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Interview: Dan Bromley

Feb 21

Interview: Dan Bromley

When we heard that Dan Bromley was moving from AFT SuperTwins into the Production Twins class we asked for an interview to find the reasons behind it, and we given some great insight from the 25-year-old former AFT Singles champ. You told us you live in Glen Rock, PA and told us you were at work when we first got in touch, what is your job? I am a full-time carpenter/ custom home builder for F.C. Batton and Son. We build pretty much any size or type of house, from the foundat

No Factory H-D in 2021

Nov 16, 2020

No Factory H-D in 2021

The rumour we heard last week turned out to be true: Harley-Davidson have not renewed Vance & Hines to run their factory AFT and NHRA drag racing teams. Vance & Hines are reported as saying they, 'will continue [our] racing tradition in 2021 with sponsored riders in a variety of racing series, and be the sole distributor for the sole licensee, manufacturer and seller of Harley-Davidson XG750R Production Twin motorcycles and Harley-Davidson XG750R SuperTwin motorcycles.' The M

Royal Enfield Wins Daytona

Oct 17, 2020

Royal Enfield Wins Daytona

We've been following the Enfield FT Twin project since a reader sent us his own 'spy' shots taken at Leicester speedway track in mid-September 2019 (see the post Royal Enfield Production Twin). Just over a year later, thanks to the guidance of Johnny Lewis, the skill of Harris Performance and the enthusiasm and engineering prowess of Royal Enfield, flat track fans saw the bike win a pro flat track National, just FIVE WEEKS, after making its debut. The AFT Production Twins rac

What’s happening at Estenson Yamaha?

Oct 9, 2020

What’s happening at Estenson Yamaha?

And what does it mean for AFT SuperTwins? Going into the penultimate race weekend of the year, a glance at the AFT SuperTwins standings reveals grim reading for Yamaha fans, and worse still for the Estenson team. Combining the scores for the Yamaha USA-supported riders, JD Beach and Kolby Carlile, sees a total of 118pts: 68 for Beach, 50 for Carlile. That leaves them in 14th and 15th respectively, out of 16 full-time and five occasional/wild card riders. 118pts is fewer than

AFT: Relentless

Oct 8, 2020

AFT: Relentless

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 S

AFT Atlanta Rnd 1

Oct 3, 2020

AFT Atlanta Rnd 1

Not too many shock results last night, but that doesn't mean they weren't noteworthy. AFT SINGLES Dallas Daniels #32 is the most hyped young rider in more than a decade and he's proven his supporters were right. Four race wins on the trot, six wins in total this season, more than the rest of the field combined and stretching his title lead over Henry Wiles in second m the title race. Wiles came in 5th on the night. Mischler, #13, was second, Brandon Kitchen third. It's just n

Episode 2: Royal Enfield AFT Journey

Oct 2, 2020

Episode 2: Royal Enfield AFT Journey

Royal Enfield has again allowed Sideburn to debut another in their short film series following the journey of the MotoAnatomy x Royal Enfield American Flat Track race team. After the highs of successful debut at Williams Grove, PA, the team travelled to the Devil's Bowl Speedway, Texas, for two more rounds on a sticky, banked half-mile. Watch the film to see what happened. The team are not competing this weekend's races in Atlanta, but Royal Enfield will be their the Build. T

EXCLUSIVE: First view of Royal Enfield race film

Sep 23, 2020

EXCLUSIVE: First view of Royal Enfield race film

Royal Enfield North America asked Sideburn to debut the new video following Johnny Lewis building and racing his new Royal Enfield American Flat Track Production Twins race bike for the very first time. Er... Yeah! The film follows JL10 from assembling the bike, days before the race, through to the end of the weekend in an engaging four minutes. Royal Enfield say, 'The Royal Enfield Twins FT is a joint effort between Royal Enfield and Moto Anatomy, Lewis' proprietary race tea

So, What Happened?

Sep 14, 2020

So, What Happened?

As reported over the weekend, Johnny Lewis debuted the Royal Enfield Production Twins at the AFT's Williams Grove Half-Mile event. Friday was encouraging, with the bike coming in sixth from a field of 15. On Saturday, during the semis for the second of the weekend's double-header races, Lewis was running well, just behind reigning champ Cory Texter, when his twin started blowing huge clouds of white oil smoke. The rider seemed oblivious for a lap or so, and was black flagged.

Royal Enfield x MotoAnatomy

Sep 12, 2020

Royal Enfield x MotoAnatomy

Just yesterday, on the blog, we noted that Johnny Lewis was on the AFT Production Twins entry list, but we weren't 100% sure he was racing because we'd see a social media post he made hinting the Harris-framed Royal Enfield twin arrived from the UK on midweek, or at least was uncrated midweek. But, as these photos show, JL10 was out yesterday and muscling the new bike around harder than just about anyone else on track. We've been following this project since it was a concept

11 Things We Learned From Volusia

Jul 21, 2020

11 Things We Learned From Volusia

Vance & Hines Harley Still Has A Long Way To Go Harley's best finish from the Volusia double-header was delivered by new boy Dalton Gauthier, 7th on Friday. The next day not one of the three factory riders could get in the top 10. Gauthier was top again but this time in 11th, ahead of the more experienced Smith and Vanderkooi.. Yamaha Might Have Even Further To Go I can't imagine JD Beach had a pair of tenth places in mind when he signed up for a full season of AFT on the Est

AFT 2020 Countdown: New Rules

Jul 14, 2020

AFT 2020 Countdown: New Rules

The 2020 American Flat Track season finally gets underway this weekend with back-to-back races on Friday and Saturday at the Volusia clay Half-Mile in Florida. The season was supposed to start with the Daytona TT in March, but was postponed with only 24 hours to go. And Volusia is racing with fans, one of the first pro sports in the world to manage to welcome back socially-distanced spectators. There are a lot of changes for 2020, that are nothing to do with coronavirus. We'r

C-Tex

Jun 29, 2020

C-Tex

This is 2019 AFT Production Twins champ, Cory Texter on his G&G Yamaha. Cory writes tech advice aimed at amateur racers for the magazine, his first piece was in Sideburn 40, and covered wheels and tyres. In the current issue he explain gearing and getting it right while under pressure on race day. Cory also wrote about his championship winning bike and kit in Sideburn 39. ORDER SIDEBURN MAGAZINES Cory is also raising funds for his amateur team with raffles of memorabilia. Fin

Royal Enfield x Moto Anatomy

Jun 25, 2020

Royal Enfield x Moto Anatomy

Johnny Lewis wrote about his deal with Royal Enfield in the current issue, Sideburn 41, and new has reached us about the bike's debut. The Royal Enfield Twin's first AFT races will take place at rounds 5 & 6 on August 28-29, at a venue AFT are yet to confirm. Moto Anatomy’s Johnny Lewis, is rider and team owner, and will compete in the Production Twins class. He says, 'The Royal Enfield FT concept has already shown promise so far.We’re already seeing great results from the m

Royal Enfield & Lewis to Race AFT Production Twins

Mar 4, 2020

Royal Enfield & Lewis to Race AFT Production Twins

This just in from Royal Enfield North America. Royal Enfield North America has partnered with American Flat Track (AFT) racer Johnny Lewis and his team Moto Anatomy for 2020. Lewis will develop the all-new Royal Enfield FT, built by Harris Performance, in the Production Twins class at select AFT rounds this year. Based on the INT650 motorcycle, Moto Anatomy will race the FT with support from Royal Enfield, Harris Performance and S&S Cycle. “This racing effort is unprecedented

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

Harley Make XG750R For Sale

Nov 24, 2019

Harley Make XG750R For Sale

Following the (eventual) success of the Harley-Davidson XG750R in AFT's Production Twins class, Harley, in conjunction with Vance and Hines, have launched a limited run of the XG750R race bikes available to buy and race in the 2020 Production Twins class. Vance and Hines are handling the sales. The bikes are $36,000 and are, V&H say, ready to ship immediately. Photo: Scott Hunter/ AFT Some things to note. 1. Gauthier won two races on the XG750R in 2019 Production Twins class,

Royal Enfield Production Twin: UPDATED MORE PHOTOS

Sep 9, 2019

Royal Enfield Production Twin: UPDATED MORE PHOTOS

This is the first glimpse of what could be Royal Enfield's previously secret AFT Production Twin race project. Our friend and fellow racer, Paul Harrison was at Leicester Speedway track yesterday, just 13 miles from Royal Enfield's Bruntingthorpe technology centre, and saw it testing. We'd heard noises about this project back in mid-summer but didn't realise it would be tested so soon. We can't be 100% sure it's an official project, and not just a staff after-hours job, but e

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

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