Round 8 of the 2012 AMA Pro Flat Track Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship presented by Motorcycle-Superstore.com season at the Castle Rock TT saw '11 AMA Grand National Singles Series Champion Sammy Halbert take his #7 The South Ass/Fredericktown Yamaha/GYTR/Van's Yamaha-sponsored Yamaha YZ450F to a convincing victory in his home state of Washington on Saturday, August 4. Halbert, riding his 2012 fuel-injected model, led from the start to take his second win in-a-row at the Mt. Saint Helens racing facility and win his second National main event (Lima Half-Mile) in the 2012 season.
Slammin' Sammy is doing one heckuva job in defending his '11 Singles Series Championship by totally dominating at his home track and moving within 2 points of Singles Series Championship points leader Jared Mees (81-79) in his quest to 'double up' on the DTX-based 450s, and also moving within 25 points of overall championship leader Mees (162-137 points), with defending and 2-Time AMA Grand National Champion Jake Johnson splitting the two men while lying in the 2nd-place spot (147 points.)
With the series half-way into the 2012 season, the time is now to start making your chess moves in the greatest racing series on wheels in the world, and Sammy's been making some dominating moves since his Springfield Mile I crash that left him with only 1 point scored at the first Twins Series event of the season. The next stretch run of four races within 22 days (Peoria TT, August 12/Indy Mile, August 18/Springfield Short Track, September 1/Springfield Mile II, September 2) should give everyone a pretty good idea of where the cards and pieces are going to fall for the run to the 2012 AMA Pro Flat Track Grand National Championship.
In the shot above, Sammy's #7 Woody Kyle Racing/Fredericktown Yamaha/AGV/Kings Kustoms-backed Yamaha YZ450Fs sit in his pit area getting some final attention before the start of racing action at round 14 of the 2011 AMA Pro Flat Track Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship presented by Motorcycle-Superstore.com season at the Peoria TT on August 21. Halbert scored a very-strong 3rd-place finish in the penultimate round of the 2011 Singles Series Championship to all-but take the '11 crown before even turning a wheel at the Springfield Short Track round just 13 days later.
You can read the full press release below thanks to AMA Pro Flat Track as the series prepares to roll into the Peoria TT on Sunday, August 12 in round 9 of the 2012 Rolling Thunder Show.
AMA Pro Harley-Davidson Insurance
Grand National Championship presented by
Motorcycle-Superstore.com and Lucas Oil Race Recap: Castle Rock TT
| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |      |
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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (August 7, 2012)
- Following a short trip up the coast from Sacramento, Calif., the
Castle Rock TT ended AMA Pro Flat Track's first West Coast swing of 2012 and
signaled the end of the first half of the AMA Pro Harley-Davidson Insurance
Grand National Championship presented by Motorcycle-Superstore.com and Lucas
Oil. The
night was a big "homecoming" for Sammy Halbert (Fredericktown
Yamaha) along with several other series regulars, but it was Halbert, who had
started his motorcycle racing career on the slick little TT, who came out on
top. Halbert
returned home with a Castle Rock GNC winning streak alive, the track was the
site of his first GNC win in 2007 and last year's race. No GNC races were held
at Castle Rock in 2008, '09 and '10.
Good
starts were the key to success at the Mount St. Helens Race Park. That's exactly
what Sammy Halbert got on his Yamaha YZ450F. "We
pulled some great holeshots in the Dash for Cash and main event. It feels so
good to win again in front of the hometown crowd," said Halbert. "It's a big
boost in the arm for our program. It feels awesome to win it on the new Yamaha.
I was riding my 2012 fuel injected Yamaha 450 and it was working great."
Sammy Halbert took his #7 The South Ass Yamaha YZ450F to his second win in a row at round 8 of the 2012 AMA Pro Flat Track Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship presented by Motorcycle-Superstore.com season at the Castle Rock TT on Saturday, August 4. AMA Pro Flat Track photo by Dave Hoenig.
When
the 18 rider field hit turn one for the 25-lap national, Halbert was in the
lead, but just as quickly, the red lights flashed on when Brandon
Robinson (Action Motorsports) and Mikey Rush (Machette Energy Drinks)
tangled in turn two. Both would make the restart, but Robinson pulled off seven
laps into the race. While the restart did not affect
Halbert, current AMA Pro Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship
points leader Jared Mees (Montgomeryville Cycle / National
Cycle) benefited greatly from it. Mees had been mired in about sixth place on
the first start, but came out right on Halbert's rear wheel the second time
around. "That
was most of the race, but you still had to put it together," said Halbert. "You
had to go fast and get on the straightaway good. It was really tricky getting
onto the front stretch. If you messed up right there, someone could definitely
get a wheel on you and make a pass. I had to make a pass in the heat race there.
Luckily I kept it smooth and didn't make any big mistakes for the win."
Mees
was charging hard, as he had defending Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National
Champion Jake Johnson (Zanotti
Racing) breathing down his neck. "When I settled down, I started making some good
corners. I had a really good line coming into one with that tight left," said
Mees. "I was making huge gains there. I was right there and he (Halbert) went
into that tight three and got a hold of a hay bale with his foot. It flung out
and I came around and smacked right into it. I about went over the
bars."
"A
couple times it sounded like he maybe wasn't right on me, but I never looked
back," said Halbert. "I just assumed he was there and kept my head down and rode
as hard as I could. It was a little bit of a moment when I hit the hay bales and
the next lap around there was hay all over the track. I was a little scared to
go through it, but everything was fine."
Johnson's
race turned somewhat boring as he lost contact with the leaders. "It was
all about the start tonight. I came off third and just kind of stayed there,"
said Johnson. "Sammy, Jared and me just all kind of stayed even for about the
first half of the race. Once
Jared got away from me, I saw he was putting a charge on Sammy. There was
nothing I could do. I was just on survival mode," said Johnson. "It was getting
pretty slick. I was just trying to keep it on two wheels and not throw it
away."
Sammy Halbert's older brother Jethro was also enjoying the home
cooking and recorded his best Grand National finish of 2012, a fourth. "I really
thought I could hang with the top-three guys, but I started fading a little
bit," said Halbert. "I
don't think I quite had the motor of those guys. It was a good, fun race. Jimmy Wood's / Southland Fabricating bike was working really
good. The track was a little bit follow the leader and I'm just glad I got off
with a decent start. I'm happy with a top-five. With about five laps to go I
started having an issue through the sweeper and Stevie
Bonsey, Joe Kopp and JD Beach got right
on my back, but I held them off." Their
little war brought them up to challenge Jethro but he was able to withstand the
onslaught, all four finished within a second. Beach was able to make the biggest
move coming from an 11th on lap one to finish fifth over Bonsey and temporarily
un-retired Joe Kopp.
"I
just got an ok start. I got in line with everybody and just tried to work my way
forward," said Beach. "When people would slip up, I was trying to sneak by them
and not leave too much room on the inside for the guys behind me to do it. I
ended up fifth so it wasn't too bad. I was trying to get Jethro at the end. I
think if I maybe had one or two more laps, I could have. I just wasn't close
enough, soon enough."
"The
starting line is probably 50% of the battle. It's a follow the leader track,"
said Bonsey. "If you can make a pass here, you can pass anywhere. We got in that
group and we kind of stuck where we were at. Bryan Smith slipped up so I got
under him. I was chasing down Jethro the whole time. Every lap I would get a
little more loose as my tire was going away. I came into the left hander after
the jump and threw it sideways and I knew that somebody was going under me. I
felt somebody behind me. JD got under me and I thought, oh man. They are so
fast, if you give them an inch they will take it. It was a good race. We came up
here not expecting much. I've been doing all my own stuff right now. I'm happy
with sixth."
Crowd
favorite, Joe Kopp made a one-time return to the series as it
came to his "home" track. "I
got a pretty good start from the third row in the main event. It was hard to
pass. I was just kind of following guys. I was seeing who I was following and
picking one of them," said Kopp. "I guess after you get away for a while, the
hardest part of coming back is turn one on the first lap, turn one and turn two.
All I wanted to do was get to the race, the green flag. It is just that turn one
off the start is just crazy. Let's just do a rolling start. Later, I had a
pretty good rhythm going with JD and Bonsey. I didn't know how far we were
working up, but we kept getting a couple here and there. I thought I got like
eleventh, I'll take seventh." Kopp
earned the event's MotoBatt "Hard Charger Award." The cash award goes to the
rider who advances the most positions during each expert main event.
Jeffrey Carver (Carver's BBQ / Twigg Cycles) slipped out of a top
five position to finish eighth over Brad Baker (The Brothers
Powersports) and Briar Bauman (Rod Lake Racing / USC Racing)
filling out the top 10. Bauman currently leads the Saddlemen Rookie of the Year
points fund against rivals Mikey Avila and Mikey
Martin.
Castle
Rock marks the mid-point of the 2012 AMA Pro Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand
National Championship presented by Motorcycle-Superstore.com and Lucas Oil
season with eight races down and eight to go. Sammy
Halbert becomes the first GNC rider to record two wins as the ultra
competitive class has a large field of contenders.
Halbert's dominate performance has allowed him to creep back into
the points race despite his big get off in Springfield that left him with only
one point for the day. Mees is still the man on top and a
solid night only helps build his confidence. "After
fast qualifying and winning my heat, I was really looking forward to winning
this race," said Mees. "We will take second and move onto Peoria next
weekend.
Jake Johnson has thus far been winless, but podium finishes have
the defending Grand National Champion in second in the points.
"To
come out third, it feels pretty good. We had fast heat and sat on the pole,"
said Johnson. "Jared got his four points back this
week. Hopefully I can take four back next week. It's going to be tough. It's
going to be a fight to the end. We are all on our game right now. We are going
to have to sit around and wait for somebody to make a mistake. I was hoping it
would get a little bit easier, but it's not looking that way. "
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Peoria
TT
August 12,
2012
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Jacob Lehman Wins AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com Pro Singles National Main at Castle Rock TT
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AMA Pro
Motorcycle-Superstore.com Pro Singles
The
16-lap Motorcycle-Superstore.com Pro Singles main got off to a rough start as
Wyatt Maguire fell down in the right hander on consecutive starts, forcing two
restarts. Fast qualifier Dominic Colindres (Frankie Morris Racing / Bozzie
Customs) had claimed the hole shot on the first two starts, but his fortune ran
out on the third. Jacob Lehmann (Spy Optics / Vince & Denise Holt), who was
making his first professional start in flat track got the hole shot in the one
that counted, while Colindres was buried in fourth.
Lehmann took full advantage and smoothly pulled
clear. "I rode some Supermoto, but this is
a different world," said Lehmann. "I came here tonight just hoping to make the
main. Then I won my heat and I thought I might do pretty good. I got lucky on
the restart and I was just thinking please don't red flag it again."
Washington State resident Jacob Lehman rode his #20M Spy Optics Honda CRF450R to his first-ever victory at the Castle Rock TT round of the Pro Singles Championship last Saturday, August 4. AMA Pro Flat Track photo by Dave Hoenig.
The
restarts also worked to help Rod Spencer Jr. (831 Paint / GP Sports). Spencer
was dogging Lehmann, but he just put a good charge together. "I was just trying
to get a gap on the last few laps so I could have room to breathe but Spencer
just kept creeping up on me," said Lehmann. Spencer
would finish just a half second off the win. Colindres worked on current series
points leader Gerit Callies (Fun Mart Cycle Center / Rod Lake) until he was able
to take over third on lap fourteen. Once in third Colindres ran down the
leaders, but had little time to advance, finishing almost two seconds back. Jake
Shoemaker (Montgomeryville Cycle Center / Bob Weirbach Racing) also got by the
fading Callies to finish fourth.
Despite
fading at the end Callies continues to hold the Motorcycle-Superstore.com Pro
Singles points standings by 12 over Ryan Wells (Weirbach Racing) who finished
right on Callies' heels to only lose one point on the night. Jake Shoemaker and
Jason Isennock (Highs Dairy Stores) are tied for third another 12 points
down.
Sunoco
"Go the Distance" Award Standings
Pro Singles Race Results Pro Singles
Point Standings
|
Peoria
TT
August 12,
2012
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AMA Pro Racing is the premier
professional motorcycle racing organization in North America, operating a full
schedule of events and championships for a variety of motorcycle disciplines.
Learn more about AMA Pro Racing at www.amaproracing.com.
For additional information contact:
AMA Pro Racing Communications, (386) 492-1014,
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