Indian Motorcycle factory rider Bryan Smith (No. 4 Indian Motorcycle Racing backed by Allstate Scout FTR750) won an epic, four-way battle at the 100th running of the Harley-Davidson Springfield Mile, Illinois, (Sunday September 2) with a dramatic, final-lap pass of series leader and teammate Jared Mees (No. 1 Indian Motorcycle Rogers Racing SDI Scout FTR750).
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| Photo Credit: Scott Hunter/American Flat Track |
Mees remained a big winner, however, as his runner-up finish secured his fifth AFT Twins presented by Vance & Hines championship. He has scored 10 wins and victories in four of the five Miles in 2018, plus 40 career Grand National Championship victories, the fourth highest of all time.
Smith’s win, which featured a fierce back-and-forth battle between four of AFT’s top riders for the majority of the 25-lap race, was his first in sixteen months (he won the May 2017 Springfield Mile), but his ninth at the legendary Illinois venue.
Third went to 2018 Springfield Mile I winner Jeffrey Carver Jr. (No. 23 Roof-Systems of Dallas/Indian of Metro Milwaukee Scout FTR750); Henry Wiles (No. 17 Bandit Industries/Wilco Racing/Willy Built Indian Scout FTR750) was fourth, with Briar Bauman (No. 14 Zanotti Racing Indian Scout FTR750) in fifth.
Springfield saw a second 2018 trial outing for the experimental AFT Production Twins class with Michael Inderbitzin (No. 54 Weirbach Kawasaki Ninja 650) taking the win in a Ninja 650 podium sweep.
The weekend’s AFT Singles Class saw a fourth AFT Singles win of the season at the Springfield Short Track for Pennsylvania native and current AFT Singles points leader Dan Bromley (No. 62 KTM North America/Bromley Motorsports 450 SX-F), taking him closer to securing his first American Flat Track national championship. Jessie Janisch was second (No. 132 Roof Systems/West Bend Harley-Davidson-backed Yamaha YZ450F), which sees him tied with Shayna Texter (No. 52 Husqvarna Motorcycles/JCS Racing FC 450) for third overall in the AFT Singles standings, with Ryan Wells (No. 94 RMR/Al Lamb’s Dallas Honda CRF450) third and second in the standings, with three races to go.
The series now moves on to Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, for the September 8 H-D Williams Grove Half Mile before the Minnesota Mile at the end of September, with the series finishing for the season at the Meadowlands Mile at East Rutherford, New Jersey, October 6.