VOL. 55 ISSUE 29 JULY 24, 2018 P31
was behind everyone, but
he quickly filled the void
Mees left.
The running order stayed
the same for a few laps,
then Carver left just a small
opening exiting turn four.
"I went in and bumped
Jeffrey and moved him out
of the way and shot to the
bottom," said Mees. The
typical "short track" move
left Mees with a clear track,
but it also opened a lane
for Bauman and Halbert to
get by.
Bauman stayed close as
Mees clicked off the laps.
"I was on him early. I was think-
ing I would save it to the end
and make a good move," said
Bauman. "The front started to
go… something was happening.
It became hard to ride quickly.
I just held on to it. I was making
so many mistakes. I was going
slow."
Last year's gold medalist
Sammy Halbert was putting
pressure on Bauman and Jake
Johnson was closing fast.
The last few laps found Bau-
man playing defense. "After
being in second for most of
the race I just couldn't lose it
at the end. I told Jared before
the main, whatever happens,
happens. You know indoor
short tracks," said Bauman. "He
understands how it works. If the
opportunity would have come, I
was going to run into him. That's
the only way we had to pass
here. I never got the opportu-
nity, but he understands how it
works."
Bauman had his hands full
and Mees was on cruise control.
"It's indoor racing and anything
can happen," said Mees. "We
just wanted to get off clean and
smooth and we did. I needed
to stay smooth and stay on the
bottom. Didn't want to blow the
groove. It was just like when
I was a kid. I grew up on this
stuff."
Another rider who "grew up on
this stuff" is Jake Johnson and
he was catching the Bauman-
Halbert battle. "I rode behind
Kenny for a couple laps. He
made a mistake and I got by
him," said Johnson. "I saw the
guys up front were kind of stuff-
ing and jamming. There was a lot
of stuff going on up there. I fig-
ured if I just stayed calm and did
my thing they'd make a mistake.
"It kind of ran through my
head going into three on the last
lap of starting some chaos, but
there really wasn't an opening. I
just waited, and Briar got a little
out of shape between three and
four and I saw Sammy go for
it. I thought this is going to be
good for me. Sure enough, they
got together, and Sammy went
down. I was able to come home
in third. I got a little bit of a gift
there, but I believe patience paid
off a little bit."
Dave Hoenig
Harley-Davidson Flat Track
Racing Final
1. Jared Mees (Ind)
2. Briar Bauman (Ind)
3. Jake Johnson (H-D)
4. Jeffery Carver Jr. (Kaw)
5. Kenny Coolbeth Jr. (Ind)
6. Sammy Halbert (H-D)
Halbert goes down just short of the finish line.
