One of this year’s biggest questions in North American motorcycle racing is the showdown in AMA flat track: Indian vs. Harley-Davidson – who will win?
On Saturday, Indian won the first round, taking first (Jared Mees) and second (Bryan Smith) in the Daytona TT twinsrace. Harley-Davidson did not podium in the race; Kawasaki’s Henry Wiles was third.
Mees and Smith were riding the new Indian FTR750, and Wiles was aboard a tracker built around Kawi’s 650 cc parallel twin platform.
Harley-Davidson’s Jacob Johnson took the factory-based XG750R to fourth place, as the MoCo’s top finisher.
There was considerable debate about the TT race afterwards, as some fans preferred old-school oval racing and found reasons to nitpick. This season’s AMA racing will no doubt be interesting to watch, with the rise of the TT format combined with Indian and Harley-Davidson’s renewed rivalry. The next race is this weekend, at the Atlanta Short Track event.
