Henry Wiles Wows 'Em at AMA Flat Track Lima Half Mile

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Lima winner Henry Wiles is interviewed for the crowd as second place Sammy Halbert (L) and newby-to-the-podium third place Matt Weidman (R) look on and enjoy the moment. Wiles has now won three events on the season and is tied for the overall points lead with Joe Kopp at 129 points each. Jake Johnson sits in 3rd place eight points back and Sammy Halbert moves to 4th with 116 points. Jared Mees rounds out the top five with 115 points.
With this being his second win on a half mile in the last eight events (Wiles won Pomona in October for the series final event of '09), Henry is quickly turning into an 'all track' specialist after being known the last six seasons as a short track and TT specialist. Once he gets that mile program down with the Adkins' team, the rest of the Grand National competitors better watch out. The AMA Flat Track Grand National Championship K&N Filters presented by Motorcycle Superstore.com circus heads to Lake Odessa, MI. for round eight on July 1oth.

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Third place finisher Matt Weidman is shown in his pit area at Lima signing autographs for the fans. His #20 White's Harley Davidson/SNIP/Silkolene-sponsored XR's sit just behind. Matt put on a fine performance throughout the main dicing with veterans Jake Johnson, Bryan Smith and Jared Mees to card the first Grand National podium of his young career. The 2008 Rookie of the Year looked like an old pro on the fast half mile and made his family and sponsors proud. After blowing up his A-bike at the end of qualifying, Matt jumped on his B-bike to make the podium for the main event.
He had a smile on his face after the main that you could see through his helmet! A great showing and a great young up-and-comer here to keep an eye on for the future in this fine young man. He should make another great spokesman for the sport as he has a lot of enthusiasm and is great with the fans.

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Henry 'Hammerin' Hank' Wiles wipes off the night's hard work after dismounting his Mike & Eddie Adkins/KK Motorcycle Supply H-D XR750 at Lima on Saturday June 26th. Wiles dominated the evening winning his heat, the dash for cash and the event final by just over 6.5 seconds on 2nd place finisher Sammy Halbert and another 10+ seconds back to 3rd place Matt Weidman. Just as he did in his heat race win, Henry lapped a big portion of the field, up to ninth place finisher Joe Kopp.

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Henry Wiles on the #17 is already trying to break away from the field in his heat race early in the evening's program. Joe Kopp on the #3 Lloyd Brothers Ducati is immediately behind, followed by Ken Coolbeth on the #2 Harley factory entry, #80 Steve Bonsey and #61 Dustin Crow. Coolbeth would have to transfer out of the semi to make the main, eventually finishing 14th. Bonsey finished 10th and Crow 7th in the main event. Kopp would finish the main in 9th place.
The track was rougher then seen in years past according to those in the know, and the AMA Flat Track team of Mike Kidd and Steve Morehead did a great job of improving on it after each heat and semi to have it in much better shape for the evening's final events.

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Second place finisher Slammin' Sammy Halbert can be seen in his pits signing an autograph earlier in the evening for a young fan. Sammy's #7 King Kustoms/KK Motorcycle Supply XR's are sitting in the forefront next to his brother Jethro's #69 machines. Sammy looked strong all night as well in spite of not being able to keep Hammerin' Hank close in the final. Lima was Sammy's third podium of the year after winning round one at Daytona on the short track and carding a second to Joe Kopp on the mile at Prescott Valley in May. Look for this young man to step up his game plan for the rest of the season starting with Lake Odessa in July! His consistency in the series this year-as well as last-should start paying major dividends real soon.

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The AMA Pro Flat Track K&N presented by MotorcycleSuperstore.com Grand National circus made it's annual stop in Lima, OH. on Saturday June 26, and the competition was just as hot and dusty as the weather was for the evening's events.
Henry Wiles showed 'em that he isn't just a short track and TT specialist by winning the main event by over 6.5 seconds on second place Sammy Halbert. Wiles also won the '09 season-ending half mile at Pomona back in October and is quickly putting to rest the notion his big bike program needs work. At the end of the evening, the only thing his big bike program needed was a good bath after lapping up through ninth place in his rout of the field at the dusty Lima track.
With his second win in a row after taking the main at the Gas City short track last weekend, Henry takes a share of the overall points lead with Joe Kopp at 129 points each.
A big tip of the hat and helmet goes out to third place finisher Matt Weidman out of the State of New York. The '08 Rookie of the Year put on the box in third place after battling it out with veterans Jake Johnson (5th place), Jared Mees (6th place) and Bryan Smith on the Werner Springsteen #42 Kawasaki (4th place). It was young Matt's first GNC podium and it was well fought and deserved. He put on a fine show in working his way up to the last rung on the box and had a smile as big as the State of New York when the main was over. Look for this young man in the future to move it up even further. He left Lima in 12th place in the points after this fine showing.
The AMA Flat Track team of Mike Kidd and Steve Morehead did a great job of getting the program off without many delays, and at the end of the evening the track was in the best shape of the day after working the watering and dragging crews throughout the night. Hats off to all for doing such a fine job of keeping on top of what started as a real rough track.
The Rolling Thunder show hits Lake Odessa's I-96 Speedway in Michigan for another half mile event after the national holiday on Saturday July 10. Stay tuned for more WFO fun!

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Here's the official story of the race from Larry Lawrence over at Cycle News.com:


http://www.cyclenews.com/articles/flat-track/2010/06/26/wiles-whips-em-at-lima
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Official results from AMA Pro Flat Track:

http://amaproracing.com/ft/events/results.cfm?eid=2010021030

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Thanks for coming by to check out our mini race review.
Sorry I was a little late in getting this up but it was a long weekend here in Indy. Stay tuned for later in the week as I do a 'photo parade' of other notable entries and riders from Lima to highlight this great season of AMA Flat Track!
Thanks again!

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