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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/150387
ROUND 7/AUGUST 11, 2013 PMC RACE PARK/PEORIA, ILLINOIS FLAT TRACK P58 AMA GRAND NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP Shaun Russell (28) hadn't ridden in a National in nearly a year, but he not only made and led the Dash For Cash, he also led and finished an eventual fourth in the National. time, their lines converged in turn one and it was nearly disastrous. "I about ran right into the back of Bauman," Wiles said. "I totally lost it, all my momentum, and got wide and about highsided off the back of him because he went so much slower into the turn than I thought he was going to. I went around the outside of him in [turn] two and we went side by side over the jump and I think he knew at that point I was a man on a mission." An inside pass for the lead and Wiles was gone. At the checkered flag Wiles won the race over Baker by 3.317 seconds. "I had to work to get past Rus- BIG GUNS MISS THE BIG SHOW Peoria always catches at least one or two big name riders out. This year was no different. Watching the main event from the sidelines in this year's race were Kenny Coolbeth, Jr. and Sammy Halbert. Coolbeth said bad starts in the qualifying races doomed him. "When you get a bad start at this place nothing good ever comes of it, at least not for me," Coolbeth said. Three-time Grand National Champion Coolbeth was frustratingly close to making the final. He was nipped at the line in his heat race by Chad Cose, missing going directly to the main by .1 of a second. Then he missed it again by just one position, by finishing fourth in his semi. "Unfortunately, I didn't have a provisional start in Grand National Singles," Coolbeth explained. "You have to be in the top 10 in Singles points from the previous season and I was 12th. It's disappointing. This place continues to be my worst track." While Coolbeth's day was frustrating, Halbert had it even worse. "Slammin'" Sammy took a pounding after crashing hard off the jump in his heat race. He got so out of shape that photos show him sitting Wiles celebrates his record-setting day at the PMC Race Park. sell, JD and Briar," Baker said of his run from fourth to the lead in the first half of the race. "I had the lead for a while, but I think he [Wiles] just came on so quick I never heard him there. All of a sudden he was there and he went by. He went by nice and clean in turn one. I was kind of doing a high-low maneuver. It on the bike at speed going completely backwards after the jump before getting spat off. "I don't really know," Halbert said when asked what happened. "I just crashed over the jump. It seems like it claimed a lot of people today. I never felt comfortable over it… that's the way it goes." Halbert might have still raced even after the hard crash, but he was coming off a head-ringing fall in a non-National just four days before and decided not to risk any further injury. Halbert said he should be okay to go for the Indy Mile next week.