Sammy Halbert on his #7 The South Ass/Fredericktown Yamaha/GYTR/Van's Yamaha-sponsored YZ450F motors his way into a hard-earned 4th-place finish at round 3 of the 2012 AMA Pro Flat Track Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship presented by Motorcycle-Superstore.com season at the Springfield TT on May 26.
Slammin' Sammy managed a repeat win last night in round 8 of the 2012 season on his home track at the Castle Rock TT, leading title rival Jared Mees #9 home for the win by just over 1 second, with 2-Time and defending AMA Grand National Champion Jake Johnson #1 finishing in the 3rd-place spot just over 6.8 seconds behind Sammy in the 25-lap National main. Halbert won the Dash for Cash and also brought it home in 2nd-place in his heat to qualify for the main.
2000 AMA Grand National Champion Joe Kopp #3 came out of retirement to bring home a 7th-place finish. Halbert's older brother Jethro took 4th-place, with Washington State-born JD Beach rounding out the top-5.
Mees extended his overall points series lead over Johnson by 4 points (162-147), while Sammy is creeping up on the leading duo in the 3rd-place slot with 137. Last week's winner at the Sacramento Mile, Bryan Smith #42, managed only a 17th-place finish but still holds the 4th-place slot in the overall standings with 102 points. Johnny Lewis #10 again sat out the west coast event, but is expected back in action in next week's round 9 at the Peoria TT on Sunday, August 12.
You can read the press release below thanks to AMA Pro Flat Track, and catch up on the overall with the links at the bottom of the story. Next up is Peoria next Sunday before the series rolls into round 10 at the Lucas Oil Indy Mile on Saturday, August 18 during the Red Bull Indianapolis MotoGP Weekend.
Halbert Goes Back-to-Back and Lehmann Gets First Career
AMA Pro Flat Track Victory in Exciting Castle Rock TT
| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: |
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CASTLE ROCK, Wash. (August 4, 2012) - Being from the state of Washington, Sammy Halbert
(Fredericktown Yamaha) did not disappoint his hometown crowd as he won tonight's
AMA Pro Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship presented by
Motorcycle-Superstore.com and Lucas Oil race at Castle Rock Race Park in a
landslide.
A large mass of viewers all over the nation, as well as a packed
house in Castle Rock, Wash. witnessed Sammy Halbert kick off the second half of
the season with a win. Halbert was last year's winner at this very race and is
the first rider to win two races this season in AMA Pro Flat Track's premier
class.
"This is awesome, I have to
give it up to the local crowd for coming out, you guys fired me up and helped me
get the win." Halbert said. "I just got a good start and stayed focused the
whole time. It feels great. We got to keep this thing rolling; I'm fired up and
want to carry this momentum to next race."
Jake Johnson, Sammy Halbert and Jared Mees celebrate on the podium after their 3-1-2 finish in round 8 of the 2012 AMA Pro Flat Track Harley-Davison Insurance Grand Championship presented by Motorcycle-Superstore.com season at the Castle Rock TT, held last night in Washington State. AMA Pro Flat Track photo by Dave Hoenig.
Coming off a solid restart
after Brandon Robinson bit the dust, Halbert took the lead and never looked back
as he was the clear-cut winner and was barely contested the entire way. With
five laps remaining, Jared Mees (Rogers Racing / Montgomeryville Honda) was the
only rider in Halbert's vicinity but was never really a threat as Halbert
continued his dominance at Castle Rock Race Park and got to enjoy the sweet
taste of victory for the second time this season. Mees and Jake Johhson (Zanotti
Racing) closed out the podium, respectively. Jethro Halbert, Sammy's brother,
claimed the fourth slot of the main event with J.D. Beach closing out the top
five.
AMA Pro
Motorcycle-Superstore.com Pro Singles
As for the single engines,
Jacob Lehmann (Spy Optics) took advantage of several restarts and claimed his
first ever career victory. After Wyatt Maguire's crash called out a red
flag, Lehmann shot out of the restart like a torpedo and maintained the
lead for the entire race. Second place finisher Rodney Spencer (831 Pinnit) was
Lehmann's only competition of the night as they both ran away from the pack and
were neck and neck for the final three laps. The battle for third also proved to
be an intense race as Dominic Collindres (Frankie Morris) edged Jake Shoemaker
(Montgomeryville Cycle Center) and Garret Callies (Fun Mart Cycle Center) to
close out the podium.
"I just came out hoping
that I can at least come in the top ten and make the main event." Lehmann said.
"I got lucky on the restart and I was just thinking please don't red flag it
again. I was just trying to get a gap on the last few laps so I could have room
to breathe but Spencer just kept creeping up on me."
AMA Pro Live Streaming
Coverage
Saturday's AMA Pro
Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship presented by
Motorcycle-Superstore.com and Lucas Oil event was the birth of a
significant milestone for AMA Pro Flat Track. For the first time
ever in the storied history of dirt track racing, cameras planted
at three separate vantage points were successful in producing a
live video feed directly to www.amaprolive.com
for fans to observe in real time as the action
unfolded.
Next
Up
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AMA Pro Racing is the premier
professional motorcycle racing organization in North America, operating a full
schedule of events and championships for a variety of motorcycle disciplines.
Learn more about AMA Pro Racing at www.amaproracing.com.
For additional information
contact:
AMA Pro Racing Communications, (386) 492-1014, communications@amaproracing.com
Here's the link to the full results thanks to AMA Pro Flat Track (PDF version):
(Standard version results with drop-down box):
Thanks to Cycle News.com for their story on the race at Castle Rock from last night:
Thanks to AMA Pro Flat Track and official photographer Dave Hoenig for this gallery of shots from the Castle Rock TT:
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