AMA GRAND NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
VOL. 51 ISSUE 24 JUNE 17, 2014 P81
Briefly...
The venerable Harley-Davidson
XR750 in its newly unrestricted guise
was in a league of its own around
Knoxville Raceway's half-mile circuit.
H-Ds took the top three spots in both
qualifying sessions, all six spots in
the Dash for Cash by running 1-2 in all
three heats, and then swept the main
event's top six. Harley now owns all
nine podium finishes in GNC history
at Knoxville Raceway.
However, Harley-Davidson recently
introduced the all-new Street 750,
which may prove to be the brand's
next flat track platform of choice.
Former works H-D man Kenny Cool-
beth Jr. said, "By the sounds of it,
that's what their goal is. But I think
it's still got quite a long ways before
its competitive. I have no clue - I have
nothing to do with it. But it has quite
a bit of R&D still. And, hey, it's good
- new is better. These things are
pretty old. It's still the bike to beat,
but they're pretty old. We'll see what
they do."
While most riders covet a spot on a
factory team, there are some perks
that come with running as a true in-
dependent effort. Ramspur Winery/
Lloyd Bros' Jake Johnson had his
pick of the Ducati Hypermotard 1100
he took to fourth at Springfield, a
brand-new Kawasaki EX650, and a
Harley XR750 at Knoxville. He ulti-
mately chose the H-D, which proved
to be the bike to have in Iowa. "It's
what I've ridden here in the past and
done well," he said. "And it's a little
bit slick here being a day race and all
the rubber on the track from the cars
last night. It's a little bit slippery early
on and the Harley… that's its thing. It
continued on next page
proved plenty in Iowa. Coolbeth
moved past a jack-rabbiting Ste-
vie Bonsey on the race's opening
lap and proceeded to pour it on
from there.
The next time Coolbeth would
see another rider was on lap 15,
when he started to blast his way
through lapped traffic. In the
end, he boasted a 3.198-second
margin-of-victory, a second win
on the season, and a bolstered
championship points advantage.
"What can I say? The equip-
ment [Zanotti Racing] has sup-
plied me with is just flawless,"
Coolbeth said after scoring
the breakaway win. "I keep on
preaching on it, but I'm having
fun, and that's what it takes for
me to go fast.
"That and good equipment and
I think I have the best equipment
out there. The team is all great
The top three:
Kenny Coolbeth (2)
ran away with the
Knoxville Half Mile,
besting Jake John-
son (5) and Sammy
Halbert (7).
