Cycle News

ROUNDS: 10/11/AUGUST 31-SEPTEMBER 1, 2013 ILLINOIS STATE FAIRGROUNDS/SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS FLAT TRACK P66 AMA GRAND NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP My Own Race: 44 BRANDON ROBINSON 1ST/1ST Brandon Robinson scored his first win in a Grand National Mile on Saturday and proved it was no fluke by doing it again on Sunday - this time under much greater pressure. "The high line was working for me all day," Robinson said of his hard-fought win in Sunday's race. "I was pretty sure if I led it off of four I could win it, because I wasn't getting drafted until real late on the straightaway. It just played out perfectly for me. Being one of the biggest guys on the circuit, I've learned the tricks from following Bryan [Smith] a lot. The mile is really a craft and I've just been able to figure it out this year. Sunday's race was a lot more fun. It was exciting with a lot of passes every lap. It kept things way more interesting. I wasn't sure if I was going to win that or not." 42 BRYAN SMITH 2ND/2ND Bryan Smith was not the dominant rider on the Crosley Radio/ Howerton Motorsport Kawasaki that many expected. He had issues with his main bike Saturday and had to qualify through the semi. In the end he and his team overcame their issues and finished strong with a pair of runner-up finishes. That pushed him past Henry Wiles again in the points and ever closer to Brad Baker for the top spot in the standings. Just 10 points separate him from the series lead. "That was a dogfight. That was the fastest, hardest 25 laps I've ever had here at Springfield," Smith said of Sunday's close final. "I wanted to lead it off four. That was my only shot because I couldn't draft off Brandon. On the last lap I didn't quite get the run going into [turn] three. I just pinned it and it broke loose a little bit and it was too much of a gap to close by the finish line. It was good though because we made up points on Brad [Baker]. I would have much rather won, but we made up points. That was the biggest goal." 95 JD BEACH 3RD/3RD JD Beach continues to prove to be perhaps the most versatile motorcycle race in the country right now. The full-time road racer and part-time flat tracker scored two podiums at what many consider the biggest race of the year riding his Burnett Farms/Red Bull backed Kawasaki. "A double po- inson]. I think he put some super glue on his rear tire or something." Beach thought finishing on the box wasn't going to happen on Sunday, but he got a break in the form of the draft on the final go around. "I got through turns three and four real well on the last lap dium at the Springfield Mile, that's just amazing. The only thing better would have been to get a win," Beach said. "I started off a little slow and ran sixth or seventh the whole race until about the last five laps when I found a good line and started making my way forward. With two laps to go I was up to second and almost in first. I couldn't believe it. We were all riding really well. There wasn't any crazy stuff going on. It was an intense battle, but it was a lot of fun." 2 KENNY COOLBETH JR. 6TH/4TH BRAD BAKER 5TH/5TH Coolbeth gave the Harley-Davidson faithful a lot to cheer about on Sunday. When he took the lead on lap 10 you could hear a roar come up from the grandstands. The former champ was right there in a good spot to take the win on Sunday, but the draft didn't play out for him. "It was a great race," Coolbeth said. "Nobody stretched their legs on us like they did yesterday. The track was really racey. You could actually pass in the corners, but it was tough not to mess somebody up. I thought we were good there. On the last lap I held it pretty much wide open. I was right on Brandon coming out of two, where I thought I needed to be, but I wasn't quite far enough on him to get a good draft and those guys pretty much swarmed us going into [turn] three and we ended up fourth. First Harley so it feels good." 12 Brad Baker had one objective coming into Springfield and that was to do well enough to keep his series lead at a reasonable number. He felt that after getting a pair of fifths on his Dodge Brothers Harley-Davidson that it was mission accomplished. "I wanted to maintain my points lead," Baker said. "I knew it would be hard here to keep Bryan from chipping away at me. He and Brandon did, but racing against the Kawasaki's… it's good racing but, your're just fighting to see who's going to be towed by a Kawasaki. If you aren't being towed by them here you're going to be passed by somebody. Yesterday I was the one trying to make the moves in the corners, today I was playing it smart and just trying to stay behind whoever was leading. I feel pretty confident going into Santa Rosa. If I can take a points lead going into the last race in Pomona then I think we'll be in pretty good shape." and got a little draft from Bryan and was able to have that extra tow to get third," Beach said. Former Springfield winner Willie McCoy brought home another pack of six riders battling for seventh, in a second big drafting pack about five seconds behind the lead group. So now the series heads to another mile at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds in Santa Rosa, California, on September 29. Baker will be desperately trying to hold on to his 10-point lead, while the other four championship contenders will be looking to close that gap. CN

• Cover