As he looks toward the Lima Half-Mile in a week’s time, Zanotti Racing’s Briar Bauman is feeling a bit of Déjà vu. Like he’d been here before.

It makes sense, too. Because, pretty much, he had.

“Looking back at it from a year’s time,” Bauman told us a week out, “yeah, it’s a pretty similar situation. At the mid-point in the 2017 season, we were a lot like we’ve been so far in 2018: Up and down. Inconsistent. Having mechanicals. Not really prepared. Not really sure where we stood. We had high expectations coming in, but we weren’t putting things together.”

And then, of course, came the Lima Half-Mile and Bauman’s dramatic win – his first-ever on a Twin and the first non-Indian to win a race thus far in 2017 – on Lima’s loose, pea-gravel surface. The 2012 GNC Rookie of the Year won his heat and semi easily and went on to win the Main Event convincingly, carving out a 3-second margin of victory even after a red flag gave his competitors a second shot at him.

Bauman won again three races later at round 12 at the Buffalo Chip TT, making it Indian Wrecking Crew 10, Bauman/Zanotti/Kawasaki 2 thus far in 2017. Impressive, given how dominant the Indians had been all year – and continue to be this season.

So now, a week from the 2018 Lima race, held at a track he very much enjoys, you can hear a bit of cautious optimism in Bauman’s voice when you prod him a little despite the Zanotti team’s up and down 2018 season.

“It’s been really tough this year,” he told us. “We’ve had so many bad races in a row. Really hoping we can turn things around like we did at Lima last year. No one expected us to do so well midway through the season, but it happened … and who knows, it could happen again.

“Last weekend at OKC was a good reminder for me. We struggled and had a mechanical and didn’t make the Main, but OKC’s a bit of a cushion track, which I like, and I felt pretty good in the corners there, felt I had some decent speed. So that was promising despite all the struggles we’ve had elsewhere. Lima’s even more of a cushion track, and I have some good history there, so that’s a pretty good feeling going forward.”

Bauman used the deep cushion at Lima to his distinct advantage last year, running high and wide and fast for the entire race, and putting serious distance between himself and his competitors. Talking to him, you can sense that cautious optimism.

“I’m gonna try like heck to repeat,” he told us. “I’ve been watching video and trying to remember the feeling of winning last year. I need to not question whether things are right or not; just ride fast and loose.

“I used the wide line pretty much the entire race last year. Brad [Baker] and some of the guys were using it early on, but I think by lap ten or so I was alone up there. It definitely worked for me; it fit my riding style, which is typically aggressive. Riding up there in the thicker mix is definitely more physically demanding. The bike is moving around a lot. You can stay low where the loose stuff has been pushed aside and it’s a bit easier. But I don’t mind; again, it fits my style a bit more. It’s for sure more demanding for 25 laps, but if you can do it, it can work.”

Bauman currently lies 7^th in the 2018 standings and has but a single podium visit on the year – his runner-up finish to reigning champ and current AFT Twins presented by Vance & Hines points leader Jared Mees at Texas Motor Speedway. He’s over 100 points behind Mees, so a championship might not be in the cards for 2018.

But Bauman was in an almost identical predicament last year – and ended up sixth overall after Lima and Buffalo Chip, just ten points behind fifth-place finisher Jeffrey Carver Jr., and less than 20 points from third- and fourth-place finishers Brad Baker and Sammy Halbert. A win at Lima next week would be a Whopper-sized boost to him and the Zanotti team, and set National Number 14 up nicely for a run toward the front of the championship chase with some strong performances in the second half of the season.

So for Brian Bauman, it’s just like the great Yankee catcher Yogi Berra said a long, long time ago: “It’s Déjà vu all over again.”

Bauman taking girlfriend and top-level AFT SIngles racer Shayna Texter for a victory lap after his Lima Half-Mile win in 2017.