combining to win all 15 previous races and with at least two of them on every podium, the finale proved a full-spectrum upset.
Bauman looked like a serious threat to win until being forced to withdraw from contention once again. Daniels, meanwhile, simply lost the lead draft just before half-distance.
While Kopp remained with the front group, the race was dominated by the back-and-forth battle between Fisher and wild card Tom Drane, the AFT Singles superstar who pulled double duty over the weekend and had already finished fifth on Saturday with three fourth-place finishes.
Crucially, Fisher managed to keep Drane behind him heading into turn three for the final time, allowing him to win the dash to the flag by 0.009 of a second. Lowe secured his second podium of the weekend and the year in third, another 0.057 of a second back.
“I felt good from the start of the day, always when I show up here,” Lowe said. “I guess it’s something about this place. I feel like it’s actually been pretty technical the past couple years. You’ve got to move around on the bike a lot, but if you move too quickly, the bike gets upset and you lose all your drive. There’s a lot that goes into it, but I wouldn’t have been able to do it without a good team behind me giving me a fast bike to run up front.”
Daniels somehow rejoined the lead pack at the very end, charging late as Fisher and Drane clashed. That allowed him to get close enough to slip past Kopp on the final lap for fourth. Still, the fifth-place finish allowed Kopp to pass Bauman and end his rookie season ranked second overall.
The win was Fisher’s second of the season, with the first also coming in season-ending fashion at the 2021 Charlotte Half Mile. It also shone a spotlight on a quietly stellar season that had gone under the radar because a pair of early-season 15ths effectively knocked him out of title contention.
Despite that setback, Fisher finished with a flourish, scoring six podiums in the season’s final nine races (the same number as Bauman and twice as many as Kopp), ending the campaign atop the box.
Fisher said, “I feel like I passed [Drane] in different places each time, so he couldn’t really learn what I was doing. Each time he would pass me in turn three, but on the last lap, I passed him to turn one and held it down the straight and pretty much carried it to the finish line.
“He drafted by me right at the finish line, and I didn’t know who won. I kept looking to the infield and saw the fans pointing to me. We just started celebrating from there. It’s awesome.”
AFT Singles
While Drane had already secured his repeat crown before arriving in Springfield, like his teammate Daniels, the Estenson Racing Yamaha ace had business to attend to on Saturday.
Already the winningest rider in class history, with the most career Mile wins and the class’s two longest podium streaks, Drane had an opportunity to further his case against former AFT Singles legends Daniels and Kody Kopp by breaking their shared record for single-season victories.
Drane did it, scoring his ninth win of 2026 with his seventh consecutive Mile win, which was also his sixth straight in Springfield. He did so in a typical Springfield barnburner, edging 1st Impressions Husqvarna’s Chase Saathoff, JMC Motorsports KTM’s Trevor Brunner, and Turner Racing American Honda’s Kage Tadman by 0.037, 0.067 and 0.085 of second, respectively.
The Australian’s plans to record a 29th victory and 11th at a Mile on Sunday were undone by a red flag that came out with Drane leading the way on the race’s final lap.
A huge 12-rider pack slugging it out for the win came apart in a late crash involving Mark Tepper Racing KTM’s Logan Eisenhard and Picotte Motorsports GasGas’ Jordan Beaulac. The incident raised a red flag, so the results were determined by the previous lap, on which Saathoff and Tadman both crossed the line inches ahead of Drane.
And thus Saathoff, despite typically coming out the worse in his repeated sparring sessions with Drane over the years, got the last laugh of 2026 and perhaps of their AFT Singles careers, depending on where the two go from here.
“I’m definitely worn out now,” Drane said. “It’s been a long weekend, but I’m super happy to get on the podium on the twin. I didn’t feel the best in the heat race, but to then come out here and put on the box in the main event. I couldn’t have done it without my whole team. They gave me a great bike. I was able to try every different line, and it was always working.”
Still, Drane had to be more than satisfied with his second consecutive championship season, this one earned with 303 points on the strength of nine wins and 12 podium finishes in 16 starts. Saathoff ended up second in the points at 257, with Tadman third at 226.CN
2026 American Flat Track Rounds 15-16 Results
Saturday SuperTwins (Top 10)
- Dallas Daniels (Yam) 2-1-2
- Trent Lowe (Hon) 3-2-3
- Briar Bauman (H-D) 5-15-1
- Davis Fisher (KTM) 1-5-6
- Tom Drane (Yam) 4-4-4
- Kody Kopp (H-D) 6-3-5
- Declan Bender (Yam) 10-6-7
- Dalton Gauthier (RE) 7-9-8
- Hunter Bauer (Yam) 8-7-9
- Chad Cose (Yam) 9-8-10
Saturday Singles (Top 10)
- Tom Drane (Yam) 11:43.704
- Chase Saathoff (Hus) +0.037
- Trevor Brunner (KTM) +0.067
- Kage Tadman (Hon) +0.085
- Logan Eisenhard (KTM) +1.902
- Evan Kelleher (KTM) +1.937
- Walker Porter (Hon) +2.064
- Jordan Beaulac (GG) +2.516
- Jett Katarzy (Hus) +2.535
- Bradon Pfanders (Yam) +3.032
Sunday SuperTwins (Top 10)
- Davis Fisher (KTM) 15:36.925
- Tom Drane (Yam) +0.009
- Trent Lowe (Hon) +0.066
- Dallas Daniels (Yam) +0.346
- Kody Kopp (H-D) +0.402
- Dalton Gauthier (RE) +8.273
- Declan Bender (Yam) +12.295
- Hunter Bauer (Yam) +12.512
- Chad Cose (Yam) +12.835
- Jeffrey Carver (H-D) +17.617
Sunday Singles (Top 10)
- Chase Saathoff (Hus) 10:58.606
- Kage Tadman (Hon) +0.038
- Tom Drane (Yam) +0.039
- Trevor Brunner (KTM) +0.102
- Jared Lowe (Hon) +0.152
- Walker Porter (Hon) +0.251
- Bradon Pfanders (Yam) +0.441
- Tarren Santero (Hon) +0.464
- Jett Katarzy (Hus) +0.568
- Kaleb Martin (Hon) +0.727
