- Yamaha Rider Jessie Janisch Dominates AFT Singles Class
- Qualifying for 78th DAYTONA 200 on Friday
- DAYTONA 200 Set for Saturday at 1 p.m.
Briar Bauman won the DAYTONA TT on Thursday night at Daytona International Speedway, in the season-opening race for the American Flat Track season.
Bauman, riding an Indian FTR750, built an early lead in the 25-lap AFT Twins main event featuring 16 riders. Henry Wiles (Indian) finished second, 5.149 seconds behind, followed by Jake Johnson (Yamaha). Prior to the main event, Bauman set the stage by winning the 10-lap semifinal.
“I hopped out there at the front … it’s all about trying to put a gap there in the beginning,” said Bauman, from Salinas, California. “Luckily I’ve been training hard in the off-season; I tried to throw down as much as I could and get a little bit of gap – and then try to maintain the rest of the race.”
Thursday’s action continued the 78th Bike Week At DAYTONA lineup of races at DIS and also marked the third consecutive running of the DAYTONA TT. Riders negotiated a unique layout consisting of a dirt-track portion built on top of the DIS tri-oval grass “ball field” plus – for the first time – a backstretch utilizing the speedway’s 18-degree banked pavement fronting “The World Center of Racing” main seating area.
Two classes of motorcycles competed: powerful twin-cylinder bikes in the headlining AFT Twins class and single-cylinder machines in the AFT Singles class.
Jessie Janisch of Beaver Dam, Wisconsin was dominant throughout the evening aboard a Yamaha YZ450F in the AFT Singles, winning a heat and a semifinal before also capturing the 15-lap main event. Dalton Gauthier (KTM 450 SX-F) and defending Daytona AFT Singles champion Dan Bromley (KTM 450 SX-F) finished second and third, respectively.
“This is a huge effort [by our team] and a great way to start the season,” Janisch said.
AFT Twins featured two heat events, won by Wiles and JD Beach (Yamaha MT-07). The Twins Semifinals advanced 16 riders to the main event; the two winners were Bauman and Wiles.
The AFT Singles class had four heats, won by Oliver Brindley (Yamaha YZ450F), Janisch, Bromley and Jacob Lehmann (Honda CRF450R). The Singles semifinals also advanced eight riders to the main; semifinal winners were Janisch and Gauthier.
Bike Week At DAYTONA concludes on Saturday with the 78th DAYTONA 200, a tradition-rich road racing event dating to 1937 when it was held on the Daytona Beach-Road course that utilized both the Atlantic Ocean shoreline and State Road A1A. The DAYTONA 200 moved to Daytona International Speedway in 1961. The 200-mile/57-lap event is now contested on a 3.51-mile course that travels through the speedway’s infield and atop the 31-degree banking in the turns.
Qualifying for the DAYTONA 200 is set for Friday with three sessions – 10:50-11:30 a.m., 1-1:25 p.m. and 4:30-4:55 p.m. The race will take the green flag at 1 p.m. Saturday.
Tickets for the 78th DAYTONA 200 and all speedway events can be purchased online at www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com or by calling 1-800-PITSHOP. Fans can stay connected with Daytona International Speedway on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube and Snapchat, and by downloading Daytona International Speedway’s mobile app, for the latest Speedway news throughout the season.