Bryan Smith Takes First Mile Win of the Season at AMA Pro Flat Track Arizona Mile

The AMA Pro Flat Track Grand National Championship Harley-Davidson GNC1 presented by Vance & Hines series returned to the Phoenix, AZ. area yesterday for the first time in 30 years and Bryan Smith put his name in the record books again by winning the first mile event of the year aboard the #42 Crosley Brands/T&T Construction/Howerton Motorsports Kawasaki over defending AMA Grand National Champion Jared Mees. Mees moved up to second-place in the championship standings with his 2nd-place effort at the Turf Paradise facility on the #1 Rogers Racing XR750.

Smith ran away in the 25-lap National main to take the win over The Jammer by just over 12.6 seconds, after earlier in the afternoon winning the fastest heat of the day in an 8-lap romp by just under 11 seconds to runner-up Brandon Robinson on the #44 Kennedy Racing XR.

Sammy Halbert continues to lead the series standings after coming home in the 5th-place spot in the main on the #69 BriggsAuto.com XR, while Jake Johnson brought the #5 Zanotti Racing XR750 effort home in 8th-place, which left him in the 3rd-place spot in the championship hunt after the first four rounds.

Smith and Mees were joined on the podium by Cory Texter who took his #65 CT Racing Kawasaki to his first-ever career podium in a stellar effort put in by the Pennsylvania resident.

In the shot above, Smith talks with AMA Pro Flat Track and FansChoice.tv announcer Dani Medin after winning heat race #2 on the #42 Crosley Brands/Howerton Motorsports/Villa-Esparza-sponsored Kawasaki at the Indy Mile during round 7 of the 2015 AMA Pro Flat Track Grand National Championship Harley-Davidson GNC1 presented by Vance & Hines series on July 11 held at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.

Also of note from yesterday's round, three racers made their first National main as GNC1/Expert-ranked riders and will be able to lose their letter designations for next year. JR Addison came home in 9th-place on the #24F Smith Racing Kawasaki, Dan Bromley on the #54A Bill Werner Racing Kawasaki fought it hard for an 11th-place finish in his second year riding for the Grand National tuning king, and Ryan Foster took the #23Y Baker Racing Kawasaki to a 13th-place finish. And in the AMA Pro GNC2 class, Dalton Gauthier led nine of twelve laps on the #14A Ron Wood Racing BMW FS800 to take his first win in the series and give the BMW marque it's first-ever win in AMA Pro Flat Track racing.

Full results from yesterday's romp can be found here thanks to AMA Pro Flat Track, and FlatTrakFotos.com's Dave Hoenig will have a photo gallery posted here in the next day or so.

Fans won't have to wait long for the next race as the series heads back to the Sacramento Mile this coming Saturday, May 21 for round 5 of the 2016 AMA Pro Flat Track Grand National Championship Harley-Davidson GNC1 presented by Vance & Hines season as Bryan Smith will try to make it two-straight in 2016 and six in-a-row at the Cal Expo-hosted Sacto event.

A full race report is below thanks to AMA Pro Flat Track.

Bryan Smith turns up the heat at the Law Tigers Arizona Mile

Sammy Halbert maintains GNC1 points lead over Jared Mees; Dalton Gauthier gives BMW a breakout victory in GNC2

PHOENIX, Ariz. (May 14, 2016) - Bryan Smith turned up the heat in the Valley of the Sun on Saturday by winning AMA Pro Flat Track's inaugural Law Tigers Arizona Mile in stunning fashion. The "Mile Specialist" lived up to his nickname, topping defending Harley-Davidson GNC1 presented by Vance & Hines champion No. 1 Jared Mees by 12.646 seconds in front of a standing room only crowd at Turf Paradise. With temperatures soaring above 100 degrees, Smith, mounted on his No. 42 Crosley/Howerton Motorsports Kawasaki Ninja 650, showed that heat wasn't a factor for him. The Michigan native set a blistering pace all day, winning his heat race by a remarkable 10.942 seconds to start from pole position in the main, and then leading every lap of the main in flawless succession. "It was pretty interesting, it might've looked easy but it was an absolute handful out there," Smith said. "As soon as you thought you had everything together you'd catch a rut, your front-end would tuck and you'd about crash. No matter how easy it looked it was work every lap. My hat's off to the entire team. This is the best bike I've ever had and we stepped our game up this year in every department." Like Smith, defending series champ Mees showed speed early to take the win in his heat race by 7.457 seconds. However, the Harley-Davidson-mounted rider was unable to keep Smith's pace in the night's main event. Bryan Smith took the next generation #42 Crosley/Howerton Motorsports Kawasaki to the win yesterday in the first mile event of the season at Turf Paradise in Phoenix, AZ. Photo courtesy of AMA Pro Flat Track by Dave Hoenig. "The biggest thing was that I was charging so hard so early in the beginning to get to him, that I was missing lines and missing my points," said Mees. "Finally it was just like I needed to settle in and maintain where I was and bring home second. We have Sacramento and Springfield coming up and I feel pretty confident that we will be able to give him a run." After bolting to the front at the start of the race, No. 65 Cory Texter settled into a rhythm behind Smith and Mees to earn the first GNC1 podium finish of his career. "I had no clue," said Texter. "I was just rolling around and picking off guys. I thought I got fourth or fifth so I was pretty excited when I came around and they were pointing at me; I had to look behind and make sure they were pointing at me. To say it is a dream come true is an understatement." No. 17 Henry Wiles finished fourth after a long battle with series points leader No. 69 Sammy Halbert, who finished an eventual fifth. Halbert heads to next weekend's Sacramento Mile with 73 points, followed by Mees with 68 points and third-place No. 5 Jake Johnson with 63 points. In the GNC2 class, BMW-mounted Dalton Gauthier surged from the second-to-last starting position to take home the first professional flat track victory for BMW in the 62-year history of the sport. The win propelled him to a 19-point lead in the GNC2 point standings. "I knew I needed a good start and I just wanted to finish in the top ten," said Gauthier. "I needed to get out of the draft and I did that. The bike was working awesome and that's what I wanted going into Sacramento." Kawasaki-mounted No. 99A Kyle McGrane maintained a consistent position throughout the 12-lap Main to take second place and No. 94B Ryan Wells finished third. Next weekend, the series heads to California for the Sacramento Mile at the Cal Expo Fairgrounds. For tickets and information, please visit http://www.sactomile.com. How to Watch:   FansChoice.tv is the official home for live streaming coverage of AMA Pro Flat Track events. The site also provides coverage of IMSA's development and single-make series, and NASCAR's touring and weekly series. Catch all the action at http://www.FansChoice.tv. About AMA Pro Flat Track:   AMA Pro Flat Track is the world's premier dirt track motorcycle racing series and one of the longest-running championships in the history of motorsports. Sanctioned by AMA Pro Racing in Daytona Beach, Fla., the series is highly regarded as the most competitive form of dirt track motorcycle racing on the globe. For more information on AMA Pro Flat Track, please visit www.amaproracing.com/ft/, follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook or live stream the on-track action on FansChoice.tv.  About AMA Pro Racing: 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, communications@amaproracing.com