VOL. 51 ISSUE 29 JULY 22, 2014 P65
ite tracks - Sacramento."
Mees' win – his second of the
season – moved him a little far-
ther ahead in the title chase. He
now leads Smith by five points
and Johnson by six. But while
that brings some satisfaction,
Mees is still aware of the eight
races left on the schedule.
"There's a lot of racing to go,"
Mees said. "Yeah, we look at it
and pay attention to it. But in two
races it all can change. A crash.
A break. From somebody else -
myself. I've got a great team be-
hind me. We've got some really
good races that are coming up
that are really strong for me. So
I'm excited."
Johnson, who is also in the
middle of the title chase, rode a
solid race and was right there.
Unfortunately, he couldn't quite
get close enough to Mees and
Smith.
"It was a crazy battle the whole
race," Johnson said. "Just going
back and forth. I felt like we had
the speed to win the thing. It was
just kind of once you could get
out front you could kind of ride
your own race and be smooth
and let everybody else make the
VANDERKOOI GETS HIS
SECOND FIRST
Jarod Vanderkooi
hit the ground run-
ning in his AMA Pro
Flat Track debut with
a win at Springfield
in the newly dubbed
Pro Twins class (for-
merly known as the
Basic Twins), but he
scored his first Pro
Singles win at Grays
Harbor Raceway.
And the youngster
from Ohio on the
Johnny Vintage
Motorcycle Honda
did so just four rounds later in his
rookie season.
"It's actually pretty cool,"
Vanderkooi said modestly. "Got
a pretty good start in second and
passed for the lead early and just
road my own race."
Grays Harbor was a bit technical
and clay is not necessarily the Ohio
native's preference, but he's obvi-
ously adapted to them quite nicely.
"This ain't my kind of track,"
Vanderkooi said. "I like the cushion
tracks from back home in Ohio. But
we've been adapting to a lot of these
tracks in Illinois, travelling there
since I was little, and it finally paid
off."
Trailing Vanderkooi by almost a
second was Davis Fisher on the TJ
Burnett Farms Honda. Fisher's been
Mr. Consistent, landing the podium
on all but one race – round one at
the Daytona Short Track. Ryan Wells
and his KTM completed the podium.
If possible, the championship
chase got even tighter with the top
three separated by just one point.
Despite his fourth-place finish, Kyle
Johnson (99) stays in the lead with
his three race wins thus far. Fisher
moved up to second, tied with John-
son at 99. Ryan Wells sits just shy of
the leaders with 98 points.
Jarod Vanderkooi celebrates
his first Pro Singles victory at
Grays Harbor.
