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FLAT TRACK AMA GRAND NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 7/JULY 20, 2014 GRAYS HARBOR RACEWAY/ELMA, WASHINGTON P68 obviously. Next thing I knew I was right up on him and went past him easy, which usually passing Sam Halbert isn't an easy job on any track, let alone a short track." On the last lap, the two Wash- ington boys met again. And, once again, that meeting would involve close contact. "The lap before the white flag lap I could feel somebody get a little bit of a run off me coming off of two," Baker said. "I knew it was probably going to be some- what of a shutoff contest going My Own Race: 7 SAMMY HALBERT 4 TH Going into the National, there wouldn't have been many who would have bet against Sammy Halbert in this one. "Yeah got a good start and took the lead and felt like I had control of it like I have all day," Halbert said after ending up fourth. "Then eventually Brian [Smith] came by me and was trying to make something happen and then more guys came by me. And then the bike hiccupped a few times on the backstretch so seemed like it was slowing down a little bit. So I tried twisting the throttle a little harder to make up for it because all day we weren't really getting wide open on this small of a track. So then I started trying to get it wide open to make up for that and ran wide and got passed, kind of threw me out of my rhythm. But I gathered it back up and made up a few spots. Wish we could have won, but wasn't meant to be." 5 JAKE JOHNSON 3 RD Jake Johnson continues to show consistency as he works toward getting his first win since his championship season. "The start was okay, I guess. I didn't have the greatest starting spot. I think I was up there third or fourth or some- thing. Battled with Kenny [Coolbeth] a bunch, battled with Jared [Mees] a bunch. Seemed like I was just going back and forth. I would lose a couple spots, then I was making a charge to the front and all of a sudden I'd lose a couple more. We got close a couple of times. Got into third and probably about halfway, lap 15 or so, and just kind of stayed even with Bryan [Smith] and Jared the rest of the way. Ev- ery time I tried to push a little bit, it would just push you into making a mistake and you'd end up losing more ground." 42 BRYAN SMITH 2 ND "I've been getting good starts this year, which isn't like me and then I redeemed myself and went back to the crap- py starts in the final," Smith said after finshing second to Mees. "I think I was like fourth or fifth off the line. Kind of got up to fourth and then shuffled back. And then I just kind of started rolling around the top and everybody was kind of in a traffic jam at the bottom. And I got into second, got into the lead and just was riding my own race. I'd say probably just past halfway I started to lose a little grip, whether it was me mentally losing grip or the tire, I don't know. Started kind of having that move around, changed my line, maybe my line went away, I don't know. And started backing up to Jared then… bam he was right there. And when he went by me, he instantly got me. So once I kind of gathered my marbles and kind of started reeling him back in it was a white flag." 2 KENNY COOLBETH 5 TH "Actually I had a pick on the front row, but I decided to pick on the back row inside. And it helped out a lot, actu- ally," Kenny Coolbeth said of his race. "I think I was off third coming off of turn two, just kind of started settling in really, picking away. I kept right with those guys, just do- ing my thing. Got around Sammy [Halbert], and then Bryan [Smith] passed us both. Then kind of started following Bryan a little bit. And I saw where he was struggling and thought we had something for him, but five laps to go I just missed my mark and just kind of scrambled my brain and it all from there went downhill. All in all it was good. It was way better than I thought it was going to be here at this race- track after seeing it and stuff and what we've been through this weekend. So it's good. They did a good job. And we'll take it. Consistency. Hopefully, we don't get too far down in points and can still chase after that big number one." 1 BRAD BAKER 6 TH Brad Baker's season continues to frustrate the defend- ing AMA Grand National Champion. "I started out with the holeshot and then I heard Sammy Halbert coming in hot and pretty much just block passed me in the middle of one and two and pushed me up wide," Baker explained. "In- stead of running up on the outside of him I kind of waited for him to go by so I could drop back in line. And as I was in the process of dropping back in line I think it was Coolbeth or one other rider; I wasn't really paying too much attention to who it was. All I knew is I got kind of punked out again. After Halbert got me I just pretty much got freight trained there on the backstretch. I think after the first lap I was probably seventh or eighth. It was kind of a sucky deal after almost having the holeshot. I made my way back into the top five, and then me and Jake and Jared and Kenny were having a pretty good race there for a little while for fourth, fifth and sixth, and kind of got shuffled around a little bit. We were all in a tight little group. And Halbert started to back up and kind of held up the group a little bit. After he got back to me and I finally got back by Sammy and was running right there with Jake and Kenny. Then Kenny made a mistake and I got past Kenny and then I was pretty much just in fourth. Jared and Bryan were a little ways out… I just really couldn't make up any time on Jake; he'd make a mistake, I'd make a little mistake… the laps were winding down so I just kind of was settling in trying to maintain what I had and come home with a good fourth."

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