Tom Drane tops Lake Ozark Short Track season final

2024 American Flat Track – Lake Ozark Short Track

Images by Kristen Lasser, Lim Lester

Parts Unlimited AFT Singles Main Event

Kody Kopp closed out the Parts Unlimited AFT Singles season securing the 450 cc championship, needing to merely avoid catastrophe, with Tom Drane taking top honours for the Lake Ozark ST running.

However, once Chase Saathoff and then Trent Lowe drove underneath him, Kopp seemed to re-evaluate his strategy, dropping down to fifth before settling back in.

With Saathoff powering away out front, Kopp wicked his pace back up, pouncing on Tom Drane and Evan Renshaw in rapid succession to slot back into a podium position.

He then carried that momentum past Lowe and began the difficult task of closing the gap to Saathoff when a red flag flew as a result of a Travis Petton IV fall with less than a minute remaining on the clock.

That development changed the complexion of the race completely, transforming it into a wild bar-to-bar affair to the flag. Lowe led initially before Saathoff and Drane took their season-long rivalry to the front of the pack. Kopp was again shuffled back to fifth where he could have easily stayed to collect his third #1 plate, but instead he made a final push to claim third ahead of Renshaw and Lowe.

Meanwhile, the season’s final victory went to Drane over Saathoff by 0.061 seconds, handing the Australian bragging rights for most wins on the season at seven in the process.

Tom Drane

“I was able to bounce back (after a bad start). That restart really helped me there at the end. I was able to fight back and had a good battle with Chase. It was good to finally get something back on him after all the stuff he’s done to me this year. I can’t thank my team enough for all their effort all year.”

Kopp ultimately took the crown with a grand total of 339 points to Drane’s 324 and Saathoff’s 318. And like Mees in the premier class, he now stands alone in the Parts Unlimited AFT Singles record books.

Following the completion of his third successive title run, the Rick Ware Racing star now owns more championships (three) and more race victories (22) than anyone in the category’s history, while also holding either sole possession or a share of first place all-time in terms of Short Track, Half-Mile, and single-season victories.

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Kody Kopp

“I couldn’t be more proud of my Rick Ware Racing team. It’s been a dream season. I would have loved to get a win there, but those guys at the front were riding a little over the top, and I wasn’t going to play that game. We had a championship to win, and that was way more important… It’s a dream come true. Who knows what will be after three?”

AFT Singles Main Event Results

Parts Unlimited AFT Singles Standings – Top 20

Mission AFT SuperTwins Main Event

Jared Mees put the finishing touches on what may prove the final and most convincing argument in support of his claim as the greatest rider in the history of Progressive American Flat Track, sanctioned by AMA Pro Racing: an unprecedented tenth Grand National Championship.

Jared Mees

“It was a goal. Everybody would say it was a dream, but it was a goal. I made my dream my goal and worked hard at it. It hasn’t even sunk in yet. I had a big points lead coming in here, but there was only one way to go out the way I want to go out, and that was by winning this damn race. I can’t say enough for my entire team. Kenny (Tolbert), Bubba (Bently), Jimmy (Wood), you guys have won me a lot of races and a lot of championships. I definitely wouldn’t be as successful without you three and all my sponsors. Indian Motorcycle – I took their very first win in 2017, I opened that book for them, and tonight I got to close it for them. I can’t say enough for that company… So many people contributed to my program over these years. I feel like I could have this microphone until tomorrow morning and talk about my career and all the people who were in it to make me successful. I just want to say thank you.”

Mees did exactly what he needed to – and then some – at Lake Ozark Speedway to secure this crowning achievement as the 2024 season came to its conclusion with the inaugural running of the Parts Plus Lake Ozark Short Track in Eldon, Missouri.

Racing before a packed house with some 125,000 motorcycle enthusiasts flooding the area for the 18th Annual Lake of the Ozarks Bikefest, the Mission AFT SuperTwins Main Event was loaded with talented riders motivated to end their respective ‘24 campaigns on a high note.

And yet still no one could compare to Mees, who despite requiring just three points to clinch his record tenth title, grabbed the holeshot and battled it out over the race’s opening stages with second-ranked Brandon Robinson, the only rider retaining even the slimmest mathematical chance of stealing away the #1 plate.

But by the contest’s halfway point, Mees had shook free at the front, shifting the race’s epicenter of drama back to Dallas Daniels, whose season-long podium streak was in serious threat after the Estenson Racing ace found himself mired down in ninth.

However, Daniels systematically worked his way forward while Robinson duked it out with Jarod Vanderkooi for second. Daniels eventually made his way up to their scrap, displacing Robinson and then Vanderkooi, all the while drawing shockingly near to Mees as the contest reached its final circulation.

But that’s as far as Daniels’ charge would carry him. Mees held on to finish the season – and potentially his career – on top in practically every sense, winning the season finale by 0.423 seconds over his young rival.

Vanderkooi earned the final spot on the podium, with Robinson and Briar Bauman rounding out the top five. Rookie Declan Bender finished sixth, followed by Davis Fisher, Sammy Halbert, Trevor Brunner, and Bronson Bauman to complete the top ten.

Aussie Max Whale finished 13th, and the season in a respectable 10th.

Mees’ résumé is far too extensive to list here in full, but in brief, tonight’s championship triumph updates his Grand National Championship victory tally to now include 2009, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024. He also ranks first or second in the career wins rankings for Half-Miles, Short Tracks, Miles, and total GNC Main Event victories.

Mees, who elevated an already Hall-of-Fame-worthy career to stratospheric heights once he joined forces with Indian Motorcycle in 2017, sent the marque’s remarkable FTR750 out in appropriate fashion this season. Tonight’s championship secures the bike a perfect eight-for-eight record in Grand National Championship battles in what will go down as one of the most dominant eras the sport has ever witnessed from both man and machine.

In the end, Mees earned the 2024 Mission AFT SuperTwins title with 311 points, followed by Robinson at 280 and Daniels at 276.

AFT SuperTwins Main Event Results

AFT SuperTwins Standings – Top 20

Build. Train. Race.

Finally, Shasta L’Heureux (No. 67 Royal Enfield) completed the 2024 season for Royal Enfield’s successful and popular Build. Train. Race. (BTR) program by claiming her first-career victory in the class with perpetual frontrunners Kenzie Luker (No. 17 Royal Enfield) and Taia Little (No. 11 Royal Enfield) rounding out the podium.

Build. Train. Race. Standings