The battle for the Grand National Championship continues at Texas Motor Speedway with this weekend's Mission Texas Half-Mile.

How To Watch American Flat Track Mission Texas Half-Mile

FloRacing is the live streaming home of Progressive American Flat Track. Complete coverage of this Saturday’s Mission Texas Half-Mile at Texas Motor Speedway will kick off with the day’s first practice session at 4:30 p.m. ET (1:30 p.m. PT). Sign up now and catch every second of on-track action live at http://flosports.link/aft. 

FOX Sports coverage of the Mission Texas Half-Mile, featuring in-depth features and thrilling onboard cameras, will premiere on FS1 on Sunday, May 5, at 11:00 a.m. ET (8:00 a.m. PT).

For the Love of the Sport 

Dallas-Fort Worth’s position as a fixture on, and highlight of, the Progressive American Flat Track schedule is a relatively recent development. 

Texas has certainly produced its fair share of dirt tracking icons, among them Hall of Famers Mike Kidd, Terry Poovey, and Everett Brashear. But it doesn’t immediately spring to mind as a talent pipeline in the way that, say, Pennsylvania, California, or Washington do, or even certain parts of the Midwest, particularly where the Fast Boys from Illinois and Michigan Mafia reside. 

DFW itself has something of a sporadic history as a Progressive AFT destination, at least until laying claim to its annual spot on the slate in 2017. Prior to that, Houston was the more traditional home for the sport in the state with the Astrodome playing host to the Grand National Championship double opener for decades, back in the days before Daytona Beach assumed that role. 

But now Dallas-Fort Worth and Texas Motor Speedway are firmly entrenched as vital locations for Progressive AFT. That status has in no small part been driven by the efforts of three key entities: Irving-based Mission Foods, Roof Systems of Dallas, TX, and Al Lamb’s Dallas Honda. 

There’s a greater commonality connecting the three beyond their DFW ties and business success. All three are headed by individuals who participated in multiple forms of motorsport from an early age and who have only seen that passion grow with time. That undying affection has been proven repeatedly in the form of investment in support of motorsports at large, and Progressive AFT in particular. 

Mission’s sponsorship in the racing world is expansive to say the least. The brand is omnipresent in Progressive AFT, including title sponsorship of the premier Mission AFT SuperTwins category along with backing numerous teams and riders. 

Similarly, Roof Systems CEO Jerry Stinchfield and Al Lamb, owner of Al Lamb’s Dallas Honda – while maintaining a central focus on their respective high-profile race teams – also support the series more widely, having sponsored huge collections of riders over the years, as well as through the title sponsorships of various classes and events. 

Progressive American Flat Track is undoubtedly fortunate to have them, and it also speaks well of the series to have attracted and maintained their attention and involvement over the years. And as such, Dallas Fort-Worth is hugely deserving of its modern-day claim as one of the meccas of the sport. 

FLASHBACK: Watch the 2022 American Flat Track Mission Super Twins main event at the Texas Half-Mile.

Mister Mischler: Take These Broken Wings and Learn to Fly Again 

Naturally, Stinchfield and Lamb will be looking to impress at their home round. The Mission Roof Systems squad is well poised for success, fielding Brandon Robinson (No. 44 Mission Roof Systems Indian FTR750), who comes into the weekend ranked second in the Mission SuperTwins points and with a podium finish at the venue to his name. 

It’s still early days for the Big Red Super Twins outfit. While the aim now is simply to get the project up to speed, they’ve already reeled in some promising results courtesy of Dan Bromley (No. 62 Memphis Shades/Vinson Construction/Al Lamb’s Dallas Honda Transalp), who put the bike in the top ten in his first attempt and came awfully close to repeating the feat in both subsequent tries. 

It’s been a bit rockier of a go for Morgen Mischler (No. 13 Big Red Super Twins/Al Lamb’s Dallas Honda Transalp), as the team has encountered the sorts of development woes one would expect to crop up when searching for pace and reliability while simultaneously to learning to adapt to a new bike, team, and class. 

With that in mind, the trip to Texas Motor Speedway comes at an opportune time for Mischler, who would love to see a third career highlight play out at the circuit. 

If you’ll recall, the Wisconsin native’s maiden Progressive AFT victory took place here in dramatic fashion. In 2018, Mischler proved to the world (and himself) that he could not only hang with but beat the best riders in the world. That day he narrowly fended off a late charge from the Parts Unlimited AFT Singles category’s all-time winningest rider, Shayna Texter-Bauman (No. 52 Rick Ware Racing/Parts Plus KTM 450 SX-F) (more on her later), by a scant 0.094 margin in an epic race he recently detailed at this very site. 

He pulled off a similar trick in ‘22 while competing as a factory American Honda pilot, that time edging the 450 class’ modern master, Kody Kopp (No. 1 Rick Ware Racing/Parts Plus KTM 450 SX-F), to claim a second win at the venue. 

It might be asking a bit much to hope for a maiden Mission SuperTwins victory this weekend but a top-ten result would do nicely about now. 

Home to History, Part I 

As the career leader in Half-Mile wins, each subsequent victory Jared Mees (No. 1 Rogers Racing/SDI Racing/Indian Motorcycle FTR750) logs is by definition a historic event, pushing that mark further and further out of reach. 

And as such, Mees has made his fair share of history at Texas Motor Speedway, winning in each of the series three previous stops at the track (2018, 2019, and 2022). 

As it happens, it’s also a historic event even when he doesn’t win here. The factory Indian ace has only ever come up short once at TMS, and that took place during the track’s inaugural Progressive AFT event back in 2017. 

That year, Mees did manage to finish a relatively close second. Of course, that would be second to Jeffrey Carver, Jr., who famously claimed the 502nd victory in the storied legacy of the Harley-Davidson XR750 on that occasion. 

This weekend’s trip to Fort Worth is not this season’s first reminder of that momentous victory. Just when one was starting to feel comfortable in referring to Carver’s win as the iconic machine’s final triumph, Sammy Halbert (No. 69 Dodge Bros. Racing/Castrol Harley-Davidson XR750) went and sent the flat track world abuzz with his rollicking near-win(s) at the season’s Daytona double opener. 

Halbert isn’t racing this weekend, but he’ll be back in action a week later at the inaugural Silver Dollar Short Track. In other words, we need to be content in referring to Carver’s masterpiece as merely the XR750’s most recent win. 

Home to History, Part II 

Joining Mees and Mischler as the maestros of TMS is the aforementioned Shayna Texter-Bauman. In fact, that fractional loss to Mischler is Texter-Bauman’s sole defeat in Parts Unlimited AFT Singles competition at the track (she was participating in Mission SuperTwins when the series last visited in 2022). 

And like Carver’s win in ‘17, Texter-Bauman’s ‘19 victory stands out as especially memorable, at least when considered in conjunction with brother Cory Texter’s Mission Production Twins triumph that preceded hers by a matter of minutes. Their combined achievement marked the first time in the long history in which siblings earned Main Event victories on the same day. 

Fast forward to 2024, and Texter-Bauman's claim as the winningest rider in Parts Unlimited AFT Singles history has come under serious threat due to the exceptional performance of fellow Rick Ware Racing ace Kody Kopp (No. 1 Rick Ware Racing/Parts Plus KTM 450 SX-F) over the past two-plus seasons.  

Texter’s overall advantage is now down to just two (19 vs. 17) as is her Half-Mile lead (11 vs. 9). And considering that Kopp’s most recent win came in the series’ most recent race, and his most recent Half-Mile win came in the series’ most recent Half-Mie, the champ looks to be a fairly decent bet to lower both of those numbers to one this weekend.  

By contrast, Texter-Bauman’s most recent win took place more than three seasons ago, when she claimed a double victory to open her 2021 campaign at the Volusia HM I & II. 

That doesn’t mean she’s helpless in her defense, however. While it’s been some time since we’ve seen her unleash the trademark speed and daring that helped make her one of the sport’s leading stars, Texas Motor Speedway may be the perfect setting to welcome her back to race-winning contention. 

As explained by husband Briar Bauman (No. 3 Rick Ware Racing/KTM/Parts Plus KTM 790 Duke), Texter-Bauman’s time, effort, and focus spent serving as a team manager over the past two seasons negatively impacted her ability to properly train – and thus perform up to her full capability – in her own racing efforts. 

Now better able to juggle those competing duties, she’s beginning to tap into her old form once again. And while the ‘24 season’s opening trio of Short Tracks didn’t exactly present the ideal opportunity to showcase her resurgent form, Texas Motor Speedway very well might. 

Mees vs the World 

Just how impressive is Jared Mees’ record-setting career tally of 37 Half-Mile wins? Let’s see how he stacks up against the competition… combined: 

Adding Briar Bauman’s 14 HM wins (good enough for inclusion in the all-time top ten) to Brandon Robinson’s five puts us at 19.  

Throw in the remaining HM wins of everyone else competing this weekend, and we jump up to 22, with Davis Fisher (No. 67 Rackley Racing/Bob Lanphere’s BMC Racing Indian FTR750), Jarod Vanderkooi (No. 20 JMC Motorsports/Fairway Ford Ohio Indian FTR750), and Dallas Daniels (No. 32 Estenson Racing Yamaha MT-07 DT) boasting one a piece. 

Even if we cheat a bit and include Sammy Halbert’s four, we’re still 11 wins short of Mees. 

Okay, let’s add some artistry to the chicanery by sneaking in the six career HM wins of former Grand National Champion and current Series Director, Bryan Smith, to move our combined number to 32. 

Still five short, we can at last match Mees’ total by including the five wins of another former Grand National Champion, Jake Johnson, now crewing for the Rick Ware Racing outfit, and then go way over the top by adding in the 23 of yet another RWR Grand National Champion in Kenny Coolbeth (fifth all-time). 

So, it only required a healthy dose of industrial-strength cheatery to level the weekend’s odds. 

Rolling Championship 

Reigning Parts Unlimited AFT Singles champion Kody Kopp earned his first class crown by an astounding 63-point margin in 2022 and easily outpaced the competition again in 2023 with a crushing 41-point advantage. And after just three rounds this season, Kopp boasts an early-yet-imposing 17-point gap in his quest to become the class’ first-ever three-time champion. 

It’s difficult to portray the present situation as anything other than utterly dominant in Kopp’s favor.  

And yet, we’re going to attempt to do exactly that. And believe it or not, we don’t need to bend reality too far to reveal a much more competitive state of affairs. 

Consider that since the series last left Dallas-Fort Worth a year ago, there have been 16 races, the numerical equivalent to the full 2024 campaign. 

If we were to consider that 16-race span – running from the 2023 Ventura Short Track to the ‘24 Senoia Short Track – as its own ‘rolling championship,’ the following would be the final points standings among active class participants: 

Kopp: 320 points (8 wins) 

Tom Drane (No. 59 Estenson Racing Yamaha YZ450F): 310 points (5 wins) 

Chase Saathoff (No. 88 JPG Motorsports Honda CRF450R) 265 points 

Trent Lowe (No. 48 American Honda/Mission Foods CRF450R) 243 points (1 win) 

Dalton Gauthier (No. 79 D&D Racing/Certified KTM 450 SX-F) 203 points 

James Ott (No. 19 1st Impressions Race Team Husqvarna FC450) 166 points 

Much closer at the top, yeah? Well, now consider the fact that Drane was in sight of a podium before being taken out on the final lap in this year’s opener. If you were to credit him with third instead of 15th, that 16-round tally would actually fall in Drane’s favor, 325 to Kopp’s 320. 

Those numbers suggest that the young Aussie has effectively been Kopp’s equal for a full season’s worth of competition now. But that opening-round incident did occur, which means he’s going to have to be Kopp’s better over the season’s remaining 13 races if he hopes to steal away the #1 plate.