Beach Comes From Behind For
First-Career Premier Class Victory
Note: All on
its own, JD Beach’s maiden victory made the American Flat Track event at Wild
Horse Pass Motorsports Park a huge one for the field’s road racing contingent.
However, beyond Beach’s accomplishment, the evening was a bit more reserved on
that front. Larry Pegram did continue to impress, securing a third consecutive
AFT Twins top-ten result by finishing 10th in the Arizona Super TT. However,
James Rispoli got caught up in a multi-rider incident early in the AFT Singles
Main Event and finished 14th as a result. Meanwhile, PJ Jacobsen crashed in AFT
Twins Semi 1 and failed to advance into the Main.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (April 27, 2019)
– JD Beach (No. 95 Estenson Racing Yamaha MT-07 DT) pulled
off an improbable come-from-behind victory to claim his first-career American
Flat Track premier class win in Saturday night’s thrilling Law Tigers Arizona Super TT presented by RideNow Powersports at
Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park in Chandler, Ariz.
AFT Twins presented by Vance & Hines title leader Briar Bauman (No. 14 Indian
Motorcycle/Progressive Insurance FTR750) appeared well on his way to a
seemingly effortless victory deep into the 25-lap Main Event. Bauman had been
firmly in control — not just in the Main Event, but all day long. He railed
around the flowing Super TT circuit, through right- and left-hand corners, and
up and down the many elevation changes.
However, Beach simply would not be denied. The determined Beach refused
to concede the race despite Bauman’s daunting advantage and finally started
making headway after half-distance. He slowly reeled his quarry in and finally
positioned himself to attack with just two laps remaining.
The multi-time national road racing champion made his move up the inside
entering Turn 2 and pulled clear from there to at last complete the
long-awaited breakthrough achievement.
Making the win even sweeter was the fact that it
took place in Estenson Racing’s backyard and represented the first premier
class AFT win for a Yamaha Twin since Scott Pearson won the Peoria TT in 1981.
After the race, Beach said, “It’s amazing. This
is something I’ve wanted to do since I was a kid. We’ve been close before but
never quite got it. To ride the race that I did — to be back from Briar like
that and catch him and pass him with two to go — was awesome.
“I’ve just got to thank the whole team. We’ve
definitely had our highs and lows this year so far. They’ve worked so hard.
It’s a great feeling, but we’ve still got a lot of rounds to go and a lot of
work to do. We’ll have some fun tonight and get back to work tomorrow.”
Runner-up Bauman admitted, “I had nothing for
him. He came by me like I was tied to a tree… The bike was great all night. I
thought I was in a pretty good position. I got the start and did everything
right. The only problem is JD Beach came, so here were are in second.”
Bauman could take solace in the fact that he
continued his perfect podium record on the season and extended his title lead
to 18 points after four rounds.
Reigning Grand National Champion Jared Mees (No. 1 Indian
Motorcycle/Progressive Insurance FTR750) followed up his Texas Half-Mile win
with a lonely third in the Arizona Super TT.
Jeffrey
Carver Jr. (No. 23 Roof-Systems of Dallas/Indian of Metro Milwaukee FTR750)
finished fourth after just managing to hold off Beach’s teammate, Jake Johnson (No. 5 Estenson Racing
Yamaha MT-07 DT), who added to Estenson’s joy by putting a second rider in the
race’s top five.
Roof
Systems AFT Singles presented by Russ Brown Motorcycle Attorneys
TT maestro Jesse
Janisch (No. 132 Roof Systems Dallas TX/Öhlins Yamaha YZ450F) upped his Roof Systems AFT Singles presented by Russ
Brown Motorcycle Attorneys TT win streak to three with a wire-to-wire
victory in Saturday night’s undercard Main Event.
Janisch added Saturday’s win to his
season-opening triumph in the DAYTONA TT and last year’s dominant run at the
Peoria TT to further his reputation as the category’s preeminent rider in the
discipline.
The win did not come easily, however. Janisch
found himself under heavy pressure throughout the Main Event courtesy of points
leader Dalton Gauthier (No. 122
D&D Cycles/Gobert Smash Husqvarna FC450).
Gauthier threw everything he had into one final
strike at the checkered flag, pulling alongside Janisch as the two exited the
race’s last corner and powered up the decisive jump. Despite Gauthier’s
Herculean last-ditch effort, Janisch held on by a scant 0.105 seconds at the
line.
“This race was so much about the start,” Janisch
said. “These guys were flying all day… I just tried running clean laps. Roof
Systems Dallas TX got me off to a great start, and I was trying to watch the
monitor and I saw Dalton right on me. But they kept going to a different
battle, and I wanted to see where Dalton was at! He was really coming on that
last lap.”
2016 AFT Singles champion Ryan Wells (No. 94 Estensen Racing Yamaha YZ450F) took full
advantage of Estenson Racing’s home-track advantage to execute an inspired
mid-race push. He somehow managed to track down Janisch and Gauthier and transform
the Main into a three-way fight for the win — at least for a time.
While Wells’ challenge ultimately faded down the
stretch, he still came up big to score a hugely encouraging third — his first
podium of the season after opening 2019 without a top-ten finish in the year’s
first three events.
Mikey Rush (No. 15
RMR Honda/Red Riders Rewards Honda CRF450R) backed up his Texas Half-Mile
runner-up with a fourth-place run in Arizona. He had to fend off a charging Dan Bromley (No. 1 Red Bull KTM Factory
Racing 450 SX-F) to do so after the defending class champ carved his way up
from outside the top ten to round out the top five.
Catch the feature broadcast of the Law Tigers Arizona Super TT presented by
RideNow Powersports on NBCSN with flag-to-flag coverage of both Main
Events, enhanced by exclusive features and cutting-edge aerial drone and
onboard footage. It will debut on Sunday, May 12, at 3:00 p.m. ET/12:00 p.m. PT
and will re-air the following day, Monday, May 13, at 12:00 p.m. ET/9:00 a.m.
PT.
Next Up:
Round 5 of the 2019 American Flat Track season
will take place in two weeks with the So-Cal
Half-Mile presented by Russ Brown Motorcycle Attorneys at the Southern
California Fairgrounds in Perris, Calif., on Saturday, May 11. Live coverage
will be available at FansChoice.tv starting at 4:15 p.m. ET/1:15 p.m. PT.
Tickets for the So-Cal Half-Mile are on sale now and can be purchased at https://tickets.americanflattrack.com/2019-so-cal-half-mile.html.
Fans can keep up-to-date with American Flat
Track on Facebook (@American Flat Track), Twitter (@AmericanFlatTrk) and Instagram
(@AmericanFlatTrack). AFT mobile apps are available for iPhone on the App Store
and for Android at Google Play. For more information, please visit
http://www.americanflattrack.com.
How to Watch:
NBCSN andFansChoice.tv are the official homes for coverage of American
Flat Track. For the 2019 season, NBCSN’s coverage of AFT maintains its
highly-coveted, weekend afternoon programming slots within two weeks of each
event. The complete schedule for AFT on NBCSN can be viewed athttp://www.americanflattrack.com/events-nbcsn/.
FansChoice.tv remains a cornerstone of AFT’s digital strategy, providing live
streaming coverage of every event onAFT’s live page while previous events and exclusive features
are available onAFT’s VOD
page.
About American Flat Track:
American Flat Track is the world’s premier dirt track motorcycle
racing series and one of the longest-running championships in the history of
motorsports. Sanctioned by AMA Pro Racing in Daytona Beach, Fla., the series is
highly regarded as the most competitive form of dirt track motorcycle racing on
the globe. For more information on American Flat Track, please visit http://www.americanflattrack.com, like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, check us out on Instagram, live stream the events at FansChoice.tv and catch all the American Flat Track racing
action on NBCSN.