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Flat Track Racing Mega Thread - INCLUDES SPOILERS!

Lets see if this will link. Ron Woods HONDA for Chad Cose tonight.

22382361_1429611020427052_1221293485881401884_o.jpg
 
New Africa Twin engine. Cool to see the variety on the FT grid.
 
Go JD Beach! Commanding Semifinal win. Fun to see Canfield there working with JD at an FT event.
 
Well the 2017 AFT season is over. A lot to take in. Mees and the other Indians dominated. As the season wore on, the factory Indians looked more vulnerable. We saw the XR 750 is still a great package on a half mile. Bauman and the Zanotti Kawasaki (with help from Bill Werner) were getting closer to the front. More teams showed up running the Yamaha platform. And Johnny Lewis proved a privateer Indian can challenge the factory riders. Hard to say what happened with Smith for the 2nd half of the season. The Miles in the first half of the year sure helped him but he's always been good on half miles in the past so his struggle in the second half of the season was a real surprise.

Other than a few very rare bright spots the Factory HD XG750s really struggled. HD is committed to the platform so we'll see how development proceeds over the winter. I'd like to see that bike work. Its been tough watching Coolbeth, Robinson and Johnson riding their asses off without much to show.

The singles class had its usual great racing. The suspension of Dalton Gauthier and him not returning may have changed the championship from a sure runaway by the 18 year-old but it doesn't look good to have such a great talent missing from the series.

The 2018 schedule has yet to be officially announced but a screen cap from the awards banquet shows the Sac Mile as the only race in California next season. We'll see if they add more.

And for anyone wondering if Indian was going to go big for a season and drop out, you can rest easy...for now. Indian just announced a $375,000 contingency program for 2018 including a $25K bonus for the twins championship and payouts for all positions first through 10th for FTR750 racers.

Lots of riders still putting together programs for next year. Looking forward to team and rider announcements in the coming weeks and months.
 
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I know a mechanic that worked with Bill Werner this year. When the same "forgot more than..." comment was put to this mechanic, the reply was "Bill hasn't forgotten anything." Werner is amazing.


That Husky is beautiful.
 
DogBoy said:
I know a mechanic that worked with Bill Werner this year. When the same "forgot more than..." comment was put to this mechanic, the reply was "Bill hasn't forgotten anything." Werner is amazing.
Click to expand...
Word. Men like Werner make motorcycle racing what it is.
I think Werner is 76, which would make him 2 years younger
than the late great Don Vesco. The man has been around.
Werner1.jpg
 
DogBoy said:
Well the 2017 AFT season is over. A lot to take in. Mees and the other Indians dominated. As the season wore on, the factory Indians looked more vulnerable. We saw the XR 750 is still a great package on a half mile. Bauman and the Zanotti Kawasaki (with help from Bill Werner) were getting closer to the front. More teams showed up running the Yamaha platform. And Johnny Lewis proved a privateer Indian can challenge the factory riders. Hard to say what happened with Smith for the 2nd half of the season. The Miles in the first half of the year sure helped him but he's always been good on half miles in the past so his struggle in the second half of the season was a real surprise.

Other than a few very rare bright spots the Factory HD XG750s really struggled. HD is committed to the platform so we'll see how development proceeds over the winter. I'd like to see that bike work. Its been tough watching Coolbeth, Robinson and Johnson riding their asses off without much to show.

The singles class had its usual great racing. The suspension of Dalton Gauthier and him not returning may have changed the championship from a sure runaway by the 18 year-old but it doesn't look good to have such a great talent missing from the series.

The 2018 schedule has yet to be officially announced but a screen cap from the awards banquet shows the Sac Mile as the only race in California next season. We'll see if they add more.

And for anyone wondering if Indian was going to go big for a season and drop out, you can rest easy...for now. Indian just announced a $375,000 contingency program for 2018 including a $25K bonus for the twins championship and payouts for all positions first through 10th for FTR750 racers.

Lots of riders still putting together programs for next year. Looking forward to team and rider announcements in the coming weeks and months.
Click to expand...


great 2017 AFT summary - thx
[+ thx for all the posts thruout this season]

for me, a big season hi-lite was Lewis' podium -
another was the competitive Halbert [Yam] & Briar Bauman/Chad Cose [Kaw]
finally, Jeffrey Carver's year-end XR750 performances were an inspiration

H-D's struggles were a low point

I, too, am quite curious about who'll be riding what in 2018,
plus I'm hopeful that The Calisotga Half-Mile will remain on the schedule
 
Watching JD Beach last night on the broadcast of the final was awesome. Kid rocks.

Great to see Stevie Bonsey back in the game too. :thumbup
 
plaid said:
Word. Men like Werner make motorcycle racing what it is.
I think Werner is 76, which would make him 2 years younger
than the late great Don Vesco. The man has been around.
Werner1.jpg
Click to expand...

Hall of Famer. :thumbup

I am sure his memory banks are full of challenges, victories, heart break and triumphs!
 
budman said:
Watching JD Beach last night on the broadcast of the final was awesome. Kid rocks.

Great to see Stevie Bonsey back in the game too. :thumbup
Click to expand...

I was pumped to see Stevie Bonsey back at a National and on the pace right away. Hope he lands a solid ride for next year.

JD Beach makes everything more fun. The two of them had a great battle.
 
Motorcycle.com has a write-up on a brief ride of the Indian Scout FTR750 race bike at a media event the day after the season finale at Perris.

The article is 2/3 history of Flat Track and '17 season recap so it takes a while to get to the meaty part about actually riding the bike.
 
DogBoy said:
Motorcycle.com has a write-up on a brief ride of the Indian Scout FTR750 race bike at a media event the day after the season finale at Perris.

The article is 2/3 history of Flat Track and '17 season recap so it takes a while to get to the meaty part about actually riding the bike.
Click to expand...


what with all the links & references within that MC.com write-up, there was a lotta meat on that bone - thx
 
firstbuell said:
what with all the links & references within that MC.com write-up, there was a lotta meat on that bone - thx
Click to expand...

No shit. They must be paying by the word over there. There were other journalists there so maybe we'll see a better write-up on the FTR750 elsewhere. Still better than HD doing their media day at Lodi on the Sunday after the Sac Mile with the mile gearing still on the bike. :laughing
 
I'd be a gazillionaire if life paid by the word!

just saw this:
Between the Motos - Jared Mees

".....it was awesome that they allowed me to ride the motorcycle that I raced last year back-to-back with it [Indian] in testing. My 2016 bike was the [Harley-Davidson] XR [750].....We kept going back and forth doing comparison tests.....By the end of the year last year I was turning faster lap times on the Indian.....

We won all four types of races the first time we raced them. It was awesome....."


http://racerxonline.com/2017/10/11/between-the-motos-jared-mees
 
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Short L.A. Times article on the growth of AFT during the 2017 season.

But the more impressive statistics are for the sport itself. In the first full year of its modern resurgence, race attendance topped 100,000 fans, up 76% over 2016.

An estimated 1.5 million viewers watched races on NBCSN. An additional 250,000 tuned in online via FansChoice.tv.
Click to expand...
 
How flat trackers share their grief over the loss of Nicky Hayden.

[youtube]hWqst4vvxUI[/youtube]



BTW, this track at the Gilliam compound is legit.





.
 
Sonofa$#&@! Mutha$#&%ers.

AFT's 2018 rule book states bikes in the Twins category "must maintain the traditional appearance of a flat track twin-cylinder motorcycle" and "must not be constructed to resemble Motocross or Supermoto motorcycles." Targeting Henry Wiles awesome TT twin is weak sauce.
 
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