FLAT TRACK
AMA GRAND NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 4/JUNE 15, 2014
KNOXVILLE RACEWAY/KNOXVILLE, IOWA
P82
Coolbeth won his
second race of the
season to bolster
his championship
points lead.
SNAKE BIT
The title defense of Harley-Davidson
Screamin' Eagle's Brad Baker re-
mained cursed in Iowa, as a season
plagued by mechanical issues and
injury woes continued.
However, the champ was eager
to look on the bright side; he was
encouraged by how quickly his badly
broken arm has healed along with the
state of his riding in general.
"My arm is pretty good actually," he
said. "It's not bothering me too much
today. If anything, what's bothering me
the most is not being able to be on the
motorcycle as much and being able to
work out my upper body as much as I'd
like to because of my arm, so it's taken
a toll on my whole body.
"This whole year has been me-
chanicals and the bike not working
the greatest. We had some issues at
Daytona and Springfield, and then of
course, being off my arm for five-and-
a-half weeks. Now I'm back to feeling
like my normal self on a motorcycle,
but we still just have those gremlins
following me around.
"It's just been one of those years
where I can't seem to get ahead of the
eight ball, and bad luck seems to fol-
people and we're having fun. I look
forward to the weekends now. It's
good all-around… We just need to
keep doing what we're doing."
History Repeats
After the series skipped Knoxville
Raceway in 2013, Sunday's main
event managed to pick up right
where it left off in 2012 with an
exact duplication of that season's
podium at the venue.
Ramspur Winery/Lloyd Bros's
Jake Johnson came out swing-
ing in Knoxville. Having elected to
ride the team's XR750, he looked
to be the fastest man on the track
during qualifying. However, John-
son suffered from a poor start in
the main and by the time he had
picked his way through the field
and moved into second, Cool-
beth was long gone.
The runner-up result was John-
son's third in AMA Pro's three
stops at Knoxville.
"Bridesmaid again for me at
Knoxville - my third second-place
finish in a row," Johnson said.
"But it was a good - we had a
good run. We had a bad first cor-
