31.07.2022
Round 10 - American Flat Track Championship
PEORIA, Ill. – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Max Whale captured his first victory of the 2022 American Flat Track Championship series with a dominant performance at Saturday’s Peoria TT. Ten rounds into the series, AFT Singles teammate Kody Kopp maintains a healthy lead in the championship standings after finishing just off the box in fourth.
Racing for only the third time back since having knee surgery earlier in the season, Whale came into Round 10 with good momentum behind him. Aiming to repeat last year’s winning success at the 2022 Peoria TT, Whale’s confidence was displayed right away in the first practice as he emerged on top of both free sessions. He went on to secure the fastest qualifying time from the first session, sitting pole at the start of racing. In AFT Singles Semi 1, Whale powered his KTM 450 SX-F into the lead before the end of the first lap and he held steady out front for all eight laps to secure the semi win.
In the Main Event, the Australian native got off to a second-place start and he immediately went to work passing for the lead by lap four. Pulling a solid gap midway through the race, Whale felt some pressure late in the race but he picked up the pace in the final stretch to secure the Peoria TT victory for a second-straight year.
Max Whale: “This one feels so good! Peoria is hard to pass normally, the track dried out a lot but it got a groove on it and it was real slick, so I knew what I needed to do in the Main Event. I had a good start again in second and just put a few good laps in and got around [Trevor] Brunner. I just kept a smooth pace and tried to manage the lead as best I could and brought home the win. It seems like it’s been so long since I’ve won my last race but it feels awesome. I can’t thank my whole team enough for all the effort they put in week in and week out!”
Coming off a four-race winning streak in the AFT Singles class, teammate Kody Kopp approached his first TT race of the season with a comfortable lead in the championship standings. The 17-year-old used practice and qualifying as a learning experience aboard his Red Bull KTM 450 SX-F, progressing with each session to earn a fourth-place qualifying position. With a third-place start in AFT Singles Semi 2, Kopp battled up to second halfway through to secure a runner-up finish.
After edging out his teammate for the Dash for Cash win, Kopp assumed a fourth-place grid start in the Main Event. He charged into third early on, making several fighting attempts to pass Brunner for the second-place spot. Meanwhile, amidst the dicing battle between Kopp and Brunner, the fourth-place rider was able to sneak by both riders, resulting in Kopp moving back to fourth. Despite a hard-fought effort to break into third, Kopp wasn’t able to make anything stick, ultimately settling for a fourth-place finish.
Kody Kopp: “This is one of those tracks where the more laps you have the better you do, so we just kept putting in laps. It’s our second year here and we were just kind of learning where you can push your boundaries. I qualified fourth overall and ended up second in the semi after battling with Morgen [Mischler] a little. I didn’t get a great start in the Main Event – I came out of turn two in third and I couldn’t really find my own rhythm. Max had gotten by Brunner and it kind of held me up, and I just kept making mistakes trying everything to get around him. Eventually, I was back to fourth at one point and that’s where we finished.”
Next Race: Black Hills Half-Mile – Rapid City, South Dakota – August 6, 2022
Round 10 Results – Peoria TT
AFT Singles Main Event
1. Max Whale, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
2. Morgen Mischler, Honda
3. Trevor Brunner, Yamaha
4. Kody Kopp, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
OTHER KTM
15. James Ott, KTM
AFT Singles Point Standings (After Round 10)
1. Kody Kopp, 220 points
2. Morgen Mischler, 170
3. Dalton Gauthier, 145
4. Max Whale, 144
OTHER KTM
8. James Ott, 79
10. Hunter Bauer, 67
15. Travis Petton IV, 49