Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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was one of the tracks that it is hard to make up time. The start was real critical. There were only a couple of position changes in the top five and that was it. Mees went by two people, and I went by one. That was the only passing in the top four that I know of." It took Mees until lap 13 to get around King, but that finalized the running order for the top four. "Rich was having problems in turn one and two," Mees said. "He was coming in and then skating all the way up to the top, hitting the C Y C L E N E W S • AUGUST 16, 2006 43 Jared Mees' consistency has pushed him into third place in the AMA Grand National Twins Championship. In the last five races, Mees has registered five top fives and three podium finishes. "I got off the line really crappy for sitting on the pole, that's the way it goes," he said. "The track was rough - you could really send it off in there, but you had to pick up the gas early or you were going to just keep skating. It was fun, but a little on the rough side. I'm glad that no one was seriously hurt. I know Hacker got bumped up a little bit. That really sucks, but that wasn't because of the racetrack - it was because somebody hit him." Mike Hacker and Sam Halbert got tangled up in the start of the last semi, with both going down hard. Halbert was able to make the restart, but Hacker retired to the pits. He refused to go to the hospital. "I hope we continue to come back here to Farley," added Mees. "It's a great place to come back to. It's a hell of a stop before Sturgis or Washington. I've got to thank Lancaster Screamin' Eagle Harley-Davidson, Saddlemen, Mike Bell Rac- ing and Digger Helm. It was cool that one, two and three [were] the Harley Team. That was awesome and something special. I'm really disappointed we lost that New Jersey race. Another half mile would have helped me; I'm not that good a miler." At the top of the points race, Kenny Cool- beth is inching close to the defending Grand National Champion, Chris Carr. "The points look good [but] Chris is a hard guy to get points on," said Coolbeth. "We did tonight, so we are accomplishing what we need to do. I'd really rather keep on riding the big bikes right now. I'm pretty pumped up." Coolbeth had possibly suf- fered the most by Russell's heat race get- off, as the red flag would mean no time and a fourth-place start. "I was kind of bummed out. I thought I was pretty much done after that heat. My time wasn't going to matter, but I had a pretty good starting spot. I was pretty focused on the start right off the bat. I knew the outside was the place to be on the starting line, and I was third off, which wasn't that bad. I really was pretty much focused on the start." Coolbeth's win moved him to within four points of Carr. Jared Mees is just eight points back of Cool- beth. Bryan Smith and Rich King stand in fourth and fifth, respectively, putting the Harley factory in four of the top-five posi- tions in the points standings. J.R. Schnabel has become a force in the twins series also. "I pulled off a top five in a twins race again," Schnabel said. "It went well for us. It's not a win, but we're always shooting for the wins, of course. If we keep nailing the top fives on these twins, and fig- uring it out like we are, I feel good. It used to be if we got a fifth on a twin, we were kind of celebrating. Now when we get a fifth, we sit down and say 'now how can we get up to the front and win this thing?' That's good. That's what we've got to do - make forward progress. I can't say enough about the team with Babe DeMay and Clay working hard in the shop and getting me a good bike out there. We're running it hard. After my moto Briefly... Continued on page 47 Coolbeth celebrates his second win of the season. Jared Mees won the battle for second place.