AMA GRAND NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
VOL. 51 ISSUE 26 JULY 1, 2014 P57
Briefly...
Harley-Davidson Screamin' Eagle
Factory Team rider Brad Baker won
his heat race and finished second
in the Dash for Cash bonus sprint,
but did not finish the Grand National
Twins main after his motorcycle suf-
fered a mechanical issue on the sec-
ond lap. The defending AMA Grand
National champion was credited with
a 17th place finish.
With his Lima 2014 victory Jared
Mees now owns 14-career AMA
Grand National wins. That moves
him into a tie with Kevin Atherton
for 25th on the all-time wins list.
His three Lima victories also make
him the all-time wins leader at Lima
among active riders.
Even though he finished fourth Ken-
ny Coolbeth actually added to his
points lead in the AMA Pro Grand
National Championship standings.
After five of 14 rounds Coolbeth, with
two wins, leads Jake Johnson by
nine points (95-86). Mees closed up
in third and now has 85 points. Bran-
don Robinson (73 points), Sammy
Halbert (72) and Bryan Smith (70) are
locked in a close battle over fourth in
the standings.
Briar Bauman was forced to pull
out of the main when a radiator hose
broke on his Monster Energy/Wer-
ner-Springsteen Racing Kawasaki.
The steaming hot water soaked his
leathers and he pulled off the track
and threw the bike down and was
looking for someone to douse him
with cold water, but once he was out
of the hot spray of the bike he quickly
cooled off.
The DNF for Bauman followed
continued on next page
have been tough to catch him.
Halbert had built a 2.420-sec-
ond lead before his South East
Harley-Davidson/Whites Harley-
Davidson-backed XR750 be-
gan losing power and billowing
smoke, forcing him to retire.
Regardless of how he did it,
Mees was thrilled to take the vic-
tory.
"I am so pumped to finally win
this race again you wouldn't be-
lieve," said Mees, who moved to
within one point of Jake John-
son for second in the standings
after five or 14 rounds. "I've been
working really hard to get better
on cushion tracks like this and it
paid off. As much as I hate to say
it, I don't know if we had anything
for [Sammy] Halbert. I'm sure his
line [high] would have worn out
and mine [mid-track] would have
come in."
The race began with Mees
sprinting off to a good start to
The main event
gets started with
eventual race
winner Jared Mees
(9) getting the
jump over Stevie
Bonsey (80),
Sammy Halbert (7),
Brad Baker (1) and
Briar Bauman (14).
