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ack Daddy Racing's Henry Wiles was in a playful mood after the conclusion of the 57th running of the Peoria TT, and perhaps with good reason. "Scott Pearson?" Wiles answered in response to the question of whether or not he was familiar with the 1980 and '81 winner of the Peoria IT "Sure. He's a West Coast guy. Ricky Graham? He's one of my heroes. Chris Carr? I've heard of h· " om. Wiles could afford the humor, as his victory at the 2005 edition of AMA Ford Quality Checked Flat Track Championship's oldest race, held at the one-of-a-kind PMC Race Park, placed him in their company as one of only four backto-back winners of the race since the dawn of the modern On Any Sunday era of flat track - the 1970 season. Whether or not the 21-year-old Michigander can even hope to move closer to Carr's 13-win legacy at Peoria is open to debate, but what is less open is the argument that Wiles' 2004 Peoria TT win was some sort of a fluke. After thoroughly dominating the 56th running of the Peoria TT in 2004, there was some doubt as to whether or not Wiles was legit or whether he had just caught a lucky break in the early laps of that race and been able to get to sneak off to a victory that he might not have otherwise earned. Wiles soundly silenced those doubters by thrashing the field for the second straight year in the 25-lap Grand National TT, leading from the start in a race that had two red flags, bunching the field back up just when it seemed that he had pulled clear of the competition. But every time the green flashed again, Wiles would streak away again, running the high line to perfection in the chewed-up turns and flying high over the fabled Peoria jump to lead every lap, including the ninelap dash that came after the final red flag. Even after he slowed down to acknowledge the crowd on the final lap, Wiles' margin of victory was still a sizable 1.724 seconds. No fluke indeed. "Last year, there were some critics, guys who said, 'If I would have been up there at the start, I could have done this or done that. '" Wiles said. "In a way I'm glad we had those restarts just because nobody had any excuses." Wiles outran a tough six-rider pack of potential winners, two of them fonner Peoria TT winners. Wiles held off 2003 winner J.R. Schnabel through the two red flags, Schnabel running second on the Memphis Shades/Parts Unimited Yamaha each time only to suffer bike trouble and drop back early in the nine-lap dash at the end. That left Quality Checked Certified Pre-Owned Ford Racing KTM rider Chris Carr to take up the chase, but the 13-time Peoria winner struggled to get through the M corners late in the race and was passed by Coziahr HarleyDavidson/National Cycle's Johnny Murphree, who finished second, and Team Suzuki Flat Track/Parts Unlimited's Jake Johnson, who finished third. The win placed Wiles in the aforementioned elite class of modem-era back-to-back winners, and he offered a bold explanation as to why. "This is definitely a rider's track," Wiles said. "You look at the past winners in the program, and there's an amazing amount of talent in there. I just feel very fortunate to be considered in that group of people. It means a lot to me, and hopefully it will mean a lot to other people, too. I'm here to win races, and I'm working my butt off to do it." Wiles didn't appear to have to work that hard all day. He was the fastest qualifier in the scratch heats. then he won the fastest 10-lap heat race to land the pole for the main event just as he did in '04. Coming off the middle of row one in the ISrider main, he then pulled the holeshot and attempted to check 36 AUGUST 31,2005 • CYCLE NEWS