Mid-America Speedway's 2013 'Night Before the Indy Mile' Again Sees Jared Mees Top the Field in Open Class Win Over Pearson & Bonsey

Mid-America Speedway's 2013 'Night Before the Indy Mile' Open Class

Sees Jared Mees Again take the Win for Unblemished Record at Marion County Fairgrounds Facility

 

Indianapolis, IN. – Friday, August 16, 2013 – Jared Mees brought his #1 Montgomeryville Cycle Center Honda 450 framer along again for Mid-America Speedway's annual 'Night Before the Indy Mile' Open class round and stormed the field to take the win and keep his perfect record intact at the Marion County Fairgrounds-hosted event. Rob Pearson got the hole shot for the Open main, but Mees made it around 'Bugs' to take the lead and romp to the win again.

Along with a big handful of AMA Pro Flat Track regulars including Brad Baker, Mick Kirkness, Steve Bonsey, Mikey Martin, Mikey Rush and a host of others, the Open class event proved to be a popular event by many of the riders in town for the next day's running of round 8 of the 2013 AMA Pro Flat Track presented by J&P Cycles Grand National Championship.

A total of over 130 riders were entered for the night's program at Mid-America, sponsored by Harley-Davidson of Bloomington, included the Open class, and AMA Racing's round 10 of the 2013 Vintage National Championship. The evening's racing also included the Bultaco Astro Cup event which saw some of the past stars of days gone by in AMA Pro Flat Track including Steve Morehead, Garth Brow, Jay Springsteen, Joe Kopp and Dave Aldana, to name just a few, take part in the evening's action. (Keep an eye out for our report soon on that part of the program, as it was a super evening just in itself watching past and some current stars of AMA Pro Flat Track doing battle on the historic two-stroke machines.)

 

Mees, aboard his #1 Montgomeryville Cycle Center Honda 450 framer, won his heat and took the main win over Morton, IL.-resident Rob 'Bugs' Pearson on his #27 Matt Reecy Racing Yamaha YZ450F and Zanotti Racing's Steve Bonsey on the #80 Honda CRF450R in the Open class. Some of the riders opted for their framer mounts while others, like Pearson and Bonsey, rode their current DTX-based Singles Series racers.

 

Pearson, who considers Mid-America his home track (after the Peoria TT track, of course) can be seen talking with AMA Pro Flat Track part-timer and Australian Mick Kirkness #87 on his Honda DTX-based mount, and Fight for Dirt Track.com's Tyler Porter #28C just before one of the Open Pro heat races. Porter, who also considers Mid-Am his home circuit, made the trip from his home in Paducah, KY., and took the win in one of the heat races for what was his first-ever win at Mid-Am in the 'Night Before the Indy Mile' event, aboard his FFDT-sponsored Kawasaki KX450F. Kirkness took home 4th-place in the Open Class main and TP ended up 12^th.

When TP isn't doing his great job of promoting flat track on his website he travels the country as one of Memphis Shades' best salesmen. Just over a week before he had attended the Sturgis Rally in South Dakota to show off Memphis Shades fine line of fairings and windshields.

Riders line up on the front row for the Open class final at Mid-America. (L-R) Tyler Porter #28C, Steve Bonsey #80, Brad Baker #12, Rob Pearson #27, Henry Wiles #17 and Jared Mees #1.

JD Beach had an off weekend from his regular full-time job of piloting the AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike Series RoadRace Factory Yamaha 600, and showed up from his home in Philpot, KY. with a pair of his #95 TJ Burnett Farms/Red Bull-sponsored Hondas CRF450Rs.

JD Beach #95 and Henry Wiles on the #17 Don's Kawasaki-sponsored Honda battle during the Open class main event. Wiles was hot off his 9th-straight victory just five days earlier at the Peoria TT. Beach ended the night in the 6th-place spot in the main with Wiles just behind in 7th-place.

There's calm before the storm in the Zanotti Racing pits as team owner Dave Zanotti, rider Steve Bonsey and team co-hort Wayne Karcich talk shop before the action hits the track at Mid-America. Team owner Zanotti was attending his first event at Mid-America. “After Jake (Johnson) left the team and we brought Steve on board, we decided to run this event,” stated team owner and patriarch of the 3-Time AMA Grand National Championship-winning team. “Jake didn't care much to run the smaller races, just liking to concentrate on the Grand National events, but I've always liked to run some of these, as does Steve. This is a great little facility and we're having a blast. We'll be back for sure!”

Mees #1 and Baker on his #12 Sefnco Communications Honda run together during one of the practice sessions leading up to the evening's main event in the Open Pro class. Baker won his heat and finished the main in the 5th-place spot. Baker currently leads the overall points standings in the 2013 AMA Pro Flat Track presented by J&P Cycles Grand National Championship, and was making his second appearance of the year and his career at Mid-America Speedway.

Riders roar off the starting line for the evening's Speedway class at Mid-America, one of the undercard events for the track's annual 'Night Before the Indy Mile' race. Brandon Fesselmeyer took the win over Chris Thomas and Daniel Weicht.

Local up and coming racer Kasey Sciscoe #66A leads Jared Lowe #23 to the heat race win in the 80-200cc Youth class at Mid-America and came home in the 4th-place spot in the 80-200cc main. One of the regulars at Mid-America, at 12 years old the local youngster is really starting to show his talent and has stepped-up his game even more then from last season. The young rider put on a great show at Indy that made the crowd roar it's approval and made his Dad, Mike proud for his young son. Mike was busy taking care of the track's concessions throughout the evening and had his hands full with race and food-grilling duties throughout the evening, and was one of the busiest people at the track that night.

And to cap off the great night of racing at Mid-America, John Skinner took his #66 Triumph to the win in the Vintage 750 Hotshoe class, round 10 of the 2013 AMA Vintage Dirt Track National Championship Series. Skinner's Triumph is a piece of beauty and looks more suited for a museum piece it is so clean, or even to admire sitting over the fire place mantle. Simply gorgeous!

 

 

With a great crowd on hand to take in the action at Mid-America, the evening was a big success for track president and operations manager Jim Terchila and team, who for the first time in memory wasn't aboard his Jawa speedway bike as he was so busy compiling stats and helping out in the tower. The Indianapolis resident again pulled off a great night of racing at the Marion County Fairgrounds facility, located on Indianapolis' southeast side.

 

The track looks to continue it's success with the event again next year, which has proved extremely popular with the riders and teams already in town for the legendary Indy Mile event, held at the Indiana State Fairgrounds the next day. So if you missed this year's event, this is surely one to add to your bucket list for next season.