Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/146977
VOL. 50 ISSUE 30 JULY 30, 2013 hectic, it was stressful." Mees, meanwhile, was happy to be there and thrilled to be back on the bike. "Coming off the injury, my confidence was a little low," he said. "I just kind of took it lap by lap. It was just fun. There was no pressure on points or nothing, because I'm really far out of it. It is what it is; I'm excited. It took me a long time to catch Bryan because I kept messing around with Brandon Robinson. I finally caught him and, honestly, it is just tough to draft the Kawasaki still." Continuing to have his best season ever, Robinson was able to squeeze his Kawasaki into third over Baker and Halbert. "They started breaking away a little bit. I had to put my head down and kind of slowed my momentum down," said Robinson. "I got the tire to quit spinning and cooled it off. Once Bryan started slowing the pace down a little bit, I was able to keep the wheels in line a little better. It kind of let me get back in the race. I was just methodically trying to figure out where I could pass and how many guys I could get. I realized that if I was in fourth I could get at least one Harley coming to the line. I just put myself in that position. I tried to get the best draft off of turn four that I could. Thankfully, it turned out to a podium." Baker, meanwhile, was able to nip Halbert at the line for fourth. Former Grand National Champions Jake Johnson and Kenny Coolbeth were having their own personal battle some 8 seconds back of the lead draft and Johnson was able to come away with sixth. Rob Pearson brought his Weirbach Racing-backed Suzuki home eighth. Another 4 seconds back was the Lloyd Brothers Motorsports/Ramspur Winery Ducati of Henry Wiles, with Harley-Davidson of Wausau/Independence HarleyDavidson's Willie McCoy rounding out the top 10. CN AMA Grand National 1. Bryan Smith (Kawasaki) 2. Jared Mees (Harley-Davidson) 3. Brandon Robinson (Kawasaki) 4. Brad Baker (Harley-Davidson) 5. Sammy Halbert (Harley-Davidson) 6. Jake Johnson (Harley-Davidson) 7. Kenny Coolbeth (Harley-Davidson) 8. Robert Pearson (Harley-Davidson) 9. Henry Wiles (Ducati) 10. Willie McCoy (Harley-Davidson) P67 Briefly... Robinson is now 15 points back, with Bryan Smith another six down. Former Grand National Champion Jake Johnson has been struggling this year, but is still in fourth - one point down to Smith. "I think we are starting to get things back in the right place again. I was kind of starting to doubt myself a little bit there for a while," said Johnson. "I thought I forgot how to ride. We finished sixth tonight and my lap times were pretty good. I realized I still know how to ride. I just need to get all the right pieces put in the right spots. We still have a lot of racing left. I think we are fourth in the points - just 20 or so back from Brad [22 points… Editor]. That is not going to be easy to overcome, but it is still doable." After missing one race because of his broken arm, defending Grand National Champion Jared Mees is 37 points behind Baker. "It was kind of the normal thing with the Kawasaki tonight. It is really tough to pass it," said Mees. "I was just on a really strong Harley-Davidson XR 750 tonight. I am just really impressed with how good the Kenny Tolbert bike ran. Nothing against the teams I had in the years past, but just, 'wow.' I feel like I've got the best and strongest-running Harley-Davidson XR 750 in the world. Thanks a lot to those guys." Wyatt Maguire also retained the points lead in the AMA Pro Singles class. Maguire is just eight points up on Ryan Wells with Kyle Johnson another six back. With her win, Shayna Texter moves into a tie with defending series Champion Stephen Vanderkuur for fourth - 25 points off the leader.