DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Jared Mees delivered a performance for the ages in Saturday night’s All Seasons Powersports West Virginia Half-Mile.
The race proved to be a memorable return for Progressive American Flat Track, sanctioned by AMA Pro Racing, to Mineral Wells, W.Va., after nearly two decades away.
Mees came to West Virginia Motor Speedway for the first time since 2006 with an opportunity to match fellow legend Scott Parker’s mark for most Half-Mile wins in the long history of the Grand National Championship.
But to do so, he understood that he was going to have to overcome the combined challenge of Mission SuperTwins presented by S&S Cycle title leader Dallas Daniels, Lima Half-Mile conqueror Briar Bauman and Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge winner Davis Fisher after the four went bar-to-bar minutes earlier in the four-lap dash for cash.
The potential adversaries whittled down almost immediately, however, as Fisher wheelied away his prime starting slot from pole and dropped to sixth. Meanwhile, Daniels was only one position further up the order and slotted in behind fellow Yamaha runners JD Beach and Dan Bromley.
That left just Bauman alone to prevent Mees from escaping at the front.
The Rick Ware Racing hero did well to demonstrate his recent success was down to more than simply capitalizing on a series of race tracks well suited to his bike’s strengths, tracking the factory Indian ace down to show him a wheel at half-distance.
However, Mees’ relentless excellence ultimately won the day, allowing him to stretch open some breathing space late. In the end, he secured his record-tying 35th-career HM win with a 0.609-second margin of victory.
Afterward, Mees said, “It feels really good — this is like my favorite one so far this year. I didn’t feel like we were the fastest guy lining up for that main event. We made some game-changing decisions after the dash with the Öhlins rear shock. With not trying something like that all day, you don’t know exactly what to expect, but I have a lot of faith in my team.
“It was a super finesse-y track — it was really easy to make a mistake and lose your momentum. I thought Briar and Davis were the guys to beat. But I hit my marks every lap, moved around to figure out where Briar was catching me, got my spot and felt the motorcycle hook up and move forward.”
Behind, Daniels’ season-long podium streak came under serious threat.
He was pressed hard to work his way around Beach and Bromley before being forced to fight his way back up to third after Bromley contacted his rear wheel with four minutes remaining. Both riders came close to hitting the dirt following the incident, which allowed Beach to steal third and Fisher to close in to make for a four-way sprint for the final spot on the box.
Daniels ultimately rebounded to keep his perfect top-three run intact.
In doing so, he also held on to his points lead, albeit by a slim five-point margin over reigning champion Mees (237-232). Beach followed his teammate home fourth. Fisher picked up fifth, while part-timer Bromley only had a sixth-place finish to show for his impressive outing.