FloRacing is the live streaming home of Progressive American Flat Track. Complete coverage of this weekend’s Parts Plus Lake Ozark Short Track presented by Arrowhead Brass & Arby’s at Lake Ozark Speedway will kick off Saturday with the day’s first practice session at 6:00 p.m. ET (3:00 p.m. PT). Sign up now and catch every second of the year’s on-track action at http://flosports.link/2024aft.

FOX Sports coverage of the Parts Plus Lake Ozark Short Track presented by Arrowhead Brass & Arby’s, featuring in-depth features and thrilling onboard cameras, will premiere on FS1 on Sunday, September 22, at 12:00 p.m. ET (9:00 a.m. PT).

Event Rewind: Springfield Mile Main Event Highlights

• Mission AFT SuperTwins
• Parts Unlimited AFT Singles presented by KICKER

What’s at Stake Beyond What’s at Stake

Only the finishing touches remain to complete a feat so monumental that its potential achievement was made the defining story of the season even before it was even officially underway. In fact, the quest has arguably defined the past few seasons when the mere possibility began to come into focus.

Of course, we’re speaking of Jared Mees (No. 1 Rogers Racing/SDI Racing/Indian Motorcycle FTR750) being on the verge of Grand National Championship #10, a tally no one has previously accomplished in the sport’s long and storied history, not even Scott Parker with his once thought untouchable nine GNCs.

Mees is so close now he’s afforded a variety of ways in which to achieve it. So many, in fact, that the pathway required to come up short is much narrower and limited. Even if he chose to simply stay home and watch on FloRacing, he would have every rider, crew, and team working in unison to secure him the crown save one, with only the possibility of a Brandon Robinson (No. 44 Mission Roof Systems Indian FTR750) victory forcing him to get up off his couch this weekend.

We’ll look a bit closer at the specifics below, but even in that scenario, he need only scoop up a small collection of points to make history.

The natural assumption is that Mees will therefore play it safe this weekend. But even that can be accomplished any number of ways. And for a pilot of his caliber, consistency, speed, and experience, sometimes the safest race is the one where he leaves everyone else scrapping for second in his wake, particularly at a bar-banging Short Track season finale.

Should he choose to pursue that strategy, Mees could yet find a couple other (and relatively significant) milestones within his grasp.

Now boasting 77 career victories, one more would move him level with Chris Carr for second all-time.

And with eight Short Track victories to his credit, a victory this weekend would put him in a tie for first place all-time, joining Carr and Henry Wiles atop the discipline’s order.

Considering that GNC #10 is a natural offramp should Mees decide that the time is right to hang up his helmet – a possibility he has hinted at for some time now – if he feels any further desire to overhaul the record books, this may be his final opportunity to do so.

BR PB

The flipside of Mees’ advantageous championship positioning is that Robinson’s pathway to the title is not much larger than a keyhole (attached to a door with a missing key and a chain lock behind it).

However, there’s still plenty of motivation for Robinson to perform, even if he’d need all sorts of help to ultimately walk away with the #1 plate.

A podium finish this weekend would assure him of his first-career championship top two.

A victory would result in a personal best record of four wins in a single season.

With the championship all but out of reach, there’s still plenty of reason for Robinson and the Mission Roof Systems team behind him to celebrate. And with a strong weekend, there could be that much more.

The Definitive Racebike of the Modern Era

And with only Mees and Robinson left in championship contention, by definition that means that the all-conquering Indian FTR750 will exit the sport in its final season before the series shifts to production-only regs in 2025 a perfect eight-for-eight in Grand National Championship battles (excluding the 2016 season, in which it made a teaser of a debut in the season finale).

FTR750-armed riders claimed the Mission AFT SuperTwins title in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and now, officially, 2024.

Beyond the championship glory, the FTR750 registered nearly unthinkable statistics along its way to immortality.

With one race remaining, it now boasts 103 Main Event victories in 137 attempts (a strike rate of greater than 75%), 290 podiums (more than 70% of all available during its era), and enjoyed podium representation in 131 of 137 races (more than 95% of its attempts).

The Indian FTR750 has been an incredibly successful racebike – one that was brilliantly designed and expertly developed, perfectly adapted to execute a task that is at once exceedingly demanding yet almost impossible to define precisely.

Kudos.

The Definitive Racebike of the Era to Come?

However thoroughly decorated, the FTR750 is not completely out of the woods just yet..

Its claims of walking away undefeated in championship fights still hangs in the balance in another sense this weekend as the Manufacturer Championship rages on.

The best combined efforts of the expanded Wrecking Crew that includes Mees, Robinson, Jarod Vanderkooi (No. 20 JMC Motorsports/Fairway Ford Ohio Indian FTR750), and every other FTR750-mounted rider have accumulated 329 points on the season.

Meanwhile, the Yamaha MT-07 is just three points back with Dallas Daniels (No. 32 Estenson Racing Yamaha MT-07 DT) and JD Beach (No. 95 Estenson Racing Yamaha MT-07 DT) racking up 326 points thus far.

And while Mees and Robinson are two of winningest Short Trackers in the sport’s history, Daniels is on track to eventually rewrite the discipline’s records, considering he’s reigned supreme at Short Tracks on four occasions in the last two years alone.

Of course, the tighter confines he’ll confront this weekend expect to be more physically punishing than he found the Springfield Mile, which could prove immensely difficult for a rider still only weeks removed from breaking his femur. That said, Daniels proved at Springfield that it's best not to count him out prematurely, particularly with a perfect podium record and a Manufacturer Championship still there for the taking.

As gifted as Daniels and Beach may be, Estenson Racing deserves much recognition for the work it has done in developing the MT-07 DT into a genuine FTR750 foil. Huge expenditures of resources, time, and expertise have been funneled into the effort of transforming a package with street origins into a racebike capable of going toe-to-steel-toe with the FTR750 – an effort rewarded with results.

Going production only in 2025 necessarily levels out the sport from a strict rulebook perspective. However, in its mission to confront the FTR750, Estenson Racing has set the bar very high indeed. All other efforts will need to find a way to match it in order to keep pace.

It’ll be fascinating to see what develops once the MT-07 becomes the bike targeted rather than the one aligning its sights.

The Definitive Racebike of the Millenium(s)

We would be remiss if we didn’t note that this weekend also marks the final race of the Harley-Davidson XR750. In fact, one could argue that we’ve buried the lede by waiting this long to get into it.

In the larger story of the Grand National Championship, few, if any, entities – man or machine – can rival the historical significance of the XR750.

The numbers are astonishing:

• 37 Grand National Championships.
• 502 wins.
• 54 years of competition.

The best part is that its final outing has the potential to be far more than a footnote lost in the shadow of the spotlight cast down on Mees and Indian. Main Event victory #503 has to be considered a very real possibility with Sammy Halbert (No. 69 Castrol/Boswell’s Harley-Davidson XR750) back in action this weekend.

Halbert has already taken a pair of podiums at two different Short Track venues aboard the XR750 this season. And at times, he even looked like the rider to beat.

Imagine if Halbert claimed the checkered flag this weekend… It's likely be enough to inspire revised editions and second printings of any number of books on the subject.

Mirror, Mirror

It’s previously been noted just how eerily similar the rise of Kody Kopp (No. 1 Rick Ware Racing/Parts Plus KTM 450 SX-F) was to that of Dallas Daniels just a couple years before him.

To review, they found similar breakout success on the amateur circuit culminating in the Nicky Hayden AMA Flat Track Horizon Award, became Progressive AFT stars as rookies, and earned championships in just their second and third seasons competing in the Parts Unlimited AFT Singles class.

Kopp diverged from that path when he chose to remain in the category for a fourth season after earning a pair of #1 plates. Since that point, his story has more closely resembled a 450cc mirror of Jared Mees’, succeeding in parallel as the two continually remake their respective class’ record books on the way to breaking their all-time championship record.

The only thing that could seemingly prevent him from doing so is by returning to the road Daniels previously paved, suffering his own version of the unexpected misfortune that derailed the Yamaha ace’s title chances.

We’ll break down the specifics of what Kopp needs to do below (spoiler: pretty much the same as Mees, imagine that). But in the meantime, he should probably cover himself head to toe in bubble wrap.

Still on the Table

Even with their championship ambitions fading, there’s still some realistic goals that can be achieved by the two riders yet to be eliminated from title contention:

Tom Drane (No. 59 Estenson Racing Yamaha YZ450F) is currently tied with Kopp atop this season’s wins rankings at six apiece. Bragging rights for most wins would certainly make a nice consolation prize.

Ironically, Daniels, himself, was outdone in terms of wins by an Aussie – Max Whale (No. 18 Latus Motors Racing/Liqui Moly Harley-Davidson XG750R) – in his final Parts Unlimited AFT Singles title campaign.

And with a win this weekend, Chase Saathoff (No. 88 JPG Motorsports Honda CRF450R) would become just the fifth rider in class history to complete the Flat Track Grand Slam, joining Dalton Gauthier (No. 79 Moto Anatomy X Powered by Royal Enfield 650), Whale, Trevor Brunner (No. 21 Mission Foods/Zanotti Racing KTM 790 Duke), and Kopp.

More than that, he would become the first to achieve it in a single season.

Winning Numbers

Without question, the intense competition fueling the efforts of Kopp, Drane, and Saathoff has left precious little trophy hardware for anyone else to collect this season.

Even if someone other than the lead trio breaks through to win this weekend, we are already guaranteed to see the fewest number of winners in a single season in class history.

Here’s where the seasons rank in terms of overall number of Main Event winners:

• 10 (2010, 2018)
• 9 (2013, 2015, 2017)
• 8 (2011, 2014, 2019)
• 7 (2009, 2016, 2020)
• 6 (2021, 2022, 2023)
• 5 (2010)
• 3 (2024 – IN PROGRESS)

To be clear, this is not a measure of a particular season’s quality or entertainment value. Unpredictability makes for a good show but so too does historic greatness and week-in, week-out excellence.

But it is worth noting.

The Path

With a current championship score of 286-264, Jared Mees leads Brandon Robinson by 22 points. With the tiebreaker already taken care of (Mees owning five wins to Robinson’s three), even in the event of a Robinson victory this weekend, Mees needs to pick up just three points, i.e. a finish of 17th or better.

He still has his provisional start in his pocket… if a LCQ is even necessary. So, if Mees turns up, he basically has one of those three points locked up – the championship equivalent to signing his name atop the SAT.

And if anyone but Robinson wins, this one is already done and dusted.

The Path Pt. 2

Kody Kopp currently leads Tom Drane and Chase Saathoff 321-299-297 – a difference of 22 and 24 points. Anything less than a win eliminates Drane or Saathoff. Tied with Kopp at six wins, Drane can still earn the tiebreaker. Saathoff at three, cannot.

Like Mees, Kopp also retains his provisional start and has priority over anyone else who may hope to cash theirs in. That fact is a tough one for Saathoff as Kopp needs just the one point the provisional start effectively assures to eliminate Saathoff from contention. So, if Kopp shows up and wheels out for the Main, Saathoff is out.

A bit more work will be required if Drane wins… but not much, especially not for a rider whose worst result this season is fourth and whose worst result the past three is 10th. With only four points required, even in the event of a Drane victory and tiebreaker, 16th or better gets it done.