WATCH: Action from the 78th Peoria World Famous TT motorcycle races
Briar Bauman celebrates Twins class win with a lap around PMC Race Park in the 78th World Famous TT motorcycle races in Bartonville on Aug. 16, 2025.
BARTONVILLE — Allen Covington has virtually seen it all at the World Famous Peoria TT motorcycle races.
Or at least, he’s virtually seen all of them.
While the oldest continuously operated dirt track motorcycle race in the world zoomed around historic PMC Race Park in Bartonville on Saturday, Covington was there for the 68th time in his life.
This time, the 76-year-old saw Briar Bauman dip low on the opening lap and pass Dallas Daniels to take a lead he never relinquished in the prestigious Mission SuperTwins race, a duel between American Flat Track’s top two riders in the season point series.
Covington saw the debut of the AdventureTrackers class, and he saw Australian Tom Drane — who joined at age 17 as the youngest rider on the pro tour — win the AFT Kicker Singles class race by more than a quarter of the track.
“I saw my first race here when I was 5 years old, in 1953 I think,” Covington said. “My family would sit up at the top of the hill above Turn 2, and by the end of the races we’d be all the way down to the bottom. It was so much fun.
“I’ve seen so much here. I was here when Jay Springsteen was leading the race and on his way to a victory, then accidentally bumped his fuel shutoff with his knee and his bike shut down. I watched Joe Leonard, who went on to race Indy cars. Roger Soderstrom (an AMA Hall of Fame inductee) would always take the highest line possible around the track.
“I watched Chris Carr, the Prince of Peoria, who named his son Cameron after the road this race track is on.”
Carr won the Peoria TT 13 straight years, a record until “King” Henry Wiles came along and won it 14 in a row. Leonard won it in 1954 and 1956.
Covington, a class of 1966 Richwoods High School grad and Bradley grad (class of ’70) lived for many years in Peoria Heights and worked most of his life as a banker, making commercial loans on houses, cars, and yes, motorcycles.
He says a Kawasaki 175 is the only motorcycle he ever owned. He’s an avid bicycle rider, too, and at age 65 he averaged 20 mph throughout a 20-mile long bike race.
The Army veteran said he missed the 1970 race because he was in basic training. He missed the race when the pandemic hit in 2020.
Saturday, he was on hand as always, wearing a floppy hat and enduring 97-degree heat from his perch alongside the track’s famous jump.
“You ask any rider, they’ll tell you this is their favorite track, favorite place on the tour,” Covington said. “There’s just so much history here, and this club does such a great job of presenting this race every year.”
A Single sensation
Drane, 17, rode his Yamaha YZ450F to the AFT Singles race checkered flag by more than 8 seconds Saturday. He was signed two years ago at age 15 by Estenson Racing, and is a sensation on the track.
He has a commanding lead on the American Flat Track Singles season championship board, and has five wins and finished lower than third just once in the tour’s 13 events.
Drane has a 14-year-old brother, Sam, who is a rising talent, as well. He signed with Monster Energy drinks at age 13, the youngest athlete ever signed by the company.
The brothers grew up riding at home in Forbes, Australia, on their family property, where their parents built them a full-scale, lighted dirt track to learn on.
Tom Drane was noticeable at the starting line Saturday for his unorthodox posture on the bike as the electronic board counted down to green lights.
AFT Peoria TT results: Kicker Singles
He sat straight up, both legs on the ground, in a super chill posture.
“They were very small boys, so that starting posture comes from those days when their feet couldn’t reach the ground,” team owner Tim Estenson said. “We’d put two-by-four boards down on each side of the bike so they could stand on them. He never changed that style, it works for him.”
Quite an Adventure
The AFT AdventureTrackers class made its debut at Peoria. It was launched last summer with two races at Sturgis, and in 2025 expanded to four events, including Saturday’s season finale stop in Peoria.
Warrington, Pennsylvania, rider Dan Bromley finished second, more than enough to clinch the season championship. Jessie Janisch won the race and locked up second in the points hunt.
“It feels good,” Bromley said. “To be able to win this championship is pretty cool. It’s going to go up on the wall next to my Singles championship. And hopefully, there’s more to come.”
AFT Peoria results: AdventureTrackers
Danny Eslick finished third. He came off the jump on the final lap and gambled on catching Janisch but ended up on the grass in the No. 4 corner.
“I tried to go for it at the end, I ended up in the grass line though,” Eslick said. “I just couldn’t quite get there.”
Dalton Gauthier finished fourth and “King” Henry Wiles, at age 41, was fifth.
“It was a lot of fun,” Janisch said. … “I was trying to ride really cautiously (after track prep right before the race), and then I got way too cautious with two to go. Danny decided to send her, but luckily I heard him and saw it coming. I was able to square him up and get the win.”
The main event: SuperTwins
Briar Bauman and Dallas Daniels came into the 13th stop 1-2 on the Mission SuperTwins circuit Saturday.
They traded moves on the second lap of the race and Bauman never looked back, holding off Daniels by 1.2 seconds to add to his points lead.
“I felt really good all day,” Bauman said. “… They (his crew) worked their tails off. I’ve been tough on them. We have a high standard because Dallas and his team are so darn good.
“We didn’t really think we’d be here at this stage, so now all the sudden, I’m like, ‘We’ve got to figure this out.’ “
Daniels edged ahead of Bauman as they worked through Turn 1 on the opening lap. Daniels then tried to maneuver Max Whale between him and Bauman to slow down the latter.
AFT Peoria TT results: Mission SuperTwins
But Bauman cut under Daniels and zipped past Whale as they went over the jump, landing in a lead he never gave up.
That performance left Bauman in control of the season points championship. Daniels would need to win all three remaining races on the circuit to catch him.
News and notes
Temperatures reached 97 degrees as the main events approached in mid-afternoon. Figure another 10 degrees on the track surface. … Some riders stripped off their gear and put ice packs on their body and soaked their feet in ice buckets between races. … A spectator had a special-made red hat with the words “Make Flat Track Great Again.” … “King” Henry Wiles, at age 41, rode to a fifth-place finish in the AdventureTrackers race and 11th place in the Mission SuperTwins, the latter for which he earned his nickname after winning it 14 straight times. … Chase Saathoff, a Hillsboro native who is second in the AFT Single class season points race, crashed during practice as he landed after the jump. He was transported to a local hospital, and there was no update on his condition.
Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men’s basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on X.com @icetimecleve.
