AMA Flat Track: Lloyd Brothers Motorsports & Henry Wiles Springfield Doubleheader Race Report

Round 13 of the 2012 AMA Pro Flat Track Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship presented by Motorcycle-Superstore.com season finally got off the ground at the Illinois State Fairgrounds on September 16 after a two week rain delay due to the remnants of Hurrican Isaac that washed out the normal Labor Day Weekend marathon. 

Henry Wiles, who had won the final Springfield Short Track the night before just across the fairgrounds at the Multipurpose Arena, was busy working it on the #17 Lloyd Brothers Motorsports/Foremost Insurance Group/Ramspur Winery/ENI USA-backed Italian 'L' twin on the mile oval as he tried to add to his two top-5 finishes earlier in the season (2nd-place at Lima, 4th-place at Indy.)

But as luck would seem to have it for the LBM team this season, things went from good to worse in the 25-lap National main on the mile oval as the big red machine suffered a mechanical in the form of a slight oil leak that saw Wiles miss the black flag on lap 23 and eventually disqualified for not stopping.  The leak caused some minor smoking from the machine as it hit the exhaust on the bike with just a few laps to go, after Henry had slipped back to mid-pack after earlier in the main running as high as the 7th-place spot.

Unfortunately this just added to the woes the team has suffered this season, after losing motors earlier in the year at the Springfield Mile I and Sacramento Mile events, and then missing the set-up at the Hagerstown Half-Mile.  But you can bet your bottom dollar the boys out of the Columbus, Ohio area will get it turned around and be back towards the front in the remaining three rounds at Santa Rosa, Tucson and Pomona.  These guys have a wealth of knowledge between them and coupled with Henry's abilities in the seat will get it turned around.

In the shot above, Shaun Russell on his #28 self-sponsored XR750 leads Brad Baker on the #12 Dodge Brothers-backed XR along with Henry just past the mid-point of the National main as the cross the start/finish line during the Springfield Mile II last Sunday.

Round 12 of the 2012 AMA Pro Flat Track Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship presented by Motorcycle-Superstore.com season saw the series return to the Multipurpose Arena on the grounds of the Illinois State Fairgrounds in what was for the foreseeable future the last National main event at the Springfield Short Track as what was announced in January by the IMDA.

A familiar face again graced the top of the podium as former 2-Time AMA Pro Flat Track Singles Champion Henry Wiles pulled another fast one out of his hat....uh, helmet...to take his 6th win in-a-row in the 450 class at Springfield and also tie former 7-Time AMA Grand National Champion Chris Carr with the most wins in short track competition with 9 National main events to his credit in the course of nine short seasons.

Hammerin' Hank had to work some for this one, however, as the rider of the #17 Don's Kawasaki/DPC Racing/Nick Nazzisi/Schiller's Tree Service-sponsored KX450F had to work his way around early leaders Brad Baker, Jake Johnson and Jared Mees in order to secure his spot in the history books.  But when it counted, The Hammer put it to them and managed to get around Baker with five laps to go to take his 2nd win of the season at the Arena (Springfield TT in late May) and 3rd in the State of Illinois this year (Peoria TT in mid-August.)

Joining the active record-tying former champ on the podium are Brad Baker (2nd-place, left) and Jared Mees (3rd-place, right, partially obscured by AMA Pro Flat Track announcer Barry Boone.)  Mees however collected the 2012 Singles Series Championship with his great run to 3rd-place to add to his '09 & '11 Twins Series Championships.

You can read about Henry's on AND off weekend at the rain-delayed Springfield doubleheader below, thanks to the great group of guys from the Lloyd Brothers Motorsports team. 

And don't forget you can still get your Air Fence Fund raffle tickets for the Buell giveaway at the remaining three rounds in the 2012 season at the upcoming Santa Rosa Mile, Tucson and Pomona season-ending half-miles.  You can get those in the Lloyd Brothers Motorsports pit area if you are going to hit either one or all of the Left Coast season wrap-up events, or also online via the LBM site, www.lloydbrothersmotorsports.com. 

This is the best way you can help to keep the riders safe and also give back to The Rolling Thunder Show and the greatest racing series on wheels in the world!

Press release courtesy of the Lloyd Brothers Motorsports AMA Pro Flat Track Grand National Championship Twins Series team


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