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VOL. 50 ISSUE 31 AUGUST 6, 2013
Jared Mees (1) led the
field into turn one at the
start of the Castle Rock TT
with eventual race winner
Jeffrey Carver (23) already
trying a move on the
outside.
(Below) Carver (23) and Briar
Bauman (14) battled early. While
Carver went on to score the first
AMA National win of his career,
Bauman crashed out of the race.
tional Champion Jared Mees
was battered and bruised on his
Montgomeryville Cycle/National
Cycle mount, but it didn't stop him
from being first into the tight hairpin left that was turn one. Mees,
who had only recently returned to
action in Ohio after breaking his
right arm, fell while leading the
four-lap Dash For Cash and had
dislocated his left shoulder.
"I got a good start," Mees said.
"I pretty much had the holeshot,
but I rode the first four laps into
the corner kind of timid, like a
wuss. I just wanted to get a little
confidence first before I went out
there and slung this thing."
Carver and 2012 Saddlemen
Rookie of the Year Briar Bauman
wasted no time in taking advantage of Mees and both slipped by.
"I was able to just sneak around
them on the outside and get them
going over the jump and into the
right-hander," said Carver.
Mees knew he'd erred.
"I had the holeshot, but I just
babied it around there," said
P41
Briefly...
The reconfigured Castle Rock
Race Park TT track, especially the
tight drop off into a tight turn one,
claimed a lot of victims on the night.
Along with Briar Bauman, early season points leader Brandon Robinson was one of the biggest losers.
Robinson's spill in the second semi
left him out of his first National main
event this year and he dropped
from second to fourth in the points.
As the 2013 AMA Pro Flat Track
presented by J&P Cycles Grand
National Championship reaches
it's midpoint next week in Peoria,
Illinois, Brad Baker holds a commanding 27 points lead over his
pursuers. Bryan Smith is now, two
points ahead of Henry Wiles and
seven up on Robinson. With Wiles
favorite track up next and a string of
Mile races to follow, both Wiles and
Smith could be making big strides
forward in the points race.
Several riders tweaked small injuries in practice and opted to sit out
the remainder of the night, including Pennsylvania riders Shayna
Texter and Johnny Lewis.
It looked for a while like defending AMA Grand National Champion Jared Mees' season could
be cut short after a nasty get-off
in the Dash, but the gritty champion fought his way back on to the
track for the National. "I got a really
good start in the Dash," said Mees.
"I thought to myself, 'I've got this.'
I pretty much knew all day that if I
could get out front of these boys,
I could make this happen. I went
into the first corner and just lost the
front huge and landed right on my
shoulder. I didn't know what hapcontinued on next page