Round 9 of the 2012 AMA Pro Flat Track Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship presented by Motorcycle-Superstore.com season saw the series hit the 65th Annual running of the Peoria TT. As was expected (by most) Henry Wiles on the #17 Don's Kawasaki/DPC Racing/Nick Nazzisi/Schiller's Tree Service-sponsored KX450F took the win again for his record-tying eighth time in-a-row to put his mark in the record books next to one of the icons of the sport, recently-retired 7-Time AMA Grand National Champion Chris Carr.
Wiles led Jared Mees, Jake Johnson, JD Beach and Sammy Halbert home in the 25-lap National main, winning by just over 6.6 seconds, after slipping wide with just a few laps to go in the final coming into turn one. Wiles stated the track was slick and going to groove up quickly and had asked the blue crew at AMA Pro Flat Track to add a little water just before the green flag flew, but was denied due to the fact that rain was approaching fast and it was either get the show going or face a possible delay and/or cancelation of the main. Obviously other then that one slip things worked out real well for the man who has now won 22 National main events throughout his career.
From the start of the day and almost throughout, Hammerin' Hank controlled and took-hold of his destiny to set the pace for what was an illustrious day for the Clio, MI. rider. His only missive was not being able to win the Dash for Cash, which was controlled from the start by Sammy Halbert on his #7 The South Ass/Fredericktown Yamaha/GYTR/Van's Yamaha-backed YZ450F. Halbert won the Dash over National main runner-up Jared Mees and Wiles, with Jake Johnson, JD Beach and Briar Bauman rounding out the 4-lap extra-points and money-paying event.
Pictured above in some heat one race action where Henry set fast time to earn the pole for the main shows what looks to be a close battle on lap 2 of the 10-lap heat race qualifier between Wiles, Slammin' Sammy and Jeffrey Carver, Jr. on the #23 Carver's BBQ/Twigg Cycles/Leo Welch/Kiesow Racing-sponsored Yamaha. Carver followed Wiles and Halbert home into the 3rd-place spot to also earn his spot in the 18-rider main, where he eventually took a solid 11th-place finish. Wiles eventually won the heat by just over 2.5 seconds after 10 laps.
Wiles win in this heat race was the fastest of the day by just .082 seconds, with a spread between heat two winner Johnson and heat race three winner Mees of only .311 seconds after each 10-lap heat. Those figures give you a real good idea of how close the racing action is in The Rolling Thunder Show and how well matched the stars of the big show are in terms of competition in the Singles Series. There is still one Singles race left on this year's calendar and is scheduled for September 1 at the Springfield Short Track.
Thanks to AMA Pro Flat Track for doing a stellar job of getting the show in on Sunday and for again running a great event in the best racing series on wheels in the world. Take a bow and a tip of the helmet to AMA Pro Flat Track manager Dan Johnsen, master track prep head man and former AMA Grand National Championship competitor Steve Morehead and the rest of the blue crew for again running another great program!
And of course, congratulations to 2-Time AMA Grand National Singles Champion Henry Wiles for putting on a riding school for the packed house in attendance last Sunday. U da man!
Check out the press release below, again thanks to AMA Pro Flat Track, and then get ready for what is going to be one heckuva night of racing as the series heads to round 10 of the 2012 AMA Pro Flat Track Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship presented by Motorcycle-Superstore.com season at the Lucas Oil Indy Mile at the Indiana State Fairgrounds on Saturday, August 18. You better hold on as this train is a rolling and it's not going to stop until the season-ending round at Pomona in October.
AMA Pro Harley-Davidson Insurance
Grand National Championship presented by
Motorcycle-Superstore.com and Lucas Oil Race Recap: Wiles Wins Eighth Consecutive Peoria
TT
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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (August 14, 2012) -
The second half of the 2012 AMA Pro Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National
Championship presented by Motorcycle-Superstore.com and Lucas Oil started with a
bang as the series returned to the oldest venue on the circuit. Peoria, IL and
the Peoria Motorcycle Club's Race Park TT served as round nine of the 16 race
series.
Just
like the last seven years, Henry Wiles dominated the 25-lap national, leading
every lap and winning by a margin of almost seven seconds. Repeating their
finishes from last week in Castle Rock, WA, series points leader Jared Mees
(Montgomeryville Cycle) was second and defending AMA Pro Harley-Davidson
Insurance Grand National Champion Jake Johnson (Zanotti Racing) was a solid
third. Many
felt Wiles' winning streak was in jeopardy as he has struggled of late with his
potent Kawasaki, but mild-mannered Henry stepped out of the phone booth with his
cape firmly attached.
Henry Wiles #17 battles with Jared Mees #9 and Jake Johnson #1 early during the National main event at the Peoria TT on Sunday, August 12. Wiles won his record-tying eighth time at the track to tie the record set by Chris Carr from 1988-1995. AMA Pro Flat Track photo by Dave Hoenig.
"Everybody
was getting nervous. People around me that I talk to sometimes on a weekly
basis, I could tell they were nervous," said Wiles. "I said it will be ok, we
will be up front. It's tough on a guy sometimes when you are not getting the
finishes you know you can, but you are fighting something. We struggled with the
bike setup and some mechanical problems, but I tell you, I wasn't frustrated. I
know that some things are going to be harder than others."
Wiles
win matches Chris Carr's Peoria record of eight consecutive wins. "A lot of
people would think eight in a row is enough, but I don't, nine would be nice,"
warned Wiles. "I tell you what, it's a special thing to be able to come in here
and tie Chris' eight. I don't think Chris gets enough credit for winning 13
races here. When you stop and look back, that's a lot of years. A lot of things
happen in that amount of time."
"Guys
were running good today. I knew the field would be tough," said Wiles. "I
qualified fast. I had fast heat race and didn't do so well in the
Dash."
Even
though Wiles had been fast qualifier and fast heat winner, Sammy Halbert
(Fredericktown Yamaha) got the hole-shot in the Dash for Cash and came away with
the win. Wiles even had second place slip away as Mees slipped by on the last
lap. Halbert's four lap Dash for Cash performance foretold his national problems
as each trip over the big jump was an adventure.
"My
feet were coming off the pegs and everything," said Halbert.
"I'm sure the guys behind were waiting for something bad
to happen. I definitely had a lot of moments over the jump today. I was just
really struggling to figure out how to jump. I've got the speed to run here, I
just don't have the jump figured out."
Wiles
got the lead on what would be an aborted start as Luke Gough (Nicely Motorsports
/ Skip Eaken Racing) fell heavily coming off the jump on lap one. Gough was
unable to make the restart and was transported to a local hospital with a
reported leg injury. When
the light flashed green for the 25-lap main event, Wiles shot to the front and
it became a race for second.
"Just like last year, I just struggled on the starting
line. Wiles popped me right off the line," said Mees. "He did exactly what he
had to do. Sammy got in between us and kind of road blocked us a little bit. It
is what it is. One of these days maybe I can get off with him and give him a
run. We always come here in June and have a lot of dominance, then he puts it on
us in the main event."
Mees
took over second on lap four when Halbert had another "jump" moment. "I was able
to sneak up into second there on the start but got squirrelly on the jump and
the exhaust pipe broke at the midsection," said Halbert. "I kind of looked down,
I wanted to make sure that it wasn't dragging on the ground before I went over
the jump again. With looking around and checking on what the deal was I lost a
little time. Jared and Jake got by me."
"It
seemed like it was going to get exciting for a minute. About halfway through it
seemed like I kind of had a line," said Johnson. "I started catching Jared a
little bit, I thought it was going to be a little bit of a race to the end. I
came over the jump one lap and blew the rubber off my foot peg. That kind of
screwed me up a little bit. Over the jump and through the right hander seemed
like where I was making up some time. That was my strong point there and once I
lost the foot peg it was done. I just tried to maintain. Jared started inching
away from me. With about six or seven laps to go I saw that he was having some
problems. I guess he blew his foot peg completely off. I started catching him a
little bit, but he had such a big lead on me at that point that it was too
late."
"With
six or seven laps to go, I broke my foot peg clean off. I didn't have rubber or
nothing," said Mees. "That there will put you in a training program quick.
Holding that leg up with that big steel shoe and boot, it's heavy. There was no
catching Henry with one or two foot pegs."
After
a slow start USC Kawasaki / Red Bull backed JD Beach worked his way up to a
distant fourth. "I
was really lucky we had that restart because I blew the first turn. I went way
out and got passed by a bunch of guys," said Beach. "I knew I needed to get a
better start and get down because everyone was running wide in the first turn. I
was starting on the outside and so I knew what I needed to do. I got going
pretty good and kind of got into a battle during the whole race and once I was
able to get by the guys, I was able to break away a little bit, but we only had
two laps to go. I think if I could have gotten a little bit better start, I
might have been able to run for the podium. We were struggling coming out of
turn four. Here that it one place that you have to get a really good run and
pass them into turn one. We just weren't getting that drive."
"I
definitely lost some horsepower. I was just trying to hang on to fourth," said
Halbert. "I almost did, but JD slipped by me. Jumping is the area that we are
lacking. Hopefully we will get some time to work on that eventually and come
back stronger next year."
Brad
Baker (The Brothers Powersports) earned the weekend's MotoBatt "Hard Charger
Award" by improving three positions in the Expert Main Event.
Wiles'
day was not without stress including a major moment late in the race. "I'm just proud of my team and my sponsors and my
mechanic, Johnny (Olmstead). We had some problems in that Dash, but we made some
changes to the bike," said Wiles. "I knew when I did the warm up lap that the
bike was better. It was a relief. I said, 'Yes, this is going to make my life a
little bit easier today.' On about lap 17 or 18 going into turn one I set my
foot down, it all happened at just the wrong time. It was just all wrong timing,
but I stuck my foot right in a hole, which is something that can happen and I've
done it here before. The ground was really hard today. I was tapping it a little
bit coming to the jump, I thought I stinking broke it. I knew that I would still
be able to win the race if it was broke. I was on a mission today."
The
AMA Pro Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship points chase is
still controlled by Mees as he slowly pulls away. "We will take the benefits
today," said Mees. "The highlights are putting some points on my two toughest
competitors. We will just keep rolling forward."
Johnson
is now 20 points down. "We are going to have to start stepping it up a little
bit and start winning some races. Second and thirds are obviously not cutting
it," said the defending Champion. "We are getting to the point of the season
where over the past couple years it has been my strong point. Hopefully we can
keep that rolling. I was looking at the points from last year and this year and
I think we are basically right on the same deal. At Peoria last year, I was 19
or 20 points down, today I am 20 points down. We definitely have some work to
do, but hopefully we are right on schedule."
Halbert
is nine additional points back in third.
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Indy
Mile
August 18,
2012
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Colindres Never Looks Back to Take AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com Pro Singles Peoria TT Win
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AMA Pro
Motorcycle-Superstore.com Pro Singles
A
multiple bike pile up on lap three of the 12-lap AMA Pro
Motorcycle-Superstore.com Pro Singles main event erased the great start of
Dominic Colindres (Weirbach Racing). Four riders ended up in a heap in turn two,
forcing the red flag. All but Jacob Constantine (Matts Cycle), who was
transported to a local hospital for evaluation, made the restart.
Colindres, who was making
his first start on the Weirbach Racing Honda repeated his start and led every
lap. "I got the hole-shot after the restart, usually something goes wrong in a
situation like that but it actually helped me," Colindres said. "I really liked
the track and I just want to congratulate Stephen (Vanderkuur), he was on me the
whole way and really gave me a good run."
Dominic Colindres #66Y gives team owner Richard Weirbach a victory lap ride after winning his first-ever AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com Pro Singles Championship Series race in his first-ever ride for the Iowa-based team at the Peoria TT on Sunday, August 12. AMA Pro Flat Track photo by Dave Hoenig.
Vanderkuur (Parkinson
Brothers Racing) closed the gap to just over one second as the laps wound down,
but that was as close as he could get.
Justin Reed (Rich King
Racing / Fun Mart Cycle Center) held second until turning over the spot to
Vanderkuur on lap five, but held on to earn his first podium finish. There was a great race-long
battle over fourth that finally went to Rod Spencer Jr (831 Paint). Nick Mataya
(Shoe Racing), Jake Shoemaker (Montgomeryville Cycle / Bob Weirbach), Jason
Isennock (Highs Dairy Stores), Ryan Wells (Wells Racing), Dustin Cassidy
(Cassidy Racing), Jacob Lehmann (Spy Optics) and Jake Cunningham (Schiller's
Tree Service) all fought tooth and nail over their positions, but finished in
that order.
A huge heat race crash has
left the Motorcycle-Superstore.com Pro Singles points race up for grabs as
points leader Gerit Callies (Fun Mart Cycle Center) crashed coming off the jump
and collected Adam Bushman (Midwest CNC / Powerbar) and Robbie Treinen (FM
Ceiling and Remodeling). All three were transported to a local hospital for
evaluation.
Callies still holds the
points lead, but now by only one point over Ryan Wells. Stephen Vanderkuur, Jake
Shoemaker and Jason Isennock are just behind by 10, 11 and 12 points
respectively.
Injury Update
All riders are listed in stable
condition.
Pro Singles Race Results Pro Singles
Point Standings
Next Up
The stars of AMA Pro Flat Track will return to the
Indianapolis Fairgrounds on August 18, 2012. For tickets and information, please
visit http://indymile.com/.
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Indy
Mile
August 18,
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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