AFT's relentless Covid-era schedule continues this week with another double-header. The Charlotte Half-Mile, a banked clay, car racing half-mile. Racing is taking place on Friday and Saturday.
Depending how results go, all three championships could be wound up this weekend, but as it stands, AFT SuperTwins is most open. Briar Bauman, #1, is just 12pts ahead of Jared Mees, #9, the latter coming off the back of a double-win last weekend at the Atlanta Short Track. Third place Sammy Halbert is still in with a mathematical, but highly unlikely chance at the title.
In Production Twins, James Rispoli is on the cusp of giving the Harley XG750R it's first title in any National class. He's 48pts ahead of current champ (and Sideburn columnist) Cory Texter. How excited are Harley going to be about that title? My guess is 'very'. The bike is solidly midfield in SuperTwins and doesn't look to be striding closer to the leading Indians (despite beating plenty of other FTR750s).
AFT Singles, that has been traditionally the hardest to predict, has been dominated by teen sensation, Dallas Daniels. Daniels, and team-mate Mikey Rush, are the only rays of sunshine being offered to the Estenson Yamaha team. Henry Wiles is in second and took a huge hit at last weekend race. If Daniels win another race on Friday, his sixth on the bounce, he will have a minimum, and unassailable, 75-point lead over Wiles with three races remaining. What a season.
Below is an eventful main at the Charlotte Half-Mile from 2015.
How to watch
The gates will open for fans at 4:30 p.m. ET both days with the Main Event programs slated to begin at 8:15 p.m. ET/5:15 p.m. PT. Live coverage of the entire weekend’s racing activities will be available on any device for less than $1 per event via TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold.
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Justin, I have a follow-up post coming soon expanding on some of the thoughts you're having. I think the biggest problem for anything that isn't an FTR750 is its crank size and inertia. They just can get off the corners like the FTR750, that was made purely for flat track racing. If the Harley or Yam is spinning for just 0.1 second longer than an FTR coming off a corner it is losing 5s in a 25-lap race. It's all fine margins. And trying to make up off the corner drive with more revs or top-end power is not going to solve the problem on most tracks. GI
I could see JR43 winning the Production Twins title this year with a great team, then being recruited by V&H and having mid pack results. I personally think some of V&H's short falls are themselves trying to tune the bikes. Everyone knows they have the power and the riders.