Cycle News

VOL. 50 ISSUE 42 OCTOBER 22, 2013 left-hand corner of the country. The logging community of Chehalis, Washington (actually in the boonies, 14 miles outside of town) is where Baker calls home. His dad Kip was a racer and he passed on his racing legacy to Brad and his older brother Scott. The homestead has a 10-acre field and that's where the Baker boys honed their craft. Brad was a natural. As an amateur in 2008 Baker won the prestigious AMA Horizon Award. He made a successful transition to the professional ranks in 2009 when he dominated the inaugural AMA Pro Singles Championship. He scored 10 podiums in 13 races that season. Pro Singles has proven a great entrée into professional flat track racing, but the big problem is finding a good Grand National seat for the most talented riders from the undercard series. It was no different for Baker. Landing a good ride was a challenge. He raced for Lloyd Brothers Motorsports Ducati in 2011 and showed flashes of brilliance, earning nine top-five finishes en route to earning Rookie of the Year honors. Then at Pomona in 2012, Baker ended the season on a high note, riding for Dodge Brothers Racing, he scored a runner up finish to Kenny Coolbeth in the series finale instantly making him one of the series contenders for 2013. For all the promise Baker showed, he was getting more than a little frustrated with all the podium finishes without a win. After the second-place result at Pomona in 2012, he started 2013 with three straight runner-up results. He finally broke through in July with a dominating performance on the halfmile at Hagerstown, Maryland, to claim his first Grand National victory. Going into this year's finale in Pomona, California, Baker didn't have to win, but in the back of his mind I'm guessing he didn't want to be known as a rider who won the championship with only one win. So at the Pomona Half-Mile he threw caution to the wind, battled mightily with the only guy in the series who had a chance to overtake him, Bryan Smith, and went out on top. It was P115 a great way to wrap up the championship. Baker winning the AMA Grand National title is historically significant. He's the third youngest rider in the 60-year history to win the championship – only Brad Andres and Jay Springsteen were younger. Baker is young enough that you could conceivably start talking about him chasing alltime championship and win records, especially when you consider Scott Parker was 26 when he won his first championship and Chris Carr was 25. So Baker has a massive head start on the two all-time wins and championship leaders in series history. And unlike some of today's young flat trackers like JD Beach, PJ Jacobsen and James Rispoli, Baker has no big aspirations to go road racing, so he should be on the flat track scene for a long time to come. It won't be easy for Baker to win the title again, at least not in the immediate future. Established veterans like Bryan Smith, Jared Mees, Jake Johnson, Henry Wiles and Sammy Halbert still have a lot of fight left in them and all will be anxious to get back and teach the young kid a lesson or two next season. The rivalry with Smith could be especially intense since there is some animosity built up between Baker and the Howerton Motorsports squad over the protest lodged by Smith at the season opener in Daytona, where they questioned the legality of the forks on Baker's Honda and as a result Baker had championship points taken away. But for now the spotlight shines on Baker and his band of fellow young racers who are breathing new life into AMA Grand National racing. With riders like Baker and new and interesting motorcycles becoming competitive with Harley-Davidson, the long-suffering championship just might be turning a corner and gaining back at least some of its past glory. CN Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives

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