Cycle News

FLAT TRACK AMA GRAND NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 5/JUNE 28, 2014 ALLEN COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS/LIMA, OHIO P60 I was having a good time riding up there on the high line. It was working really well for me. I had the thing rolling, but it just didn't work out." Smith then took over the lead on his Kawasaki for four laps, but his fate was changed when the bike's rear shock blew and Smith was relegated to simply trying to keep his machine be- tween the rails. It was Mees who came on strong in the end to take over on the final 10 laps to score his third win at Lima. With about four laps to go Robinson, who'd been struggling with set-up all night, found the track come to him and he was able to get by the pogo- ing Kawasaki of Smith's to come home second. It marked his best finish of season. Coolbeth came home a lonely fourth, about a second-and-a-half ahead of series rival Johnson. Stevie Bonsey hit a hole and ran up into the air fence at one point, but rallied to finish sixth. Rob- My Own Race: 9 JARED MEES 1ST Lima is a special place for Jared Mees. He scored his first AMA Grand National victory at the cushion half-mile back in 2005 and won it again in 2007. He was especially proud this year to finally get back atop the podium at one of his favorite venues. "It just feels so good to win this race again," Mees said. "It seems for the last four or five years I've just struggled here, a place that I've won. So it's been kind of frustrating. I've been doing a lot of homework on these cushions and riding them as much as I can. I felt really good last night in Greenville. I can't thank the team enough. They've worked so hard and deserve all the cred- it. My Harley-Davidson XR750 was running so well. Kenny Tolbert is the man. I rode flawless, I think. I lost my brakes and I think it helped me. I'm just beside myself. I am so excited to win this race. This is probably my favorite one to win out of the 14 of them. The first few laps I just settled in. I'm in really great shape right now and I knew I'd be better off in the end than anybody." 44 BRANDON ROBINSON 2ND Brandon Robinson experienced a breakthrough race at Lima. The series contender from Oxford, Pennsylvania, has never had much luck at Lima and finally found a way to finish on the podium on his USC Kawasaki/Hart Racing Kawasaki. "That was pretty unreal," said Robinson, who moved past Sammy Halbert and Bryan Smith to fourth in the standings. "I usually struggle really bad on cushions. We were working so hard today. We were far off, but far enough that I figured I was going to be a sixth to 10th-place guy and if we got lucky, maybe a top five. We made some pretty severe changes for that main. My whole team with James, Dan and even Carl Patrick were here to help us tonight. Just with all their help and giving me the confi- dence telling me I could do it, telling me to change my line a little bit, get on the gas a little sooner, it just paid off. I just started giving a little more gas and it started to work. The bike just came around. I've been working really hard on my endurance this year and it showed tonight." 42 BRYAN SMITH 3RD Bryan Smith rode his Villa-Esparza/Crosley Radios/How- erton Products Kawasaki to his second podium of the sea- son taking third. It was all the more impressive considering the rear shock on his machine blew a seal causing his bike to become unstable. The result put him solidly in the cham- pionship chase, this in spite of missing one of the mains at Daytona earlier this season. "It was good and bad," Smith said of his night in Lima. "I didn't get the best start so once I got into second Sammy [Halbert] was kind of gone. Some- Mees celebrates his third career win at Lima and his first there in seven years. continued on page 62

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