Cycle News

FLAT TRACK AMA GRAND NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 9/AUGUST 2, 2014 CASTLE ROCK RACE PARK/CASTLE ROCK, WASHINGTON P56 for more passing opportunities. There were also those who sup- ported the change and didn't see it as safety issue. Smith wasn't against a second jump, but felt it was in the wrong place and was an accident wait- ing to happen. "It was fine when you're by yourself, but for having 18 of us out there it was just in the wrong place," Smith said. "I'm not say- ing I'm against the second jump, but funneling everybody in the infield when you're really hauling ass through three and four… and then you're jumping towards the wall and out of all of us flat track- ers there's only a couple that can really jump right. It was just an ac- cident that was going to happen. So I'm glad they took it out be- cause it kept the speed up more and prevented accidents, I think. If not we'd probably still be racing because they'd be peeling bikes out of the fence. So I think it was a smart move." Halbert was on the fence on the issue. "Some riders felt it was unsafe, the second jump," Halbert said. "I was kind of mixed about it. I didn't really feel it was unsafe at all, but thought it might of taken away some passing opportuni- ties but wasn't really sure how it would play out until we gave it a shot in the race." Halbert's fellow Washingtonian Baker was all for the jump and didn't see it as a safety concern. "I was for it. I actually wanted them to run it," Baker said. "I was really comfortable here on the test day running it. And I think it would've made for a more techni- cal race like I was saying and also just a second jump is something extra for the fans to try and enjoy. They looked at it as a safety issue and stuff like the wall being close... the staging being close. This is motorcycle racing; not everything's safe. Of course, you want to make it as safe as possible. But it's way safer than the Peoria jump and way safer than a motocross track." Wiles also was for it. "I was all for the second jump only because the pro- moters did that for a reason," Wiles said. They wanted to try to incorporate that. I'm all about promoters that are trying to make the track bet- ter and trying to make a track racier so that we can pass." But at the end of the day, es- pecially for Wiles it wasn't about a second jump it was all about the berm. "Big thanks to the Mt. St. Helens motorcycle club for try- ing, thinking outside of the box," Wiles said. "I might have only got a third or maybe a second here if they didn't have that right-hand berm." CN GRAND NATIONAL 1. Henry Wiles (Kawasaki) 2. Mike Rush (Honda) 3. Brad Baker (Honda) 4. Jared Mees (Honda) 5. JD Beach (Yamaha) 6. Jeffrey Carver Jr. (Honda) 7. Jake Johnson (Honda) 8. Sammy Halbert (Yamaha) 9. Stevie Bonsey (Honda) 10. Bryan Smith (Kawasaki) (Left to right) Rush, Wiles and Baker were all happy to get back on the podium for the first time this season.

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