Sammy Halbert Among Group of AMA Pro Flat Track Regulars Heading to Willow Springs for Eddie Mulder's West Coast Dirt Track Series on May 1

Sammy Halbert's #7 Kings Kustoms/KK Motorcycle Supply/Nelson Racing/Fluid Suspension-sponsored Harley-Davidson XR750 sits in the Halbert Brothers Racing pit area during the Springfield Mile round of the 2010 AMA Pro Flat Track Grand National Championship Series weekend in September of '10.  Halbert finished 4th in the overall and Twins Series year-end point standings on the year, after missing what ended up being the penultimate round of the 2010 season in Minnesota after having been suspended by AMA Pro Flat Track for what was deemed 'rough riding' on the year (and ultimately) at the Springfield Short Track round the night before this shot was taken.  Coming back to finish the year off as strong as ever, Slammin' Sammy wrapped up the year in AMA Pro Flat Track competition by finishing 3rd on the day at the season-ender in Prescott Valley, AZ. behind event and series champion Jake Johnson and Jared Mees, the '09 AMA Pro Flat Track Grand National Twins Champion.
With the 2011 season already five races into it's scheduled 21 race series, Halbert leads the championship by 16 points after winning both season-opening rounds in Daytona, a strong 5th-place finish at the indoor event at DuQuoin two weeks ago, and another 5th in the TT and a great ride into 3rd on the short track at last weekend's action in Salinas, CA.  With the weekend off (and a break in the AMA schedule until May 28 when the series resumes at Springfield), Sammy heads to Rosamond, CA. for round one of the Eddie Mulder West Coast Dirt Track Series on the 3/8-mile oval at Willow Springs Raceway.  This will be the first race of the year for Halbert riding the big twin XR and should be a good test of what is to come from this great young racer for the upcoming events on the AMA schedule during the 2011 season.
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Eddie Mulder's West Coast Dirt Track Series official logo.
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With the 2011 edition of the AMA Pro Flat Track Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship Series taking a break until the Springfield TT (round 6 on May 28), a handful of AMA GN regulars are sticking around California after last weekend's rounds 4 & 5 at Salinas, to contest the Eddie Mulder West Coast Dirt Track Series scheduled for round one in Rosamond tomorrow.  Among some of the racers scheduled to be on-hand racing at the Walt James Stadium 3/8-mile oval tomorrow include '09 AMA Pro Flat Track Grand National Twins Champion Jared Mees, AMA regulars Nicole Cheza, Chad Cose, Jimmy Wood (hot off of his first AMA podium from Salinas, and a noted West Coast regular attendee/winner in the Mulder series), and Sammy Halbert, who will be racing his Kings Kustoms/Halbert Brothers Racing XR750 on the weekend.

Eddie Mulder is a former AMA Flat Track Grand National Championship racer from the late '60s/early '70s who in his day was considered one of THE top riders in his element, one of which was in TT racing.  Along with former champion Gene Romero (WCFTS), Mulder runs a very competitive flat track racing series on the west coast that often plays host to some of the AMA regulars, when their schedule permits.  With the over four week break in the the AMA schedule those racers will be competing tomorrow in the opening round of Eddie's series held at Willow Springs Raceway.  Halbert considers this his favorite all-around track (and makes note that he wishes there was an AMA National race held at Willow's Walt James 3/8-mile oval.) 

The racers will have today for practice at Willow Springs, and tomorrow is slated as a full day with several classes of racing.  Practice today runs until 4 P.M. PDT, and practice on Sunday, May 1 starts at 10:30 A.M. PDT and racing begins at Noon PDT.

This should be a great weekend of racing on the left coast, and the wonderful Miriam Deitcher, who keeps all of us up-to-date on the races via her Flat Track Live Facebook page, will also be on hand to keep the flat track fans updated on tomorrow's action.  You can check Mir's link out below along with all of the other event and locale info that will surely keep you on the edge of your seat!
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Here is the link to Eddie Mulder's West Coast Vintage Dirt Track Series official site with schedule info:

http://www.eddiemulderswcvdts.com/

Here is the link to the info page for Eddie Mulder's West Coast Dirt Track Series.  Although the pre-entries page hasn't been updated for several days, it should have full results posted sometime during/just after the race weekend:

http://racetraxentrypoint.com/EMWCVDTS/

Here's a link to a couple of great videos with Eddie Mulder, the founder of the Eddie Mulder West Coast Dirt Track Series and one of the greatest racers from back in the day:

http://www.eddiemulderswcvdts.com/tv.html
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Miriam Deitcher has been covering flat track racing for some time now and normally provides us with coverage of the AMA Pro Flat Track Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship Series.  This weekend she will be on hand for what she is reporting to be her first time at Willow Springs for the Eddie Mulder Series, and will be providing coverage of the racing this weekend via her Flat Track Live page on Facebook.  You can keep up with what is going on in Rosamond via this link to Miriam's coverage:

http://www.facebook.com/FlatTrackLive

Thanks to Jamey Blunt from Today's Cycle Coverage for this story of round one of the Eddie Mulder West Coast Dirt Track Series in Rosamond, CA. at Willow Springs Raceway being held tomorrow, May 1:

http://www.todayscyclecoverage.com/wordpress/2011/04/18/round-one-ready-to-rumble-in-rosamond/

Here is the link to the Willow Springs International Raceway track layout map.  Note that Walt James Stadium is the 3/8-mile oval is centrally located just east of the Streets of Willow Springs road course:

http://www.willowspringsraceway.com/trackinformation/StreetLg.htm
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You can also follow Sammy Halbert via his Halbert Brothers Racing page on Facebook, where he will be supplying pictures, updates and videos throughout the weekend with the help of Miriam from Flat Track Live on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/HalbertBrosRacing

And here is Sammy's personal page on Facebook to help keep up with Slammy throughout the weekend and year:

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000378570158
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