Cycle News

FINAL ROUND/OCTOBER 12, 2013 LA COUNTY FAIRPLEX/POMONA, CALIFORNIA FLAT TRACK P66 AMA GRAND NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP Bauman (14), Jared Mees (1) and Kenny Coolbeth Jr. (2) fire off the line during the staggered restart. Didn't matter how many restarts took place, it ultimately was the same. Except for the end of the second part of the main. That's when Baker had a moment that very nearly cost him dearly. "I mean my legs were up above my head, my chin was resting on the triple clamps, and I was heading towards the air fence," Baker said. "And somehow I got the thing straightened back around and brought her back down." He recovered from the near miss, settled down and then started to catch up with Smith, bringing some company in tow – Bauman and Mees. Bauman decided that it was time to enter the mix, but the second red flag with nine laps to go brought a halt to that campaign as Halbert fell victim to turn two and caused the second race stoppage. Fortunately, he was unhurt in the incident. So the restart was brought back a lap to 10 laps to go and featured a staggered start. Baker hit the ground running, but even though Smith wasn't at his heels straight away, he was soon there. The low-high battle between Baker and Smith would resume and ultimately it came down to the end. Smith's go-to inside on turn one was blocked by Baker on the outside. That sealed the deal. Even if Baker lost that battle, as long as he didn't crash out of the race or drop down to fifth, he'd still have the championship. And with that move and the rest of them after that – he had the win and the championship. For Smith it was a case of close but no cigar. "Yeah I was ready all day, you know," Smith said. "Brad was a click faster all day. I was on the edge trying to keep up. We did get in front of him there for a minute. Then that restart kind of got me out of rhythm. But we were right there at the end. I just messed up on the last lap and let him get a little too much room on me, but congratulations to him and his whole team." Smith knew coming in that it was going to be difficult to take the title. "It was going to be hard," Smith said. "Me and him [Baker] were kind of the class of the field today. It's been that way for the last handful of races. So it was going to be hard to make up the points on him unless he had a mechanical pretty much." For Baker, the battle was one of the best. "I mean that was probably the best race of the whole entire series right there," Baker said. "There probably wasn't that many lead changes on the Springfield Mile. I would pass him coming out; he'd pass me going in. We were just flip-flopping, having fun." CN Pomona Half Mile 1. Brad Baker (H-D) 2. Bryan Smith (Kawasaki) 3. Briar Bauman (Suzuki) 4 Jared Mees (H-D) 5. JD Beach (Kawasaki) 6. Kenny Coolbeth, Jr. (H-D) 7. Jake Johnson (Ducati) 8. Robert Pearson (H-D) 9. Brandon Robinson (Kawasaki) 10. Johnny Lewis (Triumph)

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