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Former AMA Flat Track winner and National #23 Kevin Atherton (L) makes an adjustment on the Latus/Lloyd Bros/American Agip Ducati of Joe Kopp, the 2000 AMA Grand National Champion, as one of the Lloyd Bros. team members looks on. Kopp took the big twin Ducati to the mile win at Arizona back on May 1st, and hopes to do so again at the Lucas Oil Indy Mile on Saturday night. Per the entry list as of this writing he is entered on the Ducati. Larry Pegram will be making an appearance as well and you can read more on that below.
On the right side of the shot, which was taken at Lima in June, is defending Twins Champion Jared Mees #1 Rogers Lake/Blue Springs-sponsored XR750 as it is being brought up for race time from the pit area. Look for both Jammin' Jared and Smokin' Joe Kopp to be in the mix all night this coming Saturday. It's going to be fast and fun!
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One of the all-time legendary figures in AMA Flat Track is 7-Time AMA Flat Track Grand National Champion tuner Kenny Tolbert. Behind the infamous Bill Werner, Kenny has wrenched
for more AMA Flat Track Grand National Championships and main event wins then any other tuner to have ever walked the hallowed grounds of an AMA Flat Track event. Of course, those multiple championships and wins have come with the pairing of Tolbert with 7-Time AMA Grand National Champion, and the Prince of Peoria, Chris Carr, whose #4 Lancaster H-D/DFW Honda/Arai Helmets-backed XR750's sit in the foreground of this shot at Lima earlier this summer. Of course, Carr won the return to the Lucas Oil Indy Mile in September of 2008, and the pair will be looking to repeat that success in just less then 48 hours from this writing.
I was very fortunate to be able to officially meet both Chris and Kenny earlier this summer and can say it was a pure delight to be able to meet, talk and get to hang out with them. There is nothing like having watched your heroes for over two-and-a-half decades to finally get to meet them and learn they still have the enthusiasm and the drive that you always thought they would and did, as well as learn that they were two of the funniest and warmest individuals to talk with in general. These guys have always had an ultra-strong mile track program, so look for the pairing to put Chris' #4 up at the front Saturday night at the Indy Mile.
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When you talk legends in AMA Flat Track racing, the names Jay Springsteen and Bill Werner always come to the top of the heap. The pairing of the '76-'78 AMA Grand National Champion Springer with super-tuner to the stars Bill Werner in the Harley-Davidson Factory Wrecking Crew was a match and friendship made in heaven. Springer went on to win 40-some odd races along with his three GN Championships, and Bill Werner went on to win some 150 Grand National races as well as 13 Championships as a tuner to the stars. Besides his three with Springer, Bill got his first in '75 with then-champ Gary Scott, and went on to collect nine more with the all-time winner in AMA Flat Track racing, Scott Parker, as the two paired for over a decade-and-a-half to win over 90 races and nine championships together. Can you say history re-written?!
Werner and Springsteen paired up after the '09 season was over and formed Werner Springsteen Kawasaki Racing, and put National #42 Bryan Smith in the seat of the team's Ninja 650-based twins racers. With sponsorship from Monster Energy/Kawasaki/Wossner Pistons/Supertrapp and a list that would cover this page, the team has had some bright spots in a growing year, one of which was when Smith put the #42 machine on the podium in the spring running of the Springfield Mile. Teething and growing the first-year team being what it is, going into the Lucas Oil Indy Mile, the team sits eighth in the AMA Pro K&N Filters Grand National Overall Championship. Saturday night could be a big building block, and with Indy and three other mile tracks left in the season, could finish strong to wrap up the season. Never count these men out as there is way too much experience between them to rule them out.
In the picture Springer can be seen speaking with AMA Flat Track's Ken Saillant while Bill Werner looks over the machines in final prep before the running of the Lima Half Mile earlier this year.
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3-Time AMA Grand National Champion, and now #2-plate wearer Kenny Coolbeth, Jr., looks on during rider intros at Lima in June. Sponsored by the Screamin' Eagle/H-D Motor Corp/Arai and Fox, Coolbeth won the '09 running of the Lucas Oil Indy Mile, and with a factory motor, you can never rule him out on the big tracks. Or anywhere, for that matter, as the 18 year veteran is older, wiser and much more cunning then his youthful looks make him out to be.
Just in front of the King of Cool is GN rookie PJ Jacobsen and his #99B Moroney's 1-800-FASTHOG/Weiss Racing/Shoei-sponsored XR750 and crew.
Contesting the AMA Road Racing Series this year for Celtic Racing, PJ has been taking some time off from the pavement races to run some AMA Pro Flat Track events, winning a semi in Lima and also putting it into the field at the spring mile at Springfield. He'll be at Indy trying to make the field again before he heads to New Jersey for the penultimate round of the AMA Road Racing Series during Labor Day Weekend. You can read his team's press release below and find out more PJ.
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Current AMA Flat Track Manager Mike Kidd, former National #72 and then #7 after winning the 1981 AMA Grand National Championship, rolls through the pits at Indy during the double-header round in August of 1977. Just a week before, MK had crashed at the terrible Terre Haute track, breaking his wrist/forearm-if you look closely, you can see his cast on his left arm. He came back to podium and win this very weekend, and won a total of two Indy Miles in his long and illustrious AMA Flat Track career. A multiple factory team rider, Mike rode for the factory Triumph and Harley-Davidson teams and was one of the first riders to sign up with Honda when they came into AMA Flat Track in the early '80s. Winning the '81 AMA Grand National Championship by five points in the final round at Ascot over Hank Scott, Mike was also the first rider to bring outside-the-sport sponsorship to the table in running his own program. His Army sponsorship for his AMA Flat Track program in the late '70s/early '80s was unprecedented for it's day and set the bar for future outside-the-sport sponsorships to come into the great sport of flat track racing.
Since retiring from racing, he and his brother Gary started the Arenacross series, ran it successfully and then sold it to Clear Channel and ran the program for them for some years, with also a high level of success in doing so with his and his brother's knowledge of the sport, the fans and the racers. Mike and Gary have brought the same level of enthusiasm and professionalism to AMA Flat Track in running the program for them the last couple of years, and both are largely responsible, along with former Grand National competitor Steve Morehead, of bringing the sport of AMA Flat Track back to the forefront in terms of excitement and high speed thrills. Their knowledge of the sport, the owners, fans, promoters and track preparation have turned the sport around where the show now goes off on time-in most cases-and is efficient and fun to be a part of again. And he still has his youthful smile that he had some 36 years ago when I first started watching him win races in this great arena of high speed motorcycle racing.
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Brandon Robinson, National #44, sits in his pits while being interviewed by Larry Lawrence of The Rider Files.com during the Gas City Short Track earlier in the summer. Sponsored by Lancaster H-D/Action Motorsports/Ruckus 44 and his parents and grand parents, Brandon may best be remembered at this point in time for two things. One, winning the 2008 AMA Flat Track Expert Twins Championship, and two, flying out of the park at the Indy Mile during the August 2009 running of the main event in turn one. Coming back from devastating leg, hip and rib injuries at the very least, the young man looked good at Gas City and finished seventh in the short track Expert Singles event in June.
Since he is still in the healing process, and admitted in June that his movement 'is very limited at this time' from all of his operations from his injury, Brandon didn't run last weekend's Peoria event in order to rest up for Indy this weekend. We can't wait to see the enthusiastic young man back out in the mix on the big tracks again and wish him the very best of luck-and safe racing-for his future!
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Larry Pegram rolls his #72F Lloyd Bros/American Agip Ducati into place in the pits at Indy during August of 2009 in preparation for the evening's events. Larry didn't make the main last year, but came back on the bike-now running the #99 number plate-to get 10th at the spring running of the Springfield Mile. With Joe Kopp having won at Arizona now, Larry is ready to equal that result after the work he has helped the team with in getting the big twin Ducati up to speed in AMA Pro Flat Track competition.
This weekend should help as Larry has the weekend off from his Foremost/Ducati/Pegram Racing AMA Road Racing duties, and will be looking to put it in the show and finish up front on the Hypermotard 1100-based machine. We'll be ready to see him put it together. Larry has been competing in AMA Flat Track for over 20 years now.
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With less than 48 hours until the running of the 2010 edition of the Lucas Oil Indy Mile AMA Pro Flat Track event, Stu's Shots wanted to bring this little preview out since we will be at both IMS and the Indiana State Fairgrounds over the course of the next three days for this monumental weekend here in the World Capital of Racing.
Since being paired up with the Red Bull Indianapolis MotoGP round, AMA Pro Flat Track's return to the popular Indy Mile track has seen a resurgence in fans, action, race teams and the program as an overall whole. With AMA Flat Track Manager Mike Kidd at the helm, with the help of his brother Gary, along with track-prep specialist and former Grand National competitor Steve Morehead, the series is hitting on all cylinders and at a pretty good clip as well.
With title sponsorship being announced in late May in the terms of the series new name--AMA Pro K&N Filters presented by Motorcycle Superstore.com Grand National Championship--Mike and Company have really helped to turn the greatest show on wheels around in very little time. Considering the dwindling numbers in the ranks of racers, venues and fans from just six or so years ago, the series has and is once again proving to all why the Rolling Thunder show is the best show on two wheels again.
With this being the third year back since returning to Indy since the late '90s, the action should be fast and very furious for the first of six remaining events on the AMA Pro Flat Track schedule. Including Indy, with four miles, one half mile and one short track left in the 2010 season, round 12 at Indy could very well prove to be pivotal in many ways. And with the crowd that is expected to be on hand, this will be a great showcase to kick in the run to the 2010 AMA Grand National Championship, where the eventual champion will be crowned in Arizona the second weekend in October. With the overall championship having Joe Kopp out front with 208 points over second place Sammy Halbert with 191 points, Jake Johnson in third with 190, defending Singles Champion Henry Wiles in fourth with 188, and defending Twins Champion Jared Mees in fifth with 187 points, the race for the crown is far from over. And is most likely to get pretty heated starting about 7:30 PM EDT Saturday evening.
Believe me, you don't want to miss it as the AMA Pro Flat Track Rolling Thunder Show storms into the Indiana State Fairgrounds and shows the fans where, and what, the real racing is all about. Be there or be square, as it's gonna fly by you at about 140 MPH in a pack that make fighter pilots look like youngsters.
Read some of the releases and whether you are there, or not, you can follow the action below with the links provided. Stu's Shots will be there and will have some extra coverage after the weekend is over to showcase this great two wheeled sport that is re-inventing itself and showing the fans that everything else is just a race.
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Here's a press report from defending GN Twins Champ Jared Mees as he talks about the last two races and the lead up to Saturday night's legendary Indy Mile pairing with the Red Bull Indianapolis MotoGP round:
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AMA road racer P.J. Jacobsen has been running some AMA Flat Track events, and he has the Indy Mile on his calendar this weekend before he heads to New Jersey Motorsports Park for the Labor Day weekend running of the AMA Road Racing Series. Here's his press release courtesy of his sponsor Moroney's 1-800-FASTHOG as posted over at RoadRacingWorld.com:
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Here is the official event page for round 12 at Indy (they still have it listed as round 13 forgetting about the canceled Grove City event) as posted over at the AMA Pro Flat Track site:
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Nicky Hayden will be at the Indy Mile, but unfortunately not to throw a leg over one of the Lloyd Bros. Ducatis. Instead, he will be the Grand Marshall for the event and you can read the press release here as posted over at SpeedTV.com's Moto Racing News site:
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Here's the weather info for the Indiana State Fairgrounds running of the AMA Pro Flat Track Indy Mile event thanks to The Weather Underground folks:
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And thanks to Google Maps here is the link to the Indiana State Fairgrounds. Just zoom in to the grandstand area and/or the infield area to get where you need to go once on the premises. The place is real easy to get around in, and around on!
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SpeedTV.com's Moto Racing News has the rundown from last year's Lucas Oil Indy Mile which was won by 3-Time Grand National Champion Kenny Coolbeth, Jr. on the Screamin' Eagle H-D XR750. You can read about it here:
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And thanks to SuperBikePlanet.com we have some review shots of the return of AMA Pro Flat Track to the Indy Mile at the 2008 Lucas Oil Indy Mile in September of 2008, which was won by 7-Time AMA Grand National Champion Chris Carr on his Kenny Tolbert tuned H-D XR750. Check them out here as you get ready for Saturday night's action on the fast and furious Indiana State Fairgrounds track:
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Note--I didn't post a link for the AMA Flat Track Live Timing and Scoring since they don't put the fresh and updated link up until the day of the race itself. I have updated the link on the left side column, which should prove to be correct with the way they have been changing the paths for the link to each race. However, on race day you should be able for sure to get it by going to the link below, which is the AMA Pro Racing opening page, and they should have a link for it at the top of the page highlighted in green, again, come race day:
http://amaproracing.com/
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And you can get your very own Legends of The Indy Mile shirts right here-pretty cool!
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