Estenson Racing’s Ryan Wells and Dallas Daniels finished second and third, respectively, at the penultimate round of American Flat Track’s AFT Singles Championship – the Minnesota Mile.
Wells, who feels quite at home on the Mile tracks, was in his comfort zone. He finished second in both his Heat and Semi. In the Main Event, he didn’t get the start he was hoping for and the leader started to build a healthy gap. The 2016 AFT Singles Champion kept pushing and was able to take the lead in the final laps. It then turned into a thrilling fight to the finish line with Wells coming up just short of his second win of the season by .004 of a second.
Daniels also had a solid day at Canterbury Park. In just the second Mile race of his professional career, the 16-year-old got off to a good start. In the Heat race, he finished behind his teammate in third and made forward strides to win the Semi race, giving him the second gate pick for the Main Event. Although Daniels didn’t quite get the start he was looking for, either, he won a hard-fought battle to cross the line third.
The Estenson Racing team now heads to New Jersey for the American Flat Track season finale at the Meadowlands Mile on September 28.
“I’m so freaking excited to be back on the podium. It’s my first Mile podium on a 450. It was a great day all along and the Main Event was a super fun race. I had to chase down Mikey (Rush) from a-ways back. I thought I had the win in the end, but I came up just a bit short. I can’t wait for next weekend and to be fighting for a win again.”
Dallas Daniels – AFT Singles #163:
“The day started out really well with qualifying. We were up front early on, but had a little struggle in the Heat race and ended up fourth. I was actually able to come back from a bad start and get the win in the Semi and start second in the Main Event. So that was good, a front-row start, but for some reason, I could not get off the line all night. I think I got off the line in sixth or seventh, and in the first corner I was able to pass all the way up to second. By that time, Mikey had pulled out a pretty big gap, at least two or three seconds. My teammate Ryan passed me and he gapped me and caught up to Mikey, so I was trying to hold down third because I really wasn’t catching them. Every time I would get passed, it would be somebody different. One time it was Brandon Kitchen. One time it was Trent Lowe. One time it was Morgen Mischler. Then it was Dalton Gauthier. Dalton got by me on the back straightaway and I was able to hang back a little bit and draft by him at the line and we ended up third. I’m very excited about that.
“It’s obviously really cool to be able to get another podium during my rookie season, a podium period. But it’s really cool for the team, for us to be able to go second and third. Hopefully next weekend we can move up a couple spots.”