THE RIDER: JARED ‘JAMMER’ MEES
This season has been the best of my career. I’ve won 10 races all up and managed to clinch the American Flat Track championship with two rounds to go. We’ve had a phenomenal year. I had a magnificent team [at Rogers Racing] behind me. I don’t know what else to say. I give all the credit to these guys – they work so hard, week-in and week-out.
The Indian was a phenomenal motorcycle for me, from start to finish. It’s unbelievable to win a championship in the fashion we did this year and, no offense, to dominate it.
THE BIKE
In the late 1940s, Indian dominated flat track racing with its Wrecking Crew, which consisted of Ernie Beckman, Bill Tuman and Bobby Hill on modified Scout motorcycles.
For 2017, Indian returned to the dirt ovals under the mega-buck ownership of Polaris Industries with a new Wrecking Crew.
Kawasaki’s reigning champ Bryan Smith, Brad Baker and Jared Mees (both ex-Harley) all signed to race the new Scout FTR750 factory racer after winning every championship since 2012 between them on other brands. Indian’s re-emergence coincided with the rebranding of the series and a rule change forcing riders in the premier Twins class to use only two-cylinder bikes at all rounds, rather than switching to singles for the smaller tracks and TTs as happened previously.
This meant that lighter, smaller bikes would be a definite advantage.
Polaris commissioned a purpose-built flat tracker powered by a 750cc, 53-degree V-Twin developed by a subsidiary company, Swissauto, in Switzerland. The engine has dual overhead cams, with four valves per cylinder. It also has liquid-cooling, fuel injection and a counter-balancer to reduce vibration.
The bike runs an Ohlins 43mm fork and fully adjustable Ohlins monoshock. The suspension is tuned to keep the bike stable and to achieve maximum traction out of corners. Because of the left-hand corners in flat track, the rear brake and gearlever are on the right-hand side. The tyres are Dunlop DT3s.
“In-between races, depending on if they are back-to-back or not, the bikes are washed, prepped and if they need it, the engines are pulled down,” Mees said. “In terms of my personal set-up, as long as the throttle is easy to turn and my brake pedal is dialled, I’m happy. I like everything about this bike.”
THE BOSS: GARY GRAY, VP product
Entering the year, our goal was to be competitive and refine our purpose-built Scout FTR750 to eventually become a leading bike.
It’s safe to say we’ve far exceeded our expectations by securing the manufacturer’s championship after 14 races and now the AFT Twins Championship after 16 races. It’s an incredible accomplishment by the entire Indian Motorcycle Racing team.
