FINAL ROUND/OCTOBER 12, 2013
LA COUNTY FAIRPLEX/POMONA, CALIFORNIA
FLAT TRACK
P64
AMA GRAND NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
Bryan Smith (42) didn't go
down without a fight. The
Kawasaki rider battled the
entire race with his title
rival Baker (12).
MAGUIRE
MAKES IT A
WASHINGTON
DOUBLE
Although J.R. Addison would go
away with the Pro Singles win at
Pomona, Wyatt Maguire's fourth-place
finish would secure him the 2013 Pro
Singles Championship by one point
over Ryan Wells.
Wells, who was trying everything
he could to snatch the title from points
leader Maguire at the final round,
battled with Addison early. But Addison pulled a gap on Wells and would
continue to stretch that lead to what
would ultimately be a convincing victory by 7.236 seconds. Wells eventually would also have a comfortable
lead in second, with a three-way battle
for the last spot on the podium behind
him between Kyle Johnson, Maguire,
and Bronson Bauman.
In the end Johnson would win that
third place position and even though
Bauman made the effort to make
Wells' night by stealing fourth from
Maguire and his hopes of the title.
But Maguire was able to keep fourth
and the Pro Singles title, making it a
Washington State AMA Pro Flat Track
Championship sweep as Brad Baker
would later secure the AMA Grand
National Championship.
"The race really didn't go as
planned," Maguire said. "It started
out really good. Got a good start,
was running third for quite a while.
Thought I was going to move forward.
Came on to Ryan [Wells] there in turn
one and two and thought I had the
pass. He got back by me down the
straightaway. Then I made a couple of
mistakes, started to pull…. And then
about halfway started to make some
ground back up it felt like. I
don't know where the guys
from behind me came from. I
missed a shift down the front
straightaway between fourth
and fifth. And I think that
might be the thing that cost
me the podium. But overall
it was a good night... ended
up coming home with a
fourth to take the championship with a one-point win."
Maguire won the championship racing with a broken fibula in
his right leg, an injury that had plagued
him since he first broke it at the Peoria
TT. He had taken off his air boot just a
few days before the Santa Rosa Mile,
only to fall and reinjure it there. So he
was back in the air boot again at Pomona – well, at least when he wasn't
wearing his racing boot.
Did the injury play a factor at the
season finale at Pomona?
