American Flat Track sets up for a title showdown in Charlotte

Six-time Grand National champ Jared Mees took over the points lead at the last round in Sacramento in rather stunning fashion and now leads by a slim four points over back-to-back 2019 and 2020 champ Briar Bauman. Things are getting spicy going into the final race of the season for all the proverbial marbles. But to understand where we are, let's take a look at what transpired in this crazy AFT season in the Super Twins class to land us here.

Just a few years back, Jared Mees looked unbeatable, totally untouchable as he racked up his fifth and sixth championships. In 2017 he stood on the podium in 17 of 18 races. In 2018, it was 16 of 18 podiums and a stunning 10 wins.

In 2019, however, he started the season off with a 17th-place finish after a few uncharacteristic crashes at the Daytona TT opener and although he still piled up eight wins, he also sprinkled in a 15th-place finish at a garbage track in Laconia and a 14th-place effort at the Black Hills half mile as Briar Bauman edged him out for the 2019 title by a mere six points. Bauman amassed five wins that year and really came into his own as a heavy hitter in the Super Twins class, standing on 15 podiums that year and securing his first championship.

The 2020 season saw 11 podiums for Mees but only five wins. While five wins may be a career year for most riders in the Super Twins class, it looked to be a subpar performance for the stellar Mees. Bauman, on the other hand, notched another six wins and positioned himself as the dominant rider, putting on the kind of commanding performances we saw from Mees just a few years prior. Coming into 2021, there were internet grumblings asking if Mees had started to slip. Even #9 himself said he questioned if he had lost his mojo.

The comeback and the pending showdown

A few weeks after the 2021 season-opener in Daytona, in which Mees finished third and Bauman finished fourth, Mees suffered a pretty gnarly knee injury in training, putting his championship hopes in jeopardy. While Mees gutted out his knee rehab, he managed to stay in the hunt with some third-place finishes before knocking out a win in round six. Bauman stayed consistent with decent finishes but he wasn’t scoring wins and putting a lot of distance between himself and Mees. And with the last part of the season heavy with the mile races Mees preferred, the six-time champ was looking to make a run. And make a run he has, winning five of the last six races and the last four in a row.

Bauman stayed consistent, getting on the podium in all but one of those six races. Coming into the doubleheader in Sacramento at the last round, Bauman still held a slight lead. But after Mees won the first race of the doubleheader, things got real tight and real interesting. Mees' longtime rival, friend and 2016 Super Twins champ Bryan Smith, who announced his retirement, was having bike troubles that weekend. Smith, a mile master, was looking at missing the second race of the doubleheader weekend, crappy way to end a great career.

Mees offered Smith his backup bike and Smith repaid the gesture in a big way. While Mees gapped the field on his way to victory, the crafty veteran Smith managed to work his way to the front, make a last-lap pass on Bauman and finish second! The pass cost Bauman three valuable points and put an exclamation point on Smith's career.

So here we are, one race to go and a four-point lead for Mees going into the Charlotte half mile. Bauman comes into the race with three wins while Mees has seven. Who knows where we would be if he hadn’t been injured?

To make the deciding showdown more interesting, Bauman would have the edge on a TT track and Mees would most definitely have the edge on a mile track. That makes the Charlotte half mile almost neutral ground and the perfect setting for the two most successful Super Twins riders of the past few years to battle it out for the 2021 championship.

The tale of the tape paints a pretty even picture with both riders obviously on similar equipment, riding factory Indian FTR750s. Both have legendary crew chiefs, with Bauman having Dave Zanotti in his camp and Mees having the legendary Kenny Tolbert spinning wrenches for him. Mees is riding a momentum wave for sure but I wouldn’t even come close to counting out Bauman in the motivation department.

Here are the possible scenarios that could determine the 2021 champ:

• If Mees finishes ahead of Bauman, he’s the 2021 Grand National Champion
• If Bauman wins, he remains the champ
• If Bauman finishes second, Mees has to finish third or better
• If Bauman finishes third, Mees has to finish sixth or better
• If Bauman finishes fourth or lower, Mees has to finish within four positions of Bauman

But wait, there's one more twist

If things couldn’t get any better there is yet another twist!

One of my favorite racers has come out of semi-retirement for this final race of the season. Jeffrey Carver hung up his full-time racing steel shoe for 2021 but has raced a few select events. His entry into this particular race is interesting because in 2020 at this same racetrack he managed to pass both Bauman and Mees and land on the top of the box.

Needless to say, things are going to be exciting in Charlotte. You can stream the race live via NBC Sports Gold, which costs $1.99 a month for AFT only or $4.99 for several racing series. The NBCSN cable channel also typically broadcasts the races at a later date.