DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Progressive American Flat Track’s undercard stars took center stage during the Mission Springfield Mile I presented by Drag Specialties at the Illinois State Fairgrounds.
Shortly after the completion of the first of three scheduled main events, a late afternoon rain shower brought Saturday’s activities to an early conclusion as the day’s Mission SuperTwins presented by S&S Cycle and Parts Unlimited AFT Singles presented by KICKER were delayed until Sunday afternoon.
Fortunately, the Mission Production Twins presented by Vance & Hines class brought the drama in its thrilling and significant main event. The constantly evolving title fight delivered its latest twist when championship leader Jesse Janisch suffered a mechanical DNF while fighting for the lead early in the race.
While that would normally open the door for defending champion Cory Texter to blast through, Texter had his own problems on the day, uncharacteristically searching for pace after only narrowly advancing to the main through his semi.
Instead, Saturday’s spotlight initially shone down on ‘22 part-timers Michael Rush and James Rispoli. In fact, Janisch later admitted he was merely attempting to slow the two down before breaking and bringing out the red flag.
After dominating their respective semis, Rush and Rispoli went bar-to-bar when racing resumed.
After breaking the draft to sever the tenuous tie connecting them to a big 10-rider pack in pursuit, they went about trading first and second back and forth repeatedly.
Ultimately, Rispoli stretched out a small advantage while Rush fell back into the clutches of teammates Dan Bromley and Cole Zabala, who smartly worked together to slingshot back into contention.
With less than a minute remaining on the clock — and moments after Bromley and Zabala powered by on either side of Rush to move into second and third — a second red flag was shown following a Michael Hill crash, reshuffling the deck one last time.
Rush’s bike then overheated during the stoppage and was therefore forced to line up at the back of the pack, along with Moto Anatomy’s Johnny Lewis who also did repair work during the break.
Rispoli took the holeshot, but was unable to shake the field this time around, even losing the lead to Zabala momentarily as they opened the final lap. He quickly countered, however, and proceeded to narrowly hold on for the win, edging Bromley and Zabala at the line by 0.096 and 0.145 seconds.
After earning his second win of a limited season, Rispoli said, “When the red flag came out, I knew it would put these guys back in the game, and I was like, ‘Man, we’ll be off the podium if we do this wrong.’ So I tried to put my head down. Wally Brown Racing has made so many updates to the motorcycle and we’re continuing to get better and better.”
Rush was impressive in climbing all the way back up to fourth despite the limited time he had to pull off the charge.
He was followed by Cody Johncox, Cameron Smith and Kolby Carlile with the top seven riders covered by just 0.450 seconds at the flag. Texter, meanwhile, finished ninth.
As Janisch was credited with 16th, Texter managed to reduce the gap marginally, closing from 24 to 17 points (267-250) ahead of tomorrow’s rematch.
Keyword: Rush And Rispoli Find An Opening At The Springfield Mile