American Flat Track Calistoga Half Mile

Jared Mees went into the Calistoga Half-Mile expecting to win. After all, he smoked the competition on at the previous American Flat Track round at Rolling Wheels Raceway Park, another clay Half-Mile that suits the Pennsylvania-bred rider just fine. Well, the Indian Motorcycle/Rogers Racing met those expectations in Northern California, taking another dominant victory at Calistoga Speedway.

"Yeah, it was good," Mees said about his win at Calistoga. "Just was solid as a rock from Semis on. The last qualifier (session) and the first heat race, we weren’t that good. But we made some changes and the track kind of came to us. I knew later on that the track would be really way up my alley."

Up his alley it was, and that dominant win was another blow to his rival, Indian Motorcycle Racing backed by Allstate's Bryan Smith. The win not only extended Mees’ lead in the championship chase to 18 points, but it also carries on Mees’ winning momentum, something that Smith needs to turn back around in his favor. Smith had a better result than his previous two outings, coming just shy of the podium to teammate Brad Baker.

Ahead of Baker running his own race in second was Estenson Racing’s Sammy Halbert. Although Halbert was unable to follow his X Games win with his first win of the year of American Flat Track, Halbert was the best of the rest on the clay, crossing the line 2.7 seconds ahead of Baker.

While it was no surprise that a multi-Grand National Champion like Mees could dominate on a clay Half-Mile, AFT Singles winner Tanner Dean was a pleasant surprise. The 16-year-old from Washington State hit the ground running at Calistoga, turning heads with a stellar performance of his own in what was only his fourth professional race.

"Yeah, It’s speechless for me... I don’t really know what to say about it," Dean said. "I’m still in shock. I came into this race having no expectations of winning it, but a bunch of people were telling me, 'Top five, top five.' So, I was really contemplating putting my head down, like I always say, and riding my own line and running my own race."

The strategy paid off for the Walrath Racing rider, as the new kid in the class stayed calm, cool and collected to collect his first win in the championship over some tough competition - Brandon Price and Kolby Carlile.

Price kept Dean honest the whole time on his new ride, the Parkinson Brothers Racing Honda CRF450R, but Dean hit his marks to relegate Price to second. Not far off in third was Carlile on his new ride, the Estenson Racing Yamaha YZ-F450.