The season-long dominance of the Indian ‘Wrecking Crew’ was brought to an abrupt end at the season’s penultimate race, the Lone Star Half Mile presented by Indian Motorcycle at Fort Worth, Texas, on September 23rd (Round 17) when privateer Jeffrey Carver Jr took a dominant win, showing that there is life left in Harley’s venerable and still popular XR750.
It was the first win of the season for any rider on any Harley platform and only the third AFT Twins presented by Vance & Hines race out of 17 rounds so far this year not to be taken by the Indian Scout FTR750 – the other two being when Briar Bauman and Henry Wiles took the Buffalo Chip and Peoria, Illinois, TTs respectively on their Kawasaki 650 Ninjas.
On the clay Half Mile track at the Texas Motor Speedway, newly crowned series Champion Jared Mees was second on the #9 Indian Motorcycles/Roger Racing Indian FTR750, with privateer FTR750 rider Johnny Lewis third, the Wrecking Crew’s Bryan Smith 4th on his #4 Indian Motorcycle/Allstate Insurance FTR750; Briar Bauman brought his #5 Zanotti Racing Ninja 650 home in 5th.
Two other XR750s scored top ten finishes (Robert Pearson 6th, Cory Texter 9th), with the top placed factory Harley XG750R coming home 11th (Brandon Robinson), followed by Jake Johnson 12th and Kenny Coolbeth Jr placed 14th.
Indian Wrecking Crew rider Brad Baker was side-lined for the Texas race with a training injury, which gave Larry Pegram the chance to deputize, bringing the Indian Scout FTR750 home in 10th.
With Indian having already sewn up the manufacturer and rider championship wins, the series now moves on to an 18th and final round at the Cycle Gear American Flat Track Finals presented by Indian Motorcycle, Perris, California, on October 7th.
Meanwhile the details of the 2018 season schedule are already taking shape with the Daytona TT again to be the season opener on March 15 at the Daytona International Speedway, and the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally again slated to see a double header with The Buffalo Chip TT slated for August 5, followed by the Black Hills Half Mile at Rapid City on August 7th.