DuQuoin Mile Is Next For AFT Flat Trackers

DUQUOIN, Ill. — Progressive American Flat Track, sanctioned by AMA Pro Racing, will celebrate Independence Day weekend in explosive fashion with the Memphis Shades DuQuoin Mile at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds July 5.

The season’s first contest of ultimate speed and strategy at a high-speed Mile will serve as the culmination of a week-long celebration of one of the most iconic and intrinsically American forms of motorsport. Progressive AFT is sharing the spotlight with the Roof Systems AMA Flat Track Grand Championship.

In fact, the amateur championship action is already underway, with the nation’s future stars having kicked off their week on Sunday, June 29 and running right up until they hand the venue over to the world’s greatest professional motorcycle dirt trackers on Saturday.

While the Springfield Mile is often regarded as the crown jewel of the season’s schedule, the DuQuoin Mile – a circuit legendary for its outright speed, non-stop drama, and photo-finishes –  is the perfect host for the year’s first Mile.

Known as the “Magic Mile” – and for good reason – the DuQuoin Mile was famously the battleground for the closest ever finish in the seven-decade-plus history of the Grand National Championship; in 2015, Jared Mees beat Bryan Smith by an impossibly close 0.000 seconds to claim the victory.

Since returning to the annual slate in 2023, the DuQuoin Mile has seen four riders in with a shot at victory right up to the checkered flag.

Last season, Mees edged Dallas Daniels (No. 32 Estenson Racing Yamaha MT-07 DT), Brandon Price, and Briar Bauman (No. 3 RWR/Parts Plus/Latus Motors Harley-Davidson XG750R) by margins of 0.389, 0.444, and 0.686 seconds, respectively.

And that was a relative blowout when compared with the showdown in ‘23, where Mees overcame the challenge of Brandon Robinson (No. 44 Mission Roof Systems Harley-Davidson XG750R), Daniels, and Bauman by 0.033, 0.097, and 0.160 seconds, respectively.

Masters Of The Mile

While a combined mastery of all four dirt track disciplines – Mile, Half-Mile, Short Track, and TT – is the ultimate measure of a dirt track racer, the Mile is typically regarded as the sport’s signature form.

It generally takes years for a rider to master the finer points of race-long strategy and final-lap tactics. But once it finally does click into place, a rider can prove nearly unbeatable in that arena.

Despite their ultra-close nature, the finishing order of a Mile is rarely random. Each generation typically sees the emergence of a Mile maestro who racks up winner’s trophies while leaving the opposition with precious little opportunity for glory.

That torch has been passed along in recent decades from Scott Parker to Chris Carr to Bryan Smith to Jared Mees. Led by Parker’s 55 Mile wins, all four boast at least 25 Mile wins, whereas only five other riders have even broken into the double digits dating back to the series’ origins in 1954.

Interestingly, while the presence of ten-time Grand National Champion Mees loomed large at Lima – the scene of his maiden premier-class win and where he now serves as co-promoter – he might cast an even longer shadow this weekend in DuQuoin.

Mees completely dominated the discipline in recent years, a fact that served as the cornerstone for his run to immortality.

During the full breadth of the Indian era (2017-2024), Mees won 66% of all Miles (27-41), despite overlapping with the later days of Smith’s Mile mastery. Mees became even more dominant as time went on, claiming 13 of the most recent 17 Miles (76%) since 2021.

As a result, his retirement left just a combined eight Miles wins spread out amongst the active field of full-time racers – three apiece for Bauman and Robinson, and two for Daniels.

Which of the three is most likely to take the torch and run with it?

Daniels and his Yamaha will be strong, there is little doubt of that.

The Harley is more of a question mark, just because it’s an unknown on the Miles in its current guise with its current riders. However, the same was said regarding the XG750R and the cushion Half-Mile of Lima, and looked how that turned out.

It’s The FBI…

New generation Fast Boy from Illinois, Declan Bender (No. 70 Memphis Shades/Corbin/OTB Racing Yamaha MT-07) made a big impression in his return to the scene at Lima.

He went into Ohio with relatively modest expectations. How could it be any different, considering he was new to the team and the bike and riding a track that isn’t perfectly suited to his style?

And yet he did that. Bender poked his way up into fourth in Friday’s Main Event 3, and then earned the position for real by pushing Robinson to the flag in search of a podium result in Saturday’s rematch.

His confidence must be soaring as he looks to defend his home turf on a track where he finished sixth a year ago and where his new mount finished on the box in the hands of Brandon Price.

I’m Not Alone

Bender isn’t the only rider with the potential to make this another DuQuoin Mile where finishing within fractions of a second of the winner is no guarantee of a podium.

Davis Fisher (No. 67 Rackley Racing/Bob Lanphere’s BMC Racing KTM 790 Duke) and Jarod VanDerKooi (No. 20 Fastrack Racing/Wally Brown Racing KTM 790 Duke) both have big-time skills and are motivated for bounce-back performances after battling through relatively tough outings at Lima. That and the KTM mill packs a big punch and is a proven Mile monster.

Meanwhile, the foursome of Dan Bromley (No. 62 Memphis Shades/Vinson Construction Suzuki GSX-8S), James Ott (No. 19 G&G Racing Yamaha MT-07), Max Whale (No. 18 Moto Anatomy X Powered by Royal Enfield 650), and Trent Lowe (No. 48 American Honda/Progressive Insurance Honda Transalp), continue to impress week-in and week-out while demonstrating the success of the new all-production bike ruleset.

Despite their diversity of machinery, three of the four managed to finish fifth or better at Lima, while the one holdout – Lowe – is knocking at the door, picking up the second and third sixth-place finishes of his season last weekend.