VOL. 51 ISSUE 30 JULY 29, 2014 P65
The win marked Johnson's
fourth of the season and moved
him three points ahead of Fisher
in the championship.
Joining the pair on the podium
was Armstrong. Northern Califor-
nian Colindres led early, but ulti-
mately fell back and had to settle
for fourth. In fifth was Brandon
Wilhelm followed by Ryan Wells.
Last week's winner Jared
Vanderkooi finished seventh, fol-
lowed by Bauman and Dan Brom-
ley. Completing the top 10 was
Ryan Foster.
The Dust Bowl
Like a Phoenix from the ashes the
Sacramento Mile made a come-
back from its demise when Steve
McLaughlin stepped in to put it
back on the AMA Grand National
Championship calendar for 2014.
And maybe that Phoenix was still
cooking because it was hot! It
was the exact opposite of the
previous round in Elma, Washing-
ton, the Grays Harbor Half Mile,
where there were and cold con-
ditions. It was a stark contrast to
the dry air and hot scorching sun
of Central California. Although
it meant hydrating and trying to
keep cool for the rest of us, it
meant for a tough day at the of-
fice for track maintenance crew.
Needless to say dust was a
bit of a problem this year at the
Sacto Mile and the best way not
to eat it was to be out front. But in
close flat-track racing, not a lot of
people had that luxury.
"It was not your typical Sacra-
mento," Coolbeth said. "It was
kind of rutted, kind of dry. It was
so dry due to the heat and the
dust was brutal. You couldn't see
anything in front of you if there was
a guy in front of you. But hey, it
was the same for everybody. They
were just better than us today."
Central Californian Bonsey
echoed the difficult conditions
but felt the track eventually came
around.
"It was tough, sandy, hard to
see," Bonsey said. "My eyes are
burning right now. I had to take
a shower, and I left like a mud
puddle in the shower. But the
track came around. I thought it
was going to be a lot worse. They
were talking it being a lot of sand
and all that, but it wasn't too bad.
I thought it was good. It was a
good racy track anyway."
At the end of the day the track
conditions did improve. Once the
sun went down the track started
to improve.
"Just being so hot the track
guys did a great job," Johnson
said. "It's hard to hold sand to-
gether in a hundred-degree
weather. For what they had to
work with they did a great job.
Come the main event, once the
sun went down, I felt the track got
good."
The reigning champ also ac-
knowledged the efforts that were
made in the tough conditions but
felt that it wasn't Sacto's finest.
The reigning champ lauded the
good efforts, but echoed Cool-
beth's statement that it wasn't a
typical Sacto Mile.
"They did a pretty good job for
what they had to go up against to-
day," Baker said. But it was prob-
ably the slowest, not the best,
Sacramento that I've rode since
the three prior years that I've rode
here." CN
GRAND NATIONAL
1. Bryan Smith (Kaw)
2. Jake Johnson (Kaw)
3. Jared Mees (H-D)
4. Brandon Robinson (Kaw)
5. Kenny Coolbeth (H-D)
6. Brad Baker (H-D)
7. Sammy Halbert (H-D)
8. Stevie Bonsey (H-D)
9. Briar Bauman (H-D)
10. Cory Texter (Kaw)
