The two current championship points leaders in the 2012 AMA Pro Flat Track Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship presented by Motorcycle-Superstore.com season get ready to roll out for the final qualifying session at round 4 of the season at the Springfield Mile I on May 27.
Jared Mees on the #9 Rogers Racing/Blue Springs H-D/Saddlemen/National Cycle-sponsored XR750 leads the standings by 11 points (141-130) over 2-Time and defending AMA Grand National Champion Jake Johnson on the #1 Zanotti Racing/Schaeffer's H-D/Boughner Racing/Arai-backed XR750 after the completion of round 7 of the series last Saturday at the Sacramento Mile, where Johnson came home in 2nd to event winner Bryan Smith on the #42 Crosley Radio/Howerton Motorsports powered by Eaken Racing Kawasaki in another classic battle in The Rolling Thunder Show. Mees finished a very close third to the duo after running in the lead pack throughout the evening at the Cal Expo Fairgrounds in California.
With the series headed to the Castle Rock TT event this Saturday, August 4, the duo will take the fight back to the North West Territory in one of the series' most heralded venues held in Washington State. In the last TT event of the season at Springfield on May 26, the pair also finished 2-3 to winner Henry Wiles on the #17 Don's Kawasaki.
You can check out the press release below that includes some nice video and photos, posted by AMA Pro Flat Track, to catch up with the action from the first of two rounds on the west coast.
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AMA Pro Harley-Davidson Insurance
Grand National Championship presented by
Motorcycle-Superstore.com and Lucas Oil Race Recap: Miller Lite Sacramento Mile
presented locally by Big O Tires and Padilla Bail
Bonds
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DAYTONA
BEACH, Fla. (August 1, 2012) - The much anticipated Sacramento Mile
marked the first appearance of the AMA Pro Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand
National Championship presented by Motorcycle-Superstore.com and Lucas Oil on
the West Coast and it didn't disappoint the large crowd gathered at the
California State Fair on the Cal Expo mile oval. The
25-lap Miller Lite Sacramento Mile presented locally by Big O Tires and Padilla
Bail Bonds Grand National had all the typical mile-track action as a 100 MPH
chess match unfolded. Draft passing and late race strategy was the name of the
game.
Just
as he had done in 2011, Bryan Smith came out on top. Last year, it was Chris
Carr who came up just short but this year, defending Grand National Champion
Jake Johnson was the victim. In 2011, back-to-back race winner Smith rode a
Harley-Davidson XR750, but this year he was aboard the Crosley Radio / Howerton
Motorsports / Eaken Racing-backed Kawasaki. After
dominating May's Springfield Mile early only to come up short on the last lap,
Smith was the pre-race favorite of many and he was looking for redemption after
losing a race he felt should have been his. "I've
been pretty much mad about Springfield since then, but now I can sleep at
night," said Smith. "It is definitely a weight off my shoulders to get a win for
Rick (Howerton) and Jeff (Gordon) here on the Crosley bike."
Bryan Smith #42 leads Jake Johnson #1 and Jared Mees #9 during the running of the Sacramento Mile on Saturday, July 28. Smith took the win, the first for the Crosley Radio/Howerton Motorsports powered by Eaken Racing Kawasaki team in just their second outing together. Johnson finished runner-up to tighten the championship points chase and now sits just 11 points behind Mees (3rd-place) in the 2012 title chase heading into the Castle Rock TT event on Saturday, August 4, the half-way point in the season. AMA Pro Flat Track photo by Dave Hoenig.
Zanotti
Racing / Schaeffer's Harley-Davidson's Jake Johnson had started off the day
posting fast qualifying times in the afternoon and followed that up with a
dominating performance in the first heat. Johnson led Luke Gough (Dick Ford /
Skip Eaken Racing) by nearly four seconds when the eight lap heat ended. The
two remaining heats were much more typical of mile flat track racing. Brandon
Robinson (Werner-Springsteen Racing) edged Rogers Racing / Blue Springs
Harley-Davidson's Jared Mees by 1 thousandths of a second in heat two. Bryan
Smith's time qualified him ninth, which he considered poor even though he was
less than half a second off Jake Johnson's fast time of 38.742 seconds. Smith
worked his way up from the back to win the third heat, garnering a front-row
start in the national and a spot in the Dash for Cash. "In
the free practice session we were fastest, but the track just really kept
changing so much. I just kept chasing the track," said Smith. "I felt decent. I
knew we would be all right once we got to racing everybody. I always race better
than I qualify. It was just a matter of mixing it up. In the heat race I got a
horrible start, my fault. It was kind of good because it made me push it a
little bit. At the same time it made me pretty nervous, to barely win the
thing."
With
the heat races in the books, the all-important Dash for Cash was up next, worth
$1,000 to the winner and five points toward the Grand National Championship.
Johnson jumped to a quick lead in the four-lap race and held off Mees, Smith and
Robinson. The top four finished within half a second, foretelling how the
national would play out, but not in that order.
The
25-lap main event saw the big number one of Jake Johnson blast into the lead,
but it didn't take Smith long to make his presence felt on his high powered
Kawasaki. "Damn
that Kawasaki is fast," said Johnson of his futile race long battle. "There were
a few times he (Smith) would see that I had a little bit of a wheel on him and
he would kind of roll out of it and I could slip by going into the turn. Then he
would suck three tear offs off of my helmet when he would go by me on the next
straight away." The
lead pack contained at least three and sometimes as many as six riders going for
the lead. Despite the heated battle for the lead, Smith's Kawasaki horsepower
allowed him to lead 23 of the 25 laps, most with draft passes at the line. "Obviously,
the race was good, we won, but it was tough. Those guys were right there. It
took everything I had," said Smith. "It was pretty slick in the corners for me.
The power band the Kawasaki has really wants to spin the tires, but when it
hooks up it goes. It goes obviously... ask Jake and Jared.
"I
just tried to give them a good gap off the corner," Smith continued. "That way I
got the best draft possible and could just sweep by them into turn one or turn
three, rather than draft them real early and almost drag race them into the
corner. That would allow Jared to go up there. They would get to the corner a
little faster than me when they were in the lead so it worked out pretty good. I
would utilize the draft on the front straight away and blow on by them."
"There
was nothing I could do. I was able to get by him a few times going into three
and it really wasn't a draft pass," said Johnson. "I would get a run on him,
draft up alongside him and basically it was just a shutoff contest through the
corner. Bryan would give a little bit, but he had nothing to lose, he would just
draft right back around."
Current
AMA Pro Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship Expert Class
points leader Jared Mees was able to hang with the leaders, but was never able
to "officially" lead a lap at the finish line.
"As
soon as I saw Bryan get off the line, I thought, 'Man, I've got to deal with one
of these Kawis again,'" said Mees. "It is hard to say that Bryan held us up, but
he had so much power down the straight away that we really couldn't run down the
straight away with him and get away from him. We would get through the corner
good and everything would be fine and he would just suck right by us on the
straight away. About halfway through, I hate to say it, but the race was for
second." That battle would go to Johnson. The
battle for fourth heated up as Robinson and Sammy Halbert (South East
Harley-Davidson / Mo Vaughn Transportation) battled it out until Halbert's tire
went away.
"Finally
I had a good run that shows what I really have. It was a good night," said
Robinson. "I rode for the first 20 laps, just watching them and studying them.
Sammy got around me, but he kept slipping the groove going into three. He
drifted up and lost the draft with five to go and I was able to get around him.
I chased the leaders back down a little bit by myself and I got right there in
the hunt. I just messed up a little bit in three. I just gave them enough of a
gap coming off of three. I got within inches of Jared for third and that was all
I had. It's frustrating to come up inches short from a podium, but I have to be
happy with fourth."
Halbert
kept himself in the points hunt with his fifth-place finish. "I was able to
catch the lead draft. I pushed really hard to catch the leaders and I think that
burned off my tire a little bit," said Halbert. "It was good to catch them, but
as soon as I would catch them, I would try to do something and make a mistake
and blow the groove. I would have to do it all over again."
After
the top five broke away, another tight bunch fought over sixth. Kiesow Racing's
Jeffrey Carver came out on top there finishing a solid sixth after a slow start.
"I actually decided to start on the fourth row in the main, on the groove. I
started working my way through, then I got stuck behind a few of the Japanese
brands. Once I got by them, I started picking off people, then I got stuck
behind Mikey Martin for about 8 laps. He just had so much straight away speed
that I couldn't draft by him. I kept seeing him slip up coming off of two. I got
a run on him and got by him. I just burned it off in there as hard as I could so
he couldn't draft back by me. Once I did that I just caught up to Brad (Baker)
and Luke (Gough). I got by Brad and worked on Luke for a couple laps. I got by
Luke and by then it was two to go. I could see the lead pack, I was right
there."
The
last few laps saw the group settle in with Brad Baker bringing the Factory
Harley-Davidson home in seventh safely ahead of Rob Pearson on his Memphis
Shades / Bumpus Harley-Davidson backed Harley. "I was pretty satisfied with the
start, I was on the third row and think I came out sixth. I got past Sammy about
four laps in or so and I was up into fifth," said Baker. "We just didn't quite
have the ponies to be able to draft the front runners. I could stay with them in
the corners, but they would just inch me down the straight away and I couldn't
draft them. Little by little they started to pull away. I just kind of hung in
there for what I could. Luke and Jeffrey got up to me. We mixed it around with
them. When Luke got by me, there wasn't any reason to pass him in the corner
because he would sling shot past me on the straight. I just made what I could
out of it."
Rob
Pearson landed the MotoBatt "Hard Charger" Award again at Sacramento. The cash
award goes to the rider who advances the most positions during each expert main
event. Last
year's Motorcycle-Superstore.com Pro Singles Champion Mikey Martin qualified for
his first-ever Grand National and brought the Bonneville Performance Triumph
home in ninth. This marks the first time all three former
Motorcycle-Superstore.com Pro Singles Champions would be in the same Grand
National main.
As
the season reaches its midpoint next week, the points race in the
Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship is shaping up to be a
two-rider race as Jared Mees and defending AMA Pro GNC Champion Jake Johnson
inch away. Mees was able to overcome his early problems and minimized any damage
with his third in the national and second in the Dash for Cash to Johnson.
"It
is what it is. It's tough," said Mees. "Congratulations to Bryan and the whole team, they work
really hard. We came from a long way today from qualifying and to finish third I
feel really confident. I lost a little bit in the points. We were 11 ahead going
into Hagerstown, went to 15, now we are at 11 again. It's just cat and mouse
really."
Sammy
Halbert is 33 points down to Mees with Bryan Smith leapfrogging into fourth just
eight behind Halbert. The absent Johnny Lewis remains in fifth, 44 points down
to the leader.
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Castle Rock
TT
August 4,
2012
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