Cycle News

VOL. 50 ISSUE 19 MAY 14, 2013 Battle of Washington: Brad Baker (12) leads Sammy Halbert (7) in their battle for victory at the inaugural Stockton Half Mile, but it was Halbert who got the win – his first of the season in his comeback ride from knee surgery. urgery? nee surgery? Winery's Henry Wiles, Dodge Brothers Racing/Specialty Fabrication Inc.'s Brad Baker and Zannotti Racing/Schaeffer's HarleyDavidson's Jake Johnson. As the pack exited turn three on the first lap there was major contact in the middle of the pack and Rogers Racing/Blue Springs Harley-Davidson's Mees, who had earlier won the Dash For Cash and was off to a solid night, got the worst of it. Mees bounced completely off the track and was unable to get back up to speed after falling all the way to last place. In the shuffle, Johnson grabbed second behind Halbert, but Halbert's Washington neighbor Brad Baker was on fire and grabbed the spot on lap two. He would even dispatch Halbert for the lead a lap later. "I was in the lead and didn't really know which line to run since it was a freshly watered track," Halbert said. "Then Brad [Baker] went around me. I chased him down while I was searching for my line, but I made a couple mistakes and he pulled a little gap. I was getting a little tired and I wasn't sure I could get back up to him, but I knew I still had a shot at him." The intense battle for the lead saw several exchanges of the point, but Baker appeared to settle down and gain a small advantage. At about the halfway point, Halbert made another charge exiting turn two and he had solid contact with Baker's rear tire. "There was a slight moment there coming off turn two when I got into the back of Brad," Halbert said. "I just ran it in under him and he turned a little sharper than I expected. I clipped the back of his wheel and lost a few bikelengths, which was really not a big deal. I think it just made a better show for the fans." The multi-line racetrack saw action all through the pack. Johnson and Pearson were battling over third, but that soon turned P67 Briefly... After injuring his knee (badly enough that it required surgery) at a winter indoor race, it appeared Sammy Halbert would be at a big disadvantage in the chase for the 2013 AMA Grand National Championship, but his performance has put him right back into the mix. "That was awesome! What a race," said Halbert. "They did a great job on the track. So many of our tracks are so slick and under watered that you can't try hard and win. I was really happy to see them put some water down. That allowed me to give it my all and get the win. I had a long layoff from racing there with shoulder surgery and then I came back and tore up my knee. I'm only 12 weeks out of knee surgery and it's still not 100 percent, but I feel a 100 percent on the bike that's for sure." Halbert jumped up to ninth in points - 28 behind points leader Brandon Robinson – despite missing the opening two races at Daytona. The New 99 Speedway (a recently constructed 3/8ths-mile clay oval) sits inside the big mile oval at the San Joaquin County Fairgrounds. Because the track uses no part of the mile, there are virtually no barriers around the racing surface. This played a big part in turning what potentially would have been a catastrophe into a very bad night for defending Grand National Champion Jared Mees. "I got an okay start, then I was coming into turn three and [Henry] Wiles ran around on the outside," said Mees. "He got a little bit of a bikelength on me continued on next page

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