Sammy Halbert Blazes to AMA Flat Track Season Opening Win at Daytona Short Track for 2nd Year in a Row

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Slammin' Sammy Halbert throws his #7 Woody Kyle Racing/Fredericktown Yamaha/Kings Kustoms/Fluid Suspension-sponsored YZF450 into turn three at the Springfield Short Track round of the AMA Pro Flat Track Grand National Championship Series during practice for the annual Labor Day Weekend outing in September of 2010. Following closely on his heels is Johnny Lewis on the #10 Scott Powersports/Pit Posse/Monster Energy/Dubach Racing-backed Honda CRF450, with Kenny Coolbeth, Jr. on the #2 Bettencourts Honda/Jason Perry/Motion Pro/Pro Plates-sponsored CRF450.
For the second year in a row, Sammy (the '09 AMA Flat Track Grand National 'Mythical' Champion) came out fighting at the season-opener on the Daytona Short Track, winning his heat race, Dash for Cash and the main event on his #7 Fredericktown Yamaha, besting a field that included Lewis, '10 AMA GN Champ Jake Johnson, and first full-year expert Brad Baker. Running third to Johnson and Lewis well into the main event, Halbert poured it on in the second half of the race and got around both men with a couple of laps to spare to win the opener by .234 seconds over Johnny Lewis (2nd place, best finish and first podium in an AMA Flat Track event) and Jersey Jake by .629 seconds to round out the podium.

The pack returns tonight for second round action in the 2011 AMA Pro Flat Track Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship Series. As opposed to yesterday where the riders had to wait out the rain delay earlier in the day, the weather is reported to be sunny and clear at Daytona in what should be another stellar event for AMA Flat Track fans and followers, let alone the riders on hand in Florida.
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Sammy Halbert hung in the top three a little over half way into the season opening round on the Daytona Short Track last night before turning up the burners to pass early leaders Jake Johnson and Johnny Lewis to take the win for the second year in a row on the limestone track just outside the massive Daytona International Speedway. Slammin' Sammy had a great night in winning his heat and The Dash before going on to claim the victor's laurels and the most points on the evening in the 2011 AMA Pro Flat Track Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship Series kick off. Round two happens tonight, and riders are expected out on the track for first practice at 1300 EST this afternoon.

Top ten for last night in the season opening round at the Daytona Short Track:

1. Halbert #7
2. Lewis #10 (first podium and best finish in an AMA Flat Track event. Congrats!)
3. Jake Johnson #1
4. Brad Baker #12
5. Raun Wood #88
6. Matt Weidman #20
7. Kenny Coolbeth, Jr. #2
8. Jimmy Wood #37
9. Jared Mees #9
10. Aaron King #40

Congrats to Sammy and his Fredericktown Yamaha-sponsored team for a stellar win last night, in what could very well be a springboard to the 2011 AMA Pro Flat Track Grand National Championship. We'll be watching the net closely again tonight to see how round two goes, and YOU should be, too, for the great action from The Rolling Thunder Show, THE best sport on wheels ANYWHERE in the world!
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Paul Carruthers was on hand with Cycle News.com and filed this great race recap:

http://www.cyclenews.com/articles/flat-track/2011/03/10/halbert-wins-daytona-opener

Larry Lawrence's The Rider Files.com has this press release and story on the race:

http://www.theriderfiles.com/?p=9411

Tyler Porter runs a great site called Fight For Dirt Track, and while in Daytona racing himself for Mack Daddy Racing, was able to file this report early this morning on the happenings at the season opener. Tyler also fills us in on the controversy surrounding why J.D. Beach wasn't in the field last night:

http://www.fightfordt.com/runscript.cfm?page=inslideline11.cfm
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Sammy Halbert also writes a column for the 'new' Cycle News.com digital edition, and here is the story from the March 1, 2011 edition. Great reading here folks!

http://cyclenews.coverleaf.com/cyclenews/20110301#pg88
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You can follow Sammy on his Facebook page here, Halbert Brothers Racing. Some great videos were posted throughout the day yesterday, so this is a great tool to keep up with what is going on today in Daytona:

https://www.facebook.com/HalbertBrosRacing
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And you can re-live the glory as well as keep up with more action today with the lovely and wonderful Miriam Deitcher, Ms. Speed Typist herself, as she keeps fans up to date with the happenings at the track. For those of you who remember Miriam from the '00s, she provided excellent race coverage for several years for AMA Pro Flat Track. She's back, and she's pounding out the action and stories at the track right here:

https://www.facebook.com/FlatTrackLive
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One of Sammy's sponsors, Kerr Graphix, put together this great video of Sammy over at YouTube.com. It's a must see:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Idvs3aByPZM

Here's Sammy's video for the 2011 AMA Pro Flat Track Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship Series. Great stuff Slammy! Thanks man!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMklTQzX43Q&feature=player_embedded
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AMA Pro Flat Track has the complete results for the main event last night here, and you can navigate through to see the results throughout the entire event as well:

http://amaproracing.com/ft/events/results.cfm?year=2011&eid=2011021105
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Besides being a world-class photographer, Dave Hoenig is also THE photographer for AMA Pro Flat Track. He also runs his great website, Flat Trak Fotos.com and posts his shots as well as results from each round. (Note--as of this writing this hadn't been updated yet, but should be soon.)

Dave's stuff is worth the wait, believe me:

http://www.flattrakfotos.com/2011%20Results/RESULTS%2003-10-11.html
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