10.10.2021

RED BULL KTM’S MAX WHALE VICTORIOUS AT THE CHARLOTTE HALF-MILE SEASON FINALE

RED BULL KTM - CHARLOTTE HALF-MILE © AMA Pro Racing

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Round 17 - American Flat Track Championship

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The final round of the 2021 American Flat Track Championship took place at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday with a dramatic conclusion to the hotly contested AFT Singles Championship battle. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Max Whale secured the Main Event win, missing the title by a mere eight points after 17 rounds of bar-to-bar racing. Teammate Shayna Texter-Bauman finished seventh on the night to end the season with eighth overall in the AFT Singles championship standings.

Whale put himself into a favorable spot after qualifying fourth, which allowed him to line up in the first row for the semi. He charged to a third-place transfer into the Main Event, giving him another front row start position. He was in third on the first lap but fell to fourth for a few laps. He then regained positions and moved into second on Lap 7, soon engaging in battle with Kody Kopp and eventually taking the lead on Lap 10. The duo swapped positions a couple times more before a crash late in the race by KTM-mounted Morgen Mischler resulted in a red flag. Whale led from the restart to the checkered flag, a total of 12 laps, to capture the last win of the season.

It was an incredibly hard-fought season for Whale, who contested the AFT Singles Championship down to the final laps of 2021. The Aussie had a decent start to the season but things began to turn around for him four rounds in when he raced his KTM 450 SX-F FACTORY EDITION to the center of the podium for the first time at the Chicago Half-Mile. He went on to secure five total Main Event wins, along with an additional four podium finishes throughout the season but it wasn’t without its trials. Finishing second overall for the second straight season, Whale has his sights set on a championship bid in 2022 as he gears up to spend the next two seasons with the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing squad.

Whale: “It was a solid season finale, I’m super happy with how the team worked all day and I ended up grabbing the win. Overall, it was an awesome season for myself and the team, it was our first year together and we learned a lot, ee progressed all year and we never stopped improving, which was the best part. The next year is going to be great for us, I know it for a fact. I ended up second in the championship but it kind of bums me out because we definitely had a great shot at winning the title this year. We’ll come out next year swinging and see what we can do – hopefully grabbing the No. 1 plate.”

Texter-Bauman had a strong finish to the 2021 season in Charlotte as she placed her KTM 450 SX-F FACTORY EDITION inside the top-10 with a seventh-place result at the finale. Known for being a force at the Half-Mile tracks, Shayna came into the weekend with great confidence and she raced her way to a seventh-place transfer in the semi. Working through a challenging red flag restart, Shayna fought hard in the Main Event to ultimately come away with another seventh in the final Main Event of the season.

Still holding onto the title as all-time winningest AFT Singles racer in series history, Shayna added another pair of sweet victories this season with an impressive double-header victory at the season opener in Florida. Coming on strong at the end of the season, Shayna added two additional podium finishes at the Sacramento double-header, along with four top-10s, to ultimately finish eighth in the AFT Singles Championship.

Texter-Bauman: “We struggled a little bit to really get going all day but we made a last-minute change before the Main Event with the fork settings and it made a world of difference. In the Main Event, we came from pretty far back to get up to sixth but there was a red flag restart and I was struggling to see in the light, so I lost a spot off the restart. I was able to bring it home in the final two minutes to hold seventh place, so I felt really strong. Overall, I’m really happy to end the season the way we did and I’m really happy with the motorcycle. I think we made big gains from Port Royal Half-Mile on, and we got our motorcycle back up on the podium twice at the Sacramento Mile and finished strong at Charlotte. I’d like to give a special thanks to KTM, along with George and Evan at Solid Performance WP Suspension, for helping us find a setting that I believe we were missing for the last year and a half. Of course, thanks to our Team Manager, Chris Fillmore, and my mechanic, Justin, for everything. I really appreciate it.”

Chris Fillmore, Team Manager: “The title chase for us came down to the final round, and if things would have gone a little differently at Springfield Short Track, we could have won the championship last night, so that’s a little bit tough to swallow. Overall, I am proud of our team and riders - having seven wins on the season is something to be happy and proud about. Ups and downs will help us grow as a team, so I’m confident and looking forward to coming back stronger than ever next year.”

AFT Singles Results – Round 17

1. Max Whale – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

2. Kody Kopp, Honda

3. Trent Lowe, Suzuki

OTHER KTM

7. Shayna Texter-Bauman – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

13. Hunter Bauer, KTM

15. James Ott, KTM

17. Morgen Mischler, KTM

AFT Singles Point Standings – 2021

1. Dallas Daniels, 281 points

2. Max Whale – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, 273