AFT: Meet the All-New Progressive Triple Crown!

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Laconia Short Track, Black Hills Half-Mile and the Springfield Mile.

These three locations are the new designates for the American Flat Track (AFT)‘s all-new Progressive Triple Crown – and the $25,000 purse is not the only perk of the festivities.

A view of AFT racers in the bid for the proverbial crown. Photo courtesy of RRW.

“In addition to the overall championship, this season, the Mission SuperTwins presented by S&S Cycle competitors will vie for the Progressive Triple Crown by competing to collect the most combined points at three designated events,” states the press release from CycleNews.

A view of AFT racers in the bid for the proverbial crown. Photo courtesy of AFT.

Here’s the schedule for the 2022 Progressive Triple Crown:

June 11 – Progressive Laconia Short Track (New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon)

August 6 – Black Hills Half-Mile at Black Hills Speedway (Rapid City in South Dakota)

September 3-4 – Mission Springfield Mile Doubleheader (Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield, Illinois)

A view of AFT racers in the bid for the proverbial crown. Photo courtesy of Cycle News.

All told, winner with the most points across the Short Track, Half-Mile and Miles will be the lucky gal or gent to get their mitts on that hefty $25,000 prize – and Gene Crouch, the COO of AMA Pro Racing, is pretty stoked.

“We’re thrilled that Progressive has further expanded their support of the series in 2022 as they continue to play an integral role in helping us grow the sport,” he says.

A view of AFT racers in the bid for the proverbial crown. Photo courtesy of Ultimate Motorcycling.

“The Progressive Triple Crown adds a new twist to the season that will both reward our athletes and add an extra dimension of drama and excitement for our fans.”

Secure your tickets, check back here at our shiny new webpage for the best of the latest in our industry, and as ever – stay safe on the twisties.

*Media sourced from CycleNews, RRW, AFT, and Ultimate Motorcycling*​

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I did Laconia bike week back in '91 when I lived in southern Connecticut and could ride up there. I loved racing and actually followed the AMA classes closely in those pre-internet days. I thought it would be memorable. I stayed in a little hotel nearby(ish) on the lake where they filmed the classic movie "On Golden Pond," which was indeed just as quaint, scenic, and serene as you might expect. What I learned the hard way was that although it's less than an hour away from the track, getting back there by passing through Laconia would add at least another hour because of the festivities. It was miles and miles of 5 mph riding with thousands of bikes. It was a lot like my first wife at the time, beautiful and also awful. I didn't feel like I fit in with the huge Harley contingent that took over the downtown area, with me on my pearl white VFR700, but the races were almost entirely sport bike riders in attendance, not a big surprise. The races were kind of the usual AMA racing in those days. If you ever went, you know what I mean, but it was very cool that your pit pass gave you access to pretty much everything. I was thrilled that I got to meet and had a nice talk with Nick Ienatsch, who was a moto journalist I liked to read in Sport Rider, my favorite magazine at the time. If I recall, he was racing in the 250 GP class and he was a great rider. Maybe even the champ. He was very nice to me and I was just a guy who wandered into his tent. I mean, I wandered there on purpose because I wanted to meet him but to his credit he didn't tell me to get lost. I remember being surprised at how small he was. Not like a little person or anything but just compact. I guess other than Scott Russell, racers back then were pretty much all like 5'6" and 150 pounds. Still true today, if you ever watch Moto GP. Nick might have been a little bigger than that but probably not much. 250GP bikes were not big. Super nice guy to talk to.

I remember a few other things from that race weekend. On the way back to the hotel on Saturday, which would be heading north from the track, all of it basically 2 lane country road, I rode past a large bear who was about 6 feet from the road. He was just standing there watching the bikes roll by. A few hundred yards farther up the road was a cop with binoculars who was watching the road back the way I had just come. I guess he was looking to catch anyone riding over the double yellow to scoot past traffic. I couldn't imagine any other reason he'd be looking down the road with binoculars on a country road. So as I rolled slowly past him I told him about the bear and he gave me a "Yeah, okay, whatever" response. I remember thinking "Yeah, okay, well f you then." The funny thing was, more than the bear, I had indeed considered buzzing up past all the Harleys clogging the road into Laconia. Glad I didn't because I was distracted by the bear situation. Then Sunday I left for home from the track and some wiseguy had turned my fuel from "on" to "reserve" but I didn't realize it at the track; no, I realized it on the road in middle of nowhere New Hampshire when the mileage told me it was about time to fill up. You know how it is, you reach down to get the muscle memory back for turning it to reserve when you start to sputter. So that's when I noticed it was turned to reserve already, I had no idea how much gas was left, I was five hours from home, and I had no idea where the next gas station was. That was some butt pucker riding right there. Fortunately, I did make it. THEN, as if that wasn't enough stress for one day, it proceeded to thunderstorm directly over me, plenty of lightning, for the next FOUR HOURS, and no, I did not have rain gear. There was no forecast for rain. It was like The Truman Show, where the rain fell on only him and followed him around. Four absolutely terrifying hours of torrential thunderstorm, on a sport bike, on the highway. I kept thinking, "I'll ride out from under it and I'm already wet, so..." I finally hit clear sky about an hour from home. I got home, regretting most of the weekend, and my wife asked me how it was. "Great!" I was too damn tired to go into it. But it was memorable.