CHICO, Calif. — Briar Bauman’s (No. 3 RWR/Parts Plus/Latus Motors Harley-Davidson XG750R) 2025 Progressive American Flat Track season, sanctioned by AMA Pro Racing, has quickly transformed from a feel-good story to an epic tale of domination.
Bauman stormed to a third consecutive convincing Mission AFT SuperTwins victory in Saturday’s night’s Silver Dollar Short Track.
Dallas Daniels (No. 32 Estenson Racing Yamaha MT-07 DT) and the emerging James Ott (No. 19 G&G Racing Yamaha MT-07) took the early initiative in the premier-class main.
Those two waged a contest of contrasting lines and styles aboard their respective Yamahas, with Daniels locked down low and Ott railing up high as they shook free from the pack. Ott’s bolder approach eventually gave him the upper hand, as he assumed the lead some three minutes into the eight-minute and two-lap affair.
Daniels’ subsequent experiments with a higher line only resulted in him getting swallowed up by a charging Bauman, who would also go on to overwhelm Ott less than a minute later.
Davis Fisher (No. 67 Rackley Racing/Bob Lanphere’s BMC Racing KTM 790 Duke) was the next to power up the outside of Daniels. The Estenson Racing star regrouped and responded, and their fight saw them track Ott back down and flow past him to turn their scrap into one for second.
Fisher seemed relatively safe in that position late, but one last charge from Daniels made it interesting – to the tune of a 0.061-second differential at the flag. Still, the Rackley Racing rider managed to hold on to earn his best result of the year after earlier finishing third at Daytona.
While Daniels upped his podium streak to 18, he also saw his championship deficit expand as Bauman powered on to stack a third successive victory on his pair of opening week seconds. As a result, the Rick Ware Racing pilot now leads by ten points (107-97) with five races down and 11 to go.
The fast-starting Ott lost one additional position – that to fourth-place finisher Jarod VanDerKooi (No. 20 Fastrack Racing/Wally Brown Racing KTM 790 Duke) – to close out the race’s top five. Ott narrowly avoided fading to sixth, with Brandon Robinson (No. 44 Mission Roof Systems Harley-Davidson XG750R) just another 0.180 seconds in arrears at the stripe.
One week ago at Ventura Raceway, Kage Tadman (No. 288 Old Oak Ranch/Roof Systems KTM 450 SX-F) became just the fourth rider in AFT Singles presented by KICKER history to win in his debut. Quite naturally, the big question coming into this weekend was what he might possibly do for an encore at Silver Dollar Speedway.
The answer was emphatic: Tadman became the first to ever immediately back up that debut victory with another triumphant performance.
If possible, his unprecedented feat was even more impressive in action than the record books will ever show. Tadman isn’t just two for two in AFT Singles Main Events, he’s six for six in Progressive AFT races of any type, standing undefeated following a second consecutive event in which he swept the heat, the Helmet House Challenge, and the Main Event.
And once again, he did so in loose style and breakaway fashion, rendering the competition one for runner-up honors less than a minute into Saturday’s main.
Last week, Tadman admitted to having exploited something of a home track advantage in Ventura. There was none this time around at what was an unfamiliar circuit and surface to him, and yet the result was identical.
After a second dominant showing, the class’ newest star said, “It was about getting used to a new track. I’ve never been here and don’t really ride these types of tracks much. But I was just trying to get used to it and adapt to the size of the track and the dirt. And I was able to pull off a good win.”
While Tadman again commanded the spotlight, the six-rider battle for second behind him was hugely entertaining as well.
Once it became evident this was another one-rider race for victory, Trevor Brunner (No. 21 American Honda/Mission Foods CRF450R) defended second position vigorously with Australian Tom Drane (No. 59 Estenson Racing Yamaha YZ450F) initially in pursuit.
By mid-distance, Canadian Hunter Bauer (No. 24 Vinson Construction/Reel Medics Yamaha YZ450F) slung his way around the high line and into the catbird seat, even displacing Brunner in second for a brief spell.
Once Brunner re-established himself in second, Drane slotted back up to third and the two stayed in that order to the checkered flag. The runner-up was Brunner’s first podium since returning to both the AFT Singles category and the American Honda-backed Turner Racing outfit.
