AMA GRAND NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
VOL. 51 ISSUE 11 MARCH 18, 2014 P53
passing possibilities on a track
that for much of the night had
been a one-line, narrow blue
groove. The track prep achieved
the desired effect, but it made
racing treacherous.
"It was all about running a
smart race tonight for a full 25
laps and keeping from blowing
it into the airfence," Bauman ex-
plained. "They watered the track
just before the main, so it was
real slick. The front end would
tuck out a lot. I tried not to lose
the front, but it happened every
lap and you learned to ride with
it."
Bauman's riding was a marvel
to watch. With him diving into the
turns with the bike sideways and
then the front wheel would turn
in hard to the left and plow, but
Bauman managed the front-end
push with amazing skill. He did
all that while fighting arm pump.
"I can't feel my arms right
now," Bauman said. "I usually
don't get tight but when I saw the
cross flags [halfway], I thought I
better hold onto this."
Bauman made it to the check-
ered flag and did a fancy power
slide through the infield, but he
didn't show as much emotion on
the podium as one might expect
after winning their first National.
What actually happened was the
emotion came, but Bauman had
time to gather himself before the
podium celebrations.
"I teared up in my helmet,"
Bauman said. "I didn't want to
look like Mike Alessi or anything
like that, but it was just an awe-
some feeling."
21 Years in the Making
Kenny Coolbeth Jr. has a ma-
jor chip on his shoulder. The
36-year-old former AMA Grand
Briefly...
Jake Johnson and Cory Texter
went down in turn one. The race was
completely restarted. Both riders
were able to restart the race. John-
son finished 10th and Texter 14th.
A couple of old veterans showed
up to race at Daytona, among them
Danny Ingram, Ronnie Jones
and Garth Brow (in the Pro Singles
class). All three still showed good
speed, but Ingram was the only one
of the trio to make the main.
Brad Baker met with more tough luck
at Daytona in the form of a disqualifi-
cation from Thursday night's race.
The motor on his primary KTM began
making ugly noises, so he decided to
switch to his backup for the start. His
backup was misfiring and possibly hit-
ting the rev limiter early, so after the
red flag he hustled back to his prima-
ry bike. Unfortunately for him the bike
had been taken back to the team's
pits instead of the backup bike stag-
ing area, which is against the rules
so he was DQ'd. "We never dreamed
we'd be going back to the primary
bike," Baker explained. "That's why
it was taken back to the pits. I think
some people thought I was getting
on a third bike, but I wasn't. It's just a
bummer deal. I can't seem to catch a
break at Daytona." He finished 11th in
Friday night's race.
JR Schnabel came out of retirement
to race Daytona. His last race was
at the Springfield (Illinois) TT in 2012
where he had a spectacular crash off
the jump. He explained his come-
back was just a one-off. "I just had
to do one more so I could ride off
the track," Schnabel smiled. "I'm just
here to have some fun, that's it. This
winter I did a lot of ice racing and got
(Left) It's not just all about the
kid: Coolbeth won his first career
Daytona Short Track and his 30th
career Grand-National win.
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