ELDON, Mo. — The Grand National Championship will be decided when the Progressive American Flat Track season, sanctioned by AMA Pro Racing, concludes with the Arby’s Lake Ozark Short Track presented by Arrowhead Brass at Lake Ozark Speedway Sept. 13.
And the season finale will once again play out in suitably festive surroundings, serving as a centerpiece of this year’s 19th Annual Lake of the Ozarks BikeFest, an event destined to attract some 125,000 motorcycle enthusiasts to the area from September 10-14.
Any concerns that Mission AFT SuperTwins would lose a bit of intrigue and drama after ten-time class king Jared Mees rode off into the sunset have not just been proven unfounded but resoundingly so.
Over the course of an unforgettable ‘25 title fight, Mees’ latter-day foils, Dallas Daniels (No. 32 Estenson Racing Yamaha MT-07 DT) and Briar Bauman (No. 3 RWR/Parts Plus/Latus Motors Harley-Davidson XG750R), established their own rivalry which could potentially define the sport for the next decade.
Their battles have been epic and at times not without controversy or acrimony. Momentum has been seized and reseized. And each has faced down adversity while making their respective bids to assume Mees’ throne this season.
The tides turned yet again – and in a big way – at the Springfield Mile doubleheader.
Bauman powered into Springfield on a high following his triumphant performance in Peoria. He left in disappointment, an 11-point advantage transformed into a 13-point deficit. That margin puts his chances for a third Grand National Championship in serious peril, a reality he’s all too aware of.
However, it plays out, Bauman has already done as much this season to cement his legacy as an all-time great as any of his prior campaigns, including the two in which he defeated Mees for the title.
This season, Bauman and his Rick Ware Racing team took a previously winless Harley-Davidson XG750R and made it a genuine title threat on the strength of seven wins to date.
But it goes beyond the numbers – the manner and style in which he’s done it left even the gifted Daniels and the powerhouse Estenson Racing team behind him at times bewildered.
Perhaps paradoxically, Bauman was never more impressive than he was in Springfield, where he routinely sliced and diced the world’s elite motorcycle flat trackers up through the corners just to cling to contention down the straights.
However, overpowered on Saturday and luckless on Sunday, Bauman now faces a steep climb to the title this weekend despite his overall brilliance in 2025.
If Bauman wins this weekend – and he should be viewed as the favorite considering the desperation of his situation along with his status as the winningest Short Track rider in series history – he’ll end the year with 307 points and a tiebreaking eight wins.
That would mean Daniels would have to finish seventh or better to accumulate at least 308 points, and along with it, the 2025 Grand National Championship.
Daniels has participated in 64 Main Events throughout the entirety of his near four-season premier-class career. During that span, he has finished outside the top five just once. That outlier took place during the 2022 Volusia double finale weekend, in which he crashed from fourth and ultimately finished 12th.
Since that time, the Estenson Racing star has finished fifth or better in 47 consecutive races – 42 of those on the box.
As has been said many times – by Bauman and many others – it’s not so much Daniels’ speed (which is remarkable) or his talent (which is considerable), but rather his unprecedented consistency that is his greatest attribute as a title fighter.
Bauman had a bad day in Springfield.
However, it’s not over just yet. Pile on the pressure of a lifelong goal, and the chance that the unthinkable happens might increase a percentage point or 10.
Brandon Robinson (No. 44 Mission Roof Systems Harley-Davidson XG750R) has spent the bulk of the season lost in the shadow of the fascinating Daniels/Bauman showdown.
However, step back and admire another campaign that has only furthered his argument for eventual inclusion in the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame.
Twenty-six points up on fourth, Robinson has already locked in his fifth Grand National Championship ranking of third or better. He’s also added five more podiums to his career tally, including a long-sought first win on the Harley-Davidson XG750R he helped usher into the series eight years back.
While no doubt frustrated after taking a step back from 2024’s title contention, Robinson has quietly penned another strong season in a career that’s gradually elevated him up to some pretty lofty statistical territory.
Much has been made – and deservedly so – of Trent Lowe (No. 48 American Honda/Progressive Insurance Honda Transalp) scoring Honda’s first twin-cylinder premier-class win of the millennium with his Springfield surprise.
But perhaps lost in that excitement was just how much his huge weekend transformed his championship standing outlook.
Prior to Springfield, Lowe was locked in a tight fight for sixth with James Ott (No. 19 G&G Racing Yamaha MT-07), Dan Bromley (No. 62 Memphis Shades/Vinson Construction Suzuki GSX-8S), and Max Whale (No. 18 Moto Anatomy X Powered by Royal Enfield 650).
Meanwhile, Davis Fisher (No. 67 Rackley Racing/Bob Lanphere’s BMC Racing KTM 790 Duke) and Jarod VanDerKooi (No. 20 Fastrack Racing/Wally Brown Racing KTM 790 Duke) still held outside hopes of edging Robinson for third at the time.
Lowe’s stunning success combined with twin misfortune for Fisher and ‘VDK,’ has painted a very different picture with just one race to go. As it stands, it’s now Lowe who sits fourth with 172 points, followed closely by Fisher (169) and VanDerkooi (167).
Even before the breakthrough victory, Lowe’s top-five finish at the Lucas Oil Short Track was likely good enough to consider 2025 a positive one of the Big Red SuperTwins program. The victory more than assured that.
