1st Timer Steve Bonsey Tops The Box at AMA Flat Track Calistoga Half Mile

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Heat race action at Lima in June 2010 shows 7-Time AMA Grand National Champion Chris Carr on his Lancaster H-D #4 outside of Rob Pearson on his #27 Snedeker Racing XR, and Jake Johnson on his #5 Zanotti Racing XR. Matt Weidman on his #20 White's H-D/SNIP/
Silkolene/Shoei-backed XR brings up the rear.
Carr nailed fourth spot at Calistoga on his Lancaster H-D/DFW Honda/Arai/Wiseco-backed machine and stays a solid 7th in the overall GNC standings with 95 points. Johnson ended up on the 3rd step of the podium with his Zanotti Racing/Leo Vince/Arai/Tucker Rocky XR and retains 2nd in the points, but now only 6 back from leader Joe Kopp, 166-160. Morton, IL.'s
Rob Pearson finished a very credible 8th in the main on his #27 Snedeker-Stratton Racing/WKR/Peoria Motorcycle Club/Pekin Motorcycle Club-sponsored XR750 to garner his second-best finish of the year and a current 10th spot in the overall points standings with 62 points. Matt Weidman fought his way out of the second semi to finish 11th in the main at Calistoga and retain 11th in the overall points with a 59 point tally.

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Legendary flat track wrench Bill Werner wheels Bryan Smith's #42 Werner/Springsteen/
Monster Energy/Wossner Pistons/Supertrapp Kawasaki to the ready box at Lima in June '10 as a crewman for Steve Bonsey's #80 machine helps out. Rob Pearson's #27 XR crewman is at the ready as well.
Bonsey, who is out of Salinas, CA. (the same area that brought you names like Wayne Rainey, Doug Chandler and Ricky Graham), wheeled his #80 Johnny Goad/Alpinestars/Arai/
Dodge Bros.-backed XR750 to the top of the box for his 'breaking the cherry' first-time win at the first-time event at Calistoga on Saturday night. Bonsey adds his name to a long list of first-time winners in AMA Pro Flat Track Racing action, and leaves Calistoga 14th in the overall points standings with 44 points.
Bryan Smith struggled throughout the evening's event on his #42 650 Ninja-based mount, racing his way into the main via a 3rd place finish in the semi on his Bill Werner-tuned machine. He would finish 13th on the evening, the last rider on the lead lap, and retained 8th in the overall points standings with 80 points.

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One of Jammin' Jared Mees #1 Rogers Lake Racing/Blue Springs H-D/Rockysonline.com/
Lucas Oil-backed XR750s sits in his pit during a break in the action at Lima in June 2010. Mees, the defending GN Twins Champ, carded a 5th-place finish at Calistoga to remain 5th in the overall championship point standings with 143 points, some 23 points behind current leader, and '00 GN Champ Joe Kopp.

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The AMA Pro K&N Filters presented by Motorcycle-Superstore.com has it's own version of the first lady of racing, and that would be the ever-popular Nicole Cheza. Nicole can be seen in this shot at Lima earlier in the year signing autographs for the fans in her pit area as her #15 Global Products/Lancaster H-D/National Cycle/KK Motorcycle Supply-backed XR750s sit ready for battle.
Nicole had a great showing Saturday night at Calistoga by placing second in her heat behind Chris Carr, and a direct spot in the final, as well as in the extra $$ and points Dash For Cash. She ended up finishing 14th in the final, the first rider a lap down to eventual winner Steve Bonsey, and now sits 31st in overall points with a tally of 8 points, and her second twins main event of the year. Bravo to Nicole for a great night!

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Crewmen for Henry Wiles' #17 and Sammy Halbert's #7 set at the ready at Lima earlier in the season for next race action. Wiles, the defending Singles Champion, brought his #17 KK Motorcycle Supply/Mike & Eddie Adkins/Don Kissinger Racing/Saddlemen-sponsored XR home in the 9th spot in the main to drop to 4th in the overall points tally with 149.
Slammin' Sammy lead the most laps in the main at Calistoga only to be passed by Bonsey for the win. However, Sammy hung in there for the 2nd spot on the podium and moves up to 3rd in the overall standings with 159 points, only one point back from Jake Johnson and seven points back from leader Kopp. Keep a very close eye on this young man as he is on the move at the official half way point in the season. His 'mythical' overall championship from the 2009 season could very well turn into a very REAL overall championship after the dust settles in Arizona at the end of the year. You know he's going to make it interesting, just as he has done all year. Sammy's #7 machine is sponsored by Kings Kustoms/KK Motorcycle Supply/Nelson Racing/AGV and Dainese Leathers.

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The best racing show on wheels had one of Kenny 'The King' Roberts' racing proteges topping the box on Saturday night at the initial running of the Calistoga Half Mile at Calistoga Speedway in great AMA Flat Track racing action.

Steve Bonsey, who not too long ago was running in the GP wars in Europe, broke his cherry and won his very first AMA Flat Track event on the fast half mile in Northern California. Topping an all-star crowd that included Chris Carr, Jared Mees and Jake Johnson, among others, Bonsey wowed 'em in the final to run down and pass early leaders Carr and Sammy Halbert to win his first AMA Pro K&N Filters sponsored by Motorcycle-Superstore.com Grand National Twins main event at round nine in Calistoga. Even more spectacular for this young man is the fact that before Saturday evening's win, his best finish in an AMA Flat Track twins event was a 10th place. Now that's what I call a quick learner!

Needless to say, I was wrong again in predicting that as many as 40-45 riders would try to qualify for this only west coast event on this mid-summer swing of the series. Only 32 riders timed in for the twins main, but nonetheless the track prep and promoter involvement made this a great evening for all in attendance. Being as what the economy still is, for fans and racers alike, 32 riders for a single west coast swing in the schedule is really pretty good, and nothing to be ashamed of. And reports from those on the scene say the place was packed and the crowd on hand was very enthusiastic. Obviously another great showing for Mike Kidd, Steve Morehead and the entire AMA Pro Flat Track Racing crew. Track prep was said to be one of the keys to bringing off a great race, along with the extra work said to have been put in by the race promoter to put fans in the seats.

With a swing back to the far east--Hagerstown, MD., to be exact--next up on the schedule the series will resume on the Hagerstown Speedway Half Mile, Saturday night, August 7th. With the half-way point in the schedule now officially passed, watch for the action to get higher and mightier on the track as the best men (and women!) of AMA Flat Track duel it out for the overall AMA Flat Track Grand National Championship right down to the wire at the last event of the season in Arizona.

Stay tuned, as this show's chugging along at a pretty good clip, and if you don't jump on now you're gonna miss it.........

You can check out all of the 'official' stories, pics, and standings below to get the full read on who's who and what's what!

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From the bible of motorcycle racing, Paul Carruthers had this story to cover the Calistoga event at CycleNews.com:

http://www.cyclenews.com/articles/flat-track/2010/08/01/bonsey-gets-his-first

Story and pics from the Calistoga event thanks to Bart Madson and the great folks at Motorcycle-USA.com:

http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/504/7626/Motorcycle-Article/2010-AMA-Flat-Track-Calistoga-Results.aspx
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The official story of the race at Calistoga thanks to AMA Pro Flat Track Racing:

http://amaproracing.com/ft/news/index.cfm?cid=38888

The official photos of the Calistoga event thanks to AMA Pro Flat Track and Dave Hoenig from FlatTrakFotos.com:

http://amaproracing.com/ft/multimedia/gallery.cfm?gid=3908

More results and soon-to-be-posted shots from the always-on-the-scene Dave Hoenig at FlatTrakFotos.com:

http://www.flattrakfotos.com/2010%20Results/RESULTS%207-31-10.html

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And Larry Lawrence from the always excellent TheRiderFiles.com shares his spin on this great accomplishment by Steve Bonsey at Calistoga over the weekend:

http://www.theriderfiles.com/?p=5332

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AMA Pro Flat Track Racing results are here:

http://www.amaproracing.com/ft/events/results.cfm?eid=2010021045 (standard event results)

http://results.amaproracing.com/pdfresults/ft/2010/09-calistoga/ (PDF full event version)
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And here is a little video as posted over at the great FlatTrack.com forum by forum members Glynn N Holly of the Calistoga Half Mile event:

http://vimeo.com/13832266

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