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FLAT TRACK AMERICAN FLAT TRACK CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 15 / SEPTEMBER 2, 2018 ILLINOIS STATE FAIRGROUNDS / SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS P62 At the end of 25 laps, it was mission accomplished. Smith pulled off a typical Spring- field move on the last lap and nipped Jared Mees (Indian Motorcycle/Rogers Racing, Indian Scout FTR750) at the line by 0.013 of a second. May winner, Jeffrey Carver (Roof-Systems of Dallas/Indi- an of Metro Milwaukee, Indian Scout FTR750) was third just 0.088 seconds behind Smith. Briar Bauman (Zanotti Racing/ Roof-Systems, Indian Scout FTR750) was a half second back in fourth. Smith took an early lead and it almost looked like he might try to duplicate Carver's run- away win from the Spring, but that didn't happen. "I got the holeshot," said Smith. "I led it for a while up front by myself and I thought, 'Am I going to be able to break away?' Then I started screwing up and Mees was right there. I thought I would ease up and not burn the tire on this thing." By lap five the top three of Smith, Mees and Carver had iii My Own Race: 2 KENNY COOLBETH 12TH PLACE AFT TWINS Kenny Coolbeth's last Springfield didn't have the storybook ending he was hop- ing for. "It is what it is. Not the Springfield I had planned," said Coolbeth. "I was really feeling good in the semi. My times were good. The top two got away in the semi and my times were better than them. It just took a while to get going. I was looking forward to the main event until two laps into it. It was just a night- mare for us. I had no traction. The suspension was just trying to kill me. We had a little headshake going down the straightaway. It's tough to ride something like that. Springfield had a lot of moisture in it from the start. I think there was just too much moisture in it. It was so wet, then it started drying out. The ruts hardened up. It was tough to ride. It wasn't the typical Springfield. Congratulations to Bryan Smith. I heard it was close. He needed that." CHANGING MILE For the second race in a row, heavy mid-week rains played havoc with the racetrack. The results of over two and a half inches of rain hitting the fairgrounds on Wednesday left the normally fast smooth track soft and inconsistent. "Turn three had marbles and ruts. It was like a Lima day race going into turn three. It was a different Springfield mile," said Smith. Even under the challenging circumstances there were no fall-downs on the mile and the ambulances never moved. The short track wasn't as fortunate. CHAMPION CROWNED As expected Jared Mees locked up his fifth AFT Twins Championship with three races remaining on the sched- ule. Mees has a 98-point lead over Henry Wiles with only 75 points avail- able. "We came up a little short today, but we got the main goal, the champi- onship, said Mees. "My team worked so hard. It's an honor, and I'm looking forward to the next three races." BROKEN RECORD Mees will need to win the rest of the races in the 2018 season to break Ricky Graham's record for single season wins: 12, set in 1993. SINGLES STANDINGS Dan Bromley's win on the short track stretched his AFT Singles points lead out to 50 over Ryan Wells. Shayna Texter and Jesse Janisch are tied 45 points behind Wells. PARKER PRESIDING The 100th running of the Springfield Mile featured Grand Marshall Scott Parker, who has won there 14 times including his last and 94th win in 2000. Parker presented his former protégé, Smith with his tenth Spring- field first place trophy. SPRINGFIELD STARS Opening ceremonies featured former winners and ranged all the way from Jeffrey Carver, May of this year, to Bill Tuman who won here in 1953, the last year the number one plate went to the winner of the Springfield Mile. Briefly...

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