VOL. 50 ISSUE 33 AUGUST 20, 2013
P87
ES
EIGN
ASION
LLIAMS AND
HRIN WIN
CES
Steve Rapp (5) did most of the leading in
the first of two Harley races at Indianapolis
Motor Speedway, but ended up fourth
behind Jeremy McWilliams (99), Tyler
O'Hara (hidden) and Hafizh Syahrin (55).
rating the top four.
McWilliams led the 29-rider
pack into the first set of turns,
but by the end of the first lap
pole winner Rapp had gotten into
the lead and already had .4 of a
second on the Irishman and the
rest of the field. In the first half
of the race, Rapp built up nearly
a full second lead and looked,
like he has so many times on the
XR1200s this year, to have the
race in the bag, but the following
group worked together to close
in on the leader. They used draft-
ing perfectly to narrow the gap
on Rapp and when they caught
him the fireworks began.
McWilliams and Rapp had
some intense moments in the
closing laps as they jockeyed for
position, especially in the first set
of tight turns on the IMS MotoGP
road course.
In the end it came down to
the final draft moves on the
front straight and it was McWilliams and his Harley-Davidson of
Bloomington Indiana getting the
nod in nearly a photo finish over
Eco Fuel Saver/Scrubblade's
Tyler O'Hara and Syahrin on the
Petronas/KWR-backed Harley.
Pity poor Rapp, who actually
led out of the final turn, but was
sucked up like a Dyson vacuum
cleaner in the Indy draft and finished fourth.
"Just luck really, being in the
right place at the right time," McWilliams admitted when asked
how he did it. "I sort of lost my way
a little bit at the beginning. These
guys started moving ahead and
I thought if I don't dig in it's not
