Mees Adds to Half-Mile History with Dallas Half-Mile Triumph

DAYTONA BEACH, FL – April 23, 2023 – (Motor Sports NewsWire) – Reigning Grand National Champion Jared Mees (No. 1 Indian Motorcycle/Rogers Racing/SDI Racing FTR750) penned the latest chapter of a career of Half-Mile heroics with a victorious run in Saturday night’s Mission Dallas Half-Mile presented by Roof Systems at Devil’s Bowl Speedway in Mesquite, Texas.

The premier-class king was one-fourth of an early scrap for the lead in the Mission SuperTwins presented by S&S Cycle Main Event, along with a trio of Yamaha-mounted challengers in JD Beach (No. 95 Estenson Racing Yamaha MT-07 DT), Dallas Daniels (No. 32 Estenson Racing Yamaha MT-07 DT), and Dan Bromley (No. 62 Memphis Shades/Corbin/Vinson Construction Yamaha MT-07).

The opening stages of the contest proved to be a battle of extreme high and low lines. The high line showed itself to be the fast track up the order initially before giving way to a high-risk, high-reward tight-rope line at the bottom.

Just prior to half-distance, Mees and Daniels exploited that tricky low line to break free and settle into a rematch of their Senoia shootout. Meanwhile, Beach and Bromley fell into a five-rider fight for the final spot on the podium after being reeled in by the charging Brandon Robinson (No. 44 Mission Roof Systems Indian FTR750), Davis Fisher (No. 67 Rackley Racing/Bob Lanphere’s BMC Racing Indian FTR750), and Briar Bauman (No. 3 Parts Plus/Jacob Companies KTM 890 Duke).

Daniels made a couple of determined attempts to zero in on Mees but never got quite close enough to make a serious attempt at an overtake. A small bobble on the part of Daniels with less than a minute remaining gave the champ a bit of breathing space. He was then ceded even more as his young rival called off the assault to accept second.

The triumph was the 34th Half-Mile win of Mees’ historic career, placing him just one shy of the all-time record held by Scott Parker.

Afterward, Mees said, “Honestly, this was one of the hardest races to win. Going into Turn 1 and through Turn 2, you had to be so delicate going into the corners. You had to hit your brake mark right, get your throttle position right, and if you messed it up, it screwed your whole momentum up. It was definitely a hard race to win.

“Hats off to my entire team. We had a little mess up in Arizona, but we came back pretty strong all day long.”

Adding to Mees’ big evening was the misfortune of Beach, who crashed out of podium contention and dropped…