How to Watch & What to Watch: Yamaha Senoia Short Track

DAYTONA BEACH, FL – March 24, 2023 – (Motor Sports NewsWire) – FansChoice.tv is the live streaming home of Progressive AFT. Complete coverage of this Saturday’s Yamaha Senoia Short Track will kick off with the day’s first practice session at 4:00 p.m. ET (1:00 p.m. PT). 

Sign up now and catch every second of on-track action at https://www.fanschoice.tv. 

Event Rewind: DAYTONA Short Track I Main Event Highlights

Event Rewind: DAYTONA Short Track II Main Event Highlights

Short Wait to Get Back on Track

The 2023 Progressive AFT season resumes just two weeks after its thrilling Bike Week double-opener with the inaugural Yamaha Senoia Short Track. Read More

Reality Check

Even with an impressive rookie campaign under his belt, Dallas Daniels (No. 32 Estenson Racing Yamaha MT-07 DT) admitted that it’s still a bit surreal to be racing with riders he once looked to as his childhood heroes. But if Daniels continues to take it to his more established competition like he did at the DAYTONA ST, what once felt surreal is going to become all too real in a big hurry.  

Pecking orders at the pinnacle of any sport are never reshaped without significant friction. Friendships can be beaten into bitter rivalries when locked in a struggle for the Grand National Championship, as we’ve previously seen with Bryan Smith and Jared Mees (No. 1 Indian Motorcycle/Rogers Racing/SDI Racing FTR750), and, more recently, Mees and Briar Bauman (No. 3 Parts Plus/Jacob Companies KTM 890 Duke). 

The mental aspect of racing is a very real thing and mind games can play a pivotal role in determining the ultimate victor. Daniels is a calm, respectful competitor and a clean racer, but that doesn’t mean his adversaries won’t look for a way to get into his head. 

It’ll be fascinating to see how he reacts if forced to re-contextualize childhood heroes as present-day enemies. 

Speaking of Mees

Since 2016, reigning Mission SuperTwins champ Mees has scored at least one victory in four separate season-opening weekends (‘17, ‘18, ‘20, and ‘21). 

Perhaps more telling is how the factory Indian Motorcycle legend responded on the occasions that he didn’t. 

In 2016, he bounced back from a 4-9 DAYTONA ST opener by going 1-2 in the next two races. 

In 2019, following a 17th place finish at the DAYTONA TT, he went 2-1-3 in the subsequent three events. 

And last year, he followed up his fifth-place run at the Volusia HM by going 1-1-2-1 in a…