Beach, Drane Complete Estenson Racing Black Hills Half-Mile Sweep

DAYTONA BEACH, FL – August 7, 2024 – (Motor Sports NewsWire) – Consider the rust sufficiently shaken off. In just his second race back, super sub JD Beach (No. 95 Estenson Racing Yamaha MT-07 DT) claimed a hugely impressive victory on Tuesday night in Rapid City, South Dakota, winning the Black Hills Harley-Davidson Black Hills Half-Mile presented by The City of Sturgis, Round 12 of the Progressive American Flat Track season, sanctioned by AMA Pro Racing.

Beach blasted into the lead at the green light of the Mission AFT SuperTwins Main Event at Black Hills Speedway, followed closely by full-time Grand National Championship contenders Jared Mees (No. 1 Rogers Racing/SDI Racing/Indian Motorcycle FTR750), Briar Bauman (No. 3 Rick Ware Racing/KTM/Parts Plus KTM 790 Duke), and Brandon Robinson (No. 44 Mission Roof Systems Indian FTR750), along with the day’s fastest rider in qualifying, Chad Cose (No. 49 Indian Motorcycle of Oklahoma City/G&G Racing Indian FTR750).

Robinson found an outside line to his liking and used it to rip around Cose, Bauman, and Mees in rapid succession. However, his attempt to do so for first tipped the leader off and Beach promptly used the same line himself to secure his position at the front.

Mees stuck with the low line and made it work well enough to counter Robinson and then take the fight to Beach. Beach again adapted, running high in Turns 1-2 and low in Turns 3-4, a combination that gradually broke the challenge of the nine-time series king.

Beach’s victory was his first-ever Half-Mile triumph, moving him to within just a Mile victory of the elusive old-school Grand Slam. His performance also makes him a good bet to sweep Progressive AFT’s 84th Sturgis Motorcycle Rally doubleheader, as he comes armed with a skillset that seems perfectly suited for Sunday’s race in the Streets of Downtown Sturgis.

Beach said, “A goal of mine since I was a kid was to get a Grand Slam; I’ve got a Superbike win, I’ve got a Short Track win, I’ve got a TT win, and now I’ve got the Half-Mile. I can’t thank the team enough. We chipped away at it all day long. In the race, I knew I was going to stick to the bottom until someone tried to go around the outside of me. I saw Brandon go up top so I did too and I saw Jared going to the bottom in 3 and 4, so I was going up top, down low, up top, down low. It was working so good. To get this win is just amazing.”

Mees kept Beach honest to the checkered flag and was rewarded…