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    C-Tech
    • Feb 8, 2020

    C-Tech

    This is Cory 'C-Tex' Texter, current American Flat Track Production Twins champ and our new tech columnist from Sideburn 40. Cory is going to be writing about getting the most out of your bike on race, or practice, day whatever flat tracker your ride and however quick your currently ride. We're really excited about having a rider of his stature giving us tips from a lifetime in the sport. Read about his championship winning G&G Racing Yamaha MT-07 and his trusted kit in Sideb
    XG750R
    • Jan 16, 2020

    XG750R

    We shot Jarod Vanderkooi's XG750R at Lima last year, just before JV20 knocked himself out and put himself out of the race. We also interviewed Terry Vance, of the legendary Vance & Hines, about the bike and the state of the official H_D Factory flat track team. Read about it in Sideburn 39. #xg750r #harleydavidson #aft2019 #edsubias #jarodvanderkooi #sideburn39 #vanceandhines
    Oliver Brindley Recovery Fund
    • Oct 2, 2019

    Oliver Brindley Recovery Fund

    Rookies of 79 is a charity set up to help injured pro flat track racers. They have funds running for a number of riders hurt this season, including Oliver Brindley. Here's the link - Rookies of 79. Here's what they say... American Flat Track singles rider Oliver Brindley was seriously injured while racing at the Meadowlands Mile on September 28th. We are asking our flat track family to please make a donation to help him and his family. They are all here from England and will
    Melancholy and Infinite Sadness
    • Sep 30, 2019

    Melancholy and Infinite Sadness

    As a fan, and low-level amateur racer, the inherent danger of motorcycles, bike sport and flat track in particular has been like a constant dull ache for the past few months. Since the mid-point of the season it seems like every other AFT race has left a rider with a serious, sometimes life-changing injury. Jeremy Higgins, in the Production Twins at Springfield; JR Addison in the Production Twins at Minnesota; James Monaco in the Expert Twins at Minnesota and that's not to me
    2019 AFT Champion: Briar Bauman
    • Sep 23, 2019

    2019 AFT Champion: Briar Bauman

    Congratulations to Briar Bauman for sewing up the 2019 title with one race to go. We interviewed him before the start of the season for Sideburn 36. When I asked, 'I have $1000 to bet on the 2019 AFT championship. Should I put it on #14?' Briar replied... 'I’m not much of a betting man, so that is a tough one to say. I can be a bit loose at times so maybe not the best idea.' He got that wrong. The Singles and Production Twins classes are going to the final round, with Dalton
    Springfield Mile 2 Thoughts
    • Sep 4, 2019

    Springfield Mile 2 Thoughts

    So, it was supposed to be three nationals in three days, but it became four when rain on Saturday night into Sunday waterlogged the track. Fortunately, Monday is the US holiday of Labor Day, so the event was slid back one day. Again, there were only two classes racing, the Twins (Elite, Expert, whatever you want to call them) and Production Twins. AFT Singles don't race on the miles. Early on the track was marbly. Best Twins qualifying lap time was 0.5 slower than the best fr
    Tyre Doping
    • Sep 3, 2019

    Tyre Doping

    We thought the tyre doping book was closed after Jared Mees was found guilty of having a tyre that Dunlop concluded had been chemically altered, at Atlanta 2018 (see Mees Disqualified post), but it seems at least one rider thought it was worth a try. Californian Production Twins, Michael Inderbitzen #54, has been found quilty of racing with a non-compliant tyre at last month's Black Hills Half-Mile. See the screengrab above. He had his points deducted. It must make quite a di
    Springfield Mile 1 Thoughts
    • Sep 1, 2019

    Springfield Mile 1 Thoughts

    So, the schedule caught up with me and I couldn't follow every race live. I missed the SacMile, but watched the Peoria TT after racing myself the same day, so I was just observing, not making notes. Briar was on it at Peoria, and the king of that track, Henry Wiles, was out injured. Such has been Wiles domination that no other current Twins rider had ever won at the track. Then it was onto the rescheduled Springfield. Friday night was Singles Short Track night, and, again, af
    Hero: Ronnie Jones
    • Aug 28, 2019

    Hero: Ronnie Jones

    Sideburn 38 is at the printers now and includes an interview with AFT Pro Twins racer the incredible Ronnie Jones. Jones is 59 years old. He won his first AFT Main in 1980, beating Kenny Roberts and the rest at the Houston Astrodome. At this month's Sacramento Mile Jones accomplished his goal of making the AFT Twins main, coming tenth, top Yamaha, beating his teammate, Jake Johnson. That qualification means he secured his National number for 2020. His plan is to make a pro ma
    H-D XG750R Wins
    • Aug 11, 2019

    H-D XG750R Wins

    It has taken three and a half seasons for the Harley-Davidson XG750R to win a National level flat track race. It finally happened last night, but not in the premier class. In only his second race on the Black Hills H-D (supported by Vance and Hines) liquid-cooled twin, Dalton Gauthier took the win at the Sacramento Mile in AFT's Production Twins category. The bikes Gauthier and Rispoli are racing, under the Black Hills banner, are recent factory XG750s, with the single overhe
    Black Hills HM Thoughts
    • Aug 7, 2019

    Black Hills HM Thoughts

    Less than 40 hours since the Buffalo Chip podium the AFT riders were back in action at the Black Hills Half-Mile, another race that is part of Sturgis Bike Week. After the one-line TT of the Buffalo Chip, which I'm indifferent to, the Black Hills track is fast, allows various lines and offered up some great racing. Unfortunately, being an AFT addict in Europe is a ballache. I watched till about 12.15am, then set the alarm for 1.15, watched another 40 mins, set the alarm for 3
    Rob Pearson Black Hills Wipeout
    • Aug 7, 2019

    Rob Pearson Black Hills Wipeout

    Rob Pearson ended up wrecking his privateer Indian FTR750 at the Black Hills Half-Mile last night. It happened after Jared Mees lost the front end mid-corner halfway through the 25-lap main. Jared and his FTR750 skidded up the track. David Fisher did an incredible job of swerving to avoid Mees who was half-sat, half-laid almost motionless on the track, and ploughed into the airfence. Rob Pearson, first seemed to clip Mees' bike, then hit Fisher's bike, that was on its side by
    Super Fast Flying Twins
    • Aug 6, 2019

    Super Fast Flying Twins

    Gar Wood, Ron's son, noticed this... JD Beach's fastest lap of the Buffalo Chip TT main was 32.806 on an Estenson Racin framer Yamaha MT-07, with a road-bike derived twin engine. Ryan Sipes, who the commentators were describing as the motorcycle racer of the year, was on a Red Bull KTM 450 with trick suspension, the cutting edge of DTX bikes, put in a fastest lap of the AFT Singles main of 32.828s. A twin was faster around a horrible, nadgery track WITH A JUMP than a supercro
    Buffalo Chip TT Thoughts
    • Aug 6, 2019

    Buffalo Chip TT Thoughts

    This is getting daft. Sunday's race was delayed nearly two hours because of rain, so the first singles practice started at 11pm UK time. I saw the new schedule, watched singles Qualifying 1 (Q1), then set my alarm for 1am and slept for a bit. I woke, watched the singles heats, then set the alarm for 3am and watched the semis and mains. It all finished, for me, after 4.30. I set the alarm for 7 for work on Monday and tried to get some sleep. And I'm not even that fussed about
    Gauthier to Race Harley
    • Jul 23, 2019

    Gauthier to Race Harley

    I was only just saying how much I was looking forward to seeing AFT Singles points leader Dalton Gauthier on a twin (again) in the most recent race report thoughts and Black Hills Harley Davidson has made it so. Gauthier will race a Harley Davidson XG750R for the rest of the 2019 AFT Production Twins season. The Black Hills team of South Dakota are currently running James Rispoli and have signed Gauthier for the rest of the year, with seven Production Twins races scheduled to
    New York Short Track Thoughts
    • Jul 15, 2019

    New York Short Track Thoughts

    I'm not sure how long I can keep this up. I watched all the practice, qualifying, heats and semis, then fell asleep for an hour after setting my alarm for 2am. Ugh. There were no Production Twins at the NY ST, so the extra class was the Bultaco Invitational. It was won by Charlie Roberts, one of the main men behind the Rookies Class of 79 charity, that raises funds for injured flat trackers. The 40-odd year-old Bultacos were only about 1s a lap slower that the latest, tuned 4
    Lima Half-Mile Thoughts
    • Jul 5, 2019

    Lima Half-Mile Thoughts

    This is a little bit later than usual for a couple of reasons, but I saw this race live in the flesh, having flown out to the Midwest and driven for hours on end to follow the fortunes of Red Torpedo-sponsored riders, Jared Mees and Shayna Texter. And it was a great experience. My full story will be in the next issue of Sideburn with photos by Ed Subias, but here are some thoughts. The race is promoted by Jared and Nichole Mees. That means they put up the money to bring the A
    Red Mile Thoughts
    • Jun 4, 2019

    Red Mile Thoughts

    Here's the latest instalment of my morning after brain dump after watching (and listening to) the AFT 2019 races on Fanschoice. First thought was thank goodness the rain held off to actually get a Twins race finished. The Singles managed to have their Saturday Springfield TT, but the last two Twins mile races have been rained out, and this one was postponed from Saturday to Sunday. There must have been a lot of twitchy executives. The rescheduled race was at a very handy time
    Rain Reigns
    • Jun 1, 2019

    Rain Reigns

    For the third weekend on the trot AFT has been forced to postpone on of their championship races. This weekend the Red Mile, at Lexington, KY, has been put back one day until Sunday (tomorrow), with AFT officials 'monitoring' weather reports. Fingers crossed they get to race. This follows the rescheduling of the Sacramento and Springfield Miles. I'm not sure if this run of rain-offs is unprecedented, but I don't remember it being this bad before. IT must be playing havoc with
    First Sacramento, now Springfield
    • May 27, 2019

    First Sacramento, now Springfield

    Last week the Sacramento Mile was postponed because of rain, this week the Springfield Mile has been postponed until August. Initially it was moved back to Monday, but the forescast caused AFT to postpone it till the last day of August. The two Springfield Miles, traditionally on Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends, are forming a double header on Labor Day, at the end of August, so there will be back-to-back Mile races on the same weekend. That means there are now SIX AFT Twi
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