Long live the King of Peoria! “King Henry” Wiles (No. 17 Bandit Industries/Wilco Racing/Willy Built Kawasaki Ninja 650) extended his reign in Saturday’s 72nd annual AFT Twins presented by Vance & Hines Peoria TT by claiming a 14th consecutive victory in the prestigious race at Peoria, Illinois, August 18.
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| Photo Credit: Scott Hunter/American Flat Track |
Wiles was certainly forced to earn it on Saturday. In the race’s early stages he found himself trapped behind three superstars with prior TT race wins - Briar Bauman (No. 14 Zanotti Racing Indian Scout FTR750), who went on to take second; Jake Johnson (No. 5 Estenson Racing/McCandless Truck Center Indian Scout FTR750) who went on to take third, and Jared Mees (No. 1 Indian Motorcycle Rogers Racing SDI Scout FTR750), who, in a rare podium miss this season, finished fourth.
Privateer Indian FTR759 rider Hayden Gillim (No. 169 Indian/Cycle World/S&S Cycle Scout FTR750) was fifth, Wrecking Crew rider Bronson Bauman was sixth with privateer Jarod Venderkooi bringing the top place Harley XG750R home in seventh.
The win keeps Wiles’ remarkable win streak intact and keeps his slim title hopes alive, if only just. Mees leads him by 92 points (305 to 213) with four races and 100 points left in play on the 2018 schedule. Wiles is the sole rider remaining with even a remote mathematical chance of preventing the reigning Grand National Champion from repeating his victory.
However, Mees’ win at the Black Hills H-D Half Mile at Rapid City during the Sturgis Rally secured a second consecution series championship for Indian Motorcycle.
In the AFT Singles another TT master, Jessie Janisch (No. 132 Roof Systems/West Bend Harley-Davidson-backed Yamaha YZ450F), took the win becoming the 10th different winner of the AFT Singles in a wide open season so far - it may have been Janisch’s first victory of the season but it was his second consecutive and third in total Peoria TT victory (’15, ’17, and ’18).
The 2016 series Champion Ryan Wells (No. 94 RMR/Al Lamb’s Dallas Honda CRF450) grabbed second; TT ace Cole Frederickson (No. 73 Vince & Denise Holt, Ride Motorsports CRF450R) was third; Buffalo Chip TT runner-up Jacob Lehmann (No. 14 Vince & Denise Holt/Ride Motorsports Honda CRF450R) finished fourth, followed by 2017 Peoria TT podium finisher Ben Lowe (No. 20 Bruce Lowe Excavating/Team Green Kawasaki KX450F) in fifth.
The series stays in Illinois now for the second Springfield Mile of the season, September 2 followed by the H-D Williams Grove Half Mile at Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania on September 8, the Minnesota Mile at the end of September the series then wraps up at the Meadowlands Mile at East Rutherford, New Jersey, October 6.