Sammy Halbert's #7 South East H-D/The South Ass/Mo Vaughn Transport/LZ Racing-sponsored XR750s get some attention in the pits by his crew before first round practice at round 10 of the 2012 AMA Pro Flat Track Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship presented by Motorcycle-Superstore.com season at the Lucas Oil Indy Mile on Saturday, August 18. Sammy joined an elite group of racers who have contested the AMA Grand National Championship by winning his first-ever mile event at Indy to win the 'grand slam' of flat track. Halbert has now won in all disciplines of flat track having previously won numerous events in short track, TT and half-mile competition.
Halbert practiced one of the Werner-Springsteen Kawasakis during the first practice session of the day at Indy, but then reverted to his tried and true XR750 to qualify in the 5th-place spot just .418 seconds behind fast qualifier Bryan Smith on the Crosley/Howerton/Eaken Kawasaki. He then went on to finish second in his heat race behind winner Jake Johnson to gain his ticket to the Dash for Cash (5th-place finish) and the National main.
Hanging in the top-5 throughout the first part of the main, Sammy was able to take advantage of the red-flag delay that involved Johnson when he lost his brakes on lap 11. Johnson was okay after the slide-out (thanks to the air fence!) but his #1 Zanotti Racing XR suffered some serious damage when it tumbled end over end. Halbert got a monster restart to run in the top-3 for the 15 remaining laps in the race (positions reverted back one lap after the delay) and fought like the tough racer he is and battled with Werner-Springsteen's Brandon Robinson #44 and Rogers Racing's Jared Mees #9 for the better part of the rest of the event to lead them home to his first mile event win of his career.
Johnson lost a few points due to his crash and dropped to 3rd-place in the standings behind 3rd-place finisher Mees (201 points), 28 points in arrears heading to the Labor Day Weekend running of the Springfield Short Track on September 1 and the Springfield Mile II on September 2. Sammy now sits in 2nd-place in the overall standings with 180 points after his super night.
Congrats to Sammy Halbert and his team for his big win last night, and you can check out the full press release below thanks to AMA Pro Flat Track.
We'll have more on the exciting evening of racing in Indy as the week goes on, but after three solid days of racing and late night's we've gotta put it to bed for the week ahead.
Halbert
Goes the Distance at Indy
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (August 18, 2012) - Saturday's AMA
Pro Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship presented by
Motorcycle-Superstore.com and Lucas Oil gave the packed house a sensational race
as Sammy Halbert (South East Harley/Harley-Davidson) captured the checkered flag
for the third time this year. Though Halbert looked sharp under the lights at
the Indianapolis State Fairgrounds, it was no easy task as he was forced to fend
off fierce competitors in Brandon Robinson (Werner/Kawasaki) and Jared Mees
(Rogers Racing/Harley-Davidson) on the last lap for the win.
"I didn't see that one
coming, luckily for me, the win fell in to my hands. The whole time I was just
trying to figure out how to pass those fast Kawasakis," Halbert said. "In the end I just pulled up behind
Brandon (Robinson) trying to get a good draft and when I did I just hammered
down and went with it. I was just hoping and praying on that last straight away
that I could get through it and I did. It feels amazing; don't count me out,
ever."
Sammy Halbert #7 on his South East H-D XR750 won his first-ever mile event at the Lucas Oil Indy Mile last night at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. AMA Pro Flat Track photo by Dave Hoenig.
Bryan Smith (Howerton
Motorsports/Kawasaki) looked to be on his way to another dominating victory but
a rare wreck by Jake Johnson forced a restart. Though Smith retained the lead
shortly after the restart, his bike came up lame on the 12th lap and ended his
night.
Smith's mishap was like
blood in the water for sharks as it changed the complexity of the race
tremendously. Brandon Robinson had the lead
going in to the final three laps and looked like he was going to pull it off.
Sammy Halbert, however, had other plans, as he stole the lead on lap 23 and
fought off Brandon Robinson on the final straight away for the
victory.
It became evident right
from the get-go that Indianapolis is the racing capital of the world as the
crowd's roar was almost as loud as the engines. Sammy Halbert fended off Brandon
Robinson by a mere .26 seconds; that's quicker than you can snap your
fingers.
AMA Pro
Motorcycle-Superstore.com Pro Singles
Stephen Vanderkuur
(Parkinson Brothers Racing/Honda CRF450R) slammed the throttle just a little bit
harder than his opponents Saturday night as he came away with his first win of
the season. The race was a 12 lap roller coaster as there was an immense number
of lead changes that came down to the final stretch. The win bumps Vanderkuur to
first in the standings with a slim two point lead over Ryan Wells (5 Star Steel
& Fabrication) and looks to be one of the favorites to win the title going
in to the final four races of the season.
"It was an awesome race, I
knew I had to get a good restart and I did," Vanderkuur said. "I knew there
would be a bunch of passing and that I was going to have my work cut out. It was
a toss-up and I just went for it. I gave it my all and I'm just so
excited."
Dominic Collindres
(Weirbach Racing) took an early lead coming off a restart but maintained it only
for a lap as no lead was ever safe in the race. Going in to lap 5, Collindres,
Vanderkuur, Zakk Palmer (Double Dick Bandits), and Jake Shoemaker
(Montgomeryville Cycle Center) were four wide as they flew down the back
stretch. Going in to the last lap it was literally neck and neck, with the
winner being a presumed toss-up between the four. It wasn't until the last
stretch that Vanderkuur crossed the finish line with a photo finish
victory.
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:
|
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment
Keep it nice, but keep them coming!
---Please note---You can leave comments anonymously, but you can also leave them while logged into Google, Yahoo and other platforms.
We'd love to hear from you!
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.