The Wrecking Crew

THE WRECKING CREW

Indian signs the three top riders in the series, plus two top tuners

When Indian Motorcycle threw its hat into the American flat-track game, it went big. No hedging of bets on its purpose-built bike or the riders: 2016 Grand National Champion Bryan Smith, 2013 Grand National Champion Brad Baker, and three-time Grand National champion Jared Mees.

CAMP 1:

SMITH & BAKER

After successfully developing a Kawasaki into a championship winner, Smith and tuner Ricky Howerton signed up to race with Indian in 2017. Why? A mixture of economics and legacy. Howerton Motorsports and Smith were not a full factory effort. “We’ve won on Miles, we’ve won on Half-Miles when they said you couldn’t, and now we’ve won the championship," Smith said. "So it’s been really cool to do it, but with Indian they’re going to back us as a team, so much so that it’s hard to say no." And legacy? Smith grew up around one of the all-time greats, Scott Parker, and also being from flat-track racing’s epicenter-Flint, Michigan—making a mark on the sport means a lot to him.

Another change is having a teammate. And not just any teammate: Brad Baker, who has long been seen as one of the sport’s top up-and-coming talents. The 23-year-old has been plagued with injuries and mechanical breakdowns on his XR-750 during his tenure at the factory Harley-Davidson squad, but he capped off the season

at the Santa Rosa Mile with a dominant win. So while he hasn’t had the results since his GNC title in 2013, it’s a big coup for Indian to take Baker from its rival in Milwaukee.

The reality is, no racer really likes having a teammate, but Smith understands Indian’s vision. “Every racer’s out for themselves, and any racer who would say any different is lying,” Smith said. “So it’s hard to have a teammate, but on the other hand I’m open-minded enough to know Indian wants to have the opportunity to win any weekend.”

CAMP 2: JARED MEES

There are three championship winners on the Indian team, but only one has won three GNC1 titles.

Jared Mees raced a HarleyDavidson XR-750 this year, but he gave up his Screamin’ Eagle money for a contract as a test rider for the Indian Scout FTR750. Mees made that jump with Indian in the beginning because he saw the company’s dedication and eagerness to win. “After testing the bike and knowing the capabil-

ities of how good it was and how good of a [development] team they had behind them, I wanted to go forth with being one of the riders for 2017.”

After all the testing and watchingjoe Kopp ride the FTR750 so successfully in its first race, Mees is more on board than ever. “I couldn’t imagine being with anybody else," Mees said. "We’re excited for the program. I’m really excited for [my tuner] Kenny Tolbert more than anything honestly, that he’s able to get going with something like this because he did the best job out of anybody on the XRs the last three or four years, no doubt.” Tolbert’s numerous GNC titles are proof of his genius.

Earlier in the year, Mees was looking forward to putting the FTR750 up against Smith and Howerton’s Kawasaki, but he now looks forward to facing his main rivals on the same machinery. “The more I think about it, it’s better for me to be on the same exact stuff because there’s no excuses," Mees said. “I’d rather get beat by a straight-up rider than a machine, that’s for sure. I feel like if I could put more of the result in my hands, that’s going to be better for me.”

Andrea Wilson