LIMA, Ohio — The 2026 Grand National Championship will reach and exceed its midpoint at a doubleheader event of particular prestige and consequence – the Super.com Lima Half-Mile I & II presented by Drag Specialties – at the Allen County Fairgrounds June 26-27.
Featuring the Mission Triple Challenge format on Friday and a conventional slate on Saturday, Rounds 8 and 9 of the ‘26 Progressive American Flat Track season, sanctioned by AMA Pro Racing, are destined to have massive implications on this year’s remarkably tight Mission AFT SuperTwins title fight.
Victory at the fabled Lima Half-Mile ranks as among the most coveted for any motorcycle dirt tracker – aspiring or established. Its pea-gravel battlefield and fervent fanbase makes for a unique atmosphere, which is only enhanced by the monumental challenge the venue presents.
There’s a reason the winningest riders at Lima also happen to be the winningest riders in the history of the sport, full stop. Seven of Scott Parker’s 94 career premier-class wins were taken here, as were five of (Lima co-promoter) Jared Mees’ 78 and four of Chris Carr’s 78.
It’s not enough to be fast at Lima, a racer must also be fanatically fit and supremely focused to have any shot at winning, which makes the accomplishment that much more rewarding.
Two-time Grand National Champion Briar Bauman (No. 3 RWR/Jacob Construction/Parts Plus Harley-Davidson XG750R) is all of those things, a fact made evident by his Lima track record.
Bauman is tied with Carr for third in career Lima victories with four, and, quite remarkably, he’s done so on four different makes of racebike – Kawasaki, Indian, KTM, and Harley-Davidson.
Should he claim one more this weekend, he’ll move into a tie with the legendary Ricky Graham for fifth all-time in total premier-class victories at 39. And if he sweeps the weekend, he’ll move past Graham in career wins and into a tie with him for the most-ever consecutive premier-class victories at six straight.
While it’s hard to bet against Bauman, his Mission AFT SuperTwins rivals have their own reasons to be optimistic coming into the weekend.
Reigning class king Dallas Daniels (No. 1 Estenson Racing Yamaha MT-07) has won two of the last three races here, including last year’s 1-2-1 conquering of the Mission Triple Challenge.
It’s to Daniels’ credit and his adversaries’ peril that he has been just a tick off most of the season and yet is still just ten points back in the title fight.
However, neither Bauman nor Daniels lead the way as the season approaches its midpoint. That status is claimed by rookie phenom Kody Kopp (No. 12 Latus Motors Racing Harley-Davidson XG750R). Kopp has earned the position via six finishes of first or second in the year’s first seven races.
While Kopp, Bauman, and Daniels are locked into a 10-point championship clash, no other rider is within even 50 points of third.
As the Lima Half-Mile represents both the end of the season’s first half and the start of its second, the weekend is as good a time as any for a new beginning for this talented collection of potential spoilers.
Davis Fisher (No. 67 Rackley Racing/Bob Lanphere’s BMC Racing KTM 790 Duke) came into ‘26 with legitimate hopes of making this a four-way title fight. Unfortunately, he’s been held back in large part by poor luck despite routinely showing the outright speed to run up front. Kopp’s win in early March was also the last time Fisher has been on the box. That’s a long time for a rider of Fisher’s caliber.
Trent Lowe (No. 48 American Honda/Mission Foods Honda CB750 Hornet) hasn’t enjoyed the breakthrough season both desired and expected after last year’s second-half flourish. The Indiana native scored two sixths at Lima last year – which matched his best finish to that point in the year before he really kicked things up a notch down the stretch. Perhaps a repeat is in order.
OTB Racing teammates Brandon Price (No. 92 Memphis Shades/Vinson Construction Yamaha MT-07) and Declan Bender (No. 70 Memphis Shades/Vinson Construction Yamaha MT-07) have struggled to make as strong an impression as they would have liked due to injury, misfortune, and a simple lack of form. However, the team has started to find its way as of late, Bender in particular. He’s steadily marched his way up the order, going from DNQ to 16th to 14th to 12th (twice), to fourth last time out.
Bender also came home fourth at Lima a year ago and will be looking to continue his upward trajectory this weekend.
Rookie Evan Renshaw (No. 95 Moto Anatomy X Powered by Royal Enfield 650) has had to scrape and claw just to make the mains, an indication of just how deep the current field is.
Others have their own stories of mixed first-halfs, including the likes of Chad Cose (No. 49 Parker Racing/Pro Roofing Yamaha MT-07), Ben Lowe (No. 25 Rackley Racing/Roof Systems KTM 790 Duke), Hunter Bauer (No. 24 G&G Racing Yamaha MT-07), and Dalton Gauthier (No. 79 Parts Bros/D&D Cycles/Fairway Ford Aprilia Tuareg 660).
The primary exception may be Aidan RoosEvans (No. 26 FRA Trust Advisors Harley-Davidson XG750R), who probably couldn’t have asked for a much smoother start to his premier-class career. While outside of title contention, RoosEvans has reeled in five top-six results, including a first official Progressive AFT podium at the Silver Dollar Short Track.
Things haven’t gone exactly to plan for Dan Bromley (No. 62 Memphis Shades/Lisa Niner Racing Suzuki GSX-8S) either.
He took a pretty heavy fall in the season’s opening weekend and sat out the next few races. Bromley has since returned to (part-time) action and has it in him to make waves this weekend in Ohio. A year ago, he was seriously quick on the Suzuki at Lima, notching up a combined fourth (4-4-5) in the Mission Triple Challenge.
Bromley is set to compete on Saturday before completing his season in his home state at the Appalachian Harley-Davidson Williams Grove Half-Mile on July 11.
The season has been less kind still to another Pennsylvanian in Brandon Robinson (No. 44 Mission Roof Systems Harley-Davidson XG750R), who is out for the remainder of the season as he recovers from the injuries he sustained in Ventura.
That’s a tough beat for the Mission Roof Systems outfit on a weekly basis but particularly so at Lima, where Robinson has won twice previously.
They’ve got the best possible replacement in place, however, in Jarod VanDerKooi (No. 20 Mission Roof Systems Harley-Davidson XG750R), who finished on the podium here back in 2021.