VOL. 51 ISSUE 32 AUGUST 12, 2014 P71
his fastest lap of the race on the
final lap aboard his Bill Werner
Kawasaki as he and Jake Shoe-
maker battled over eighth.
THE MAN TO BEAT
Coming into Indy, Smith was
the rider with the target on his
back. The Villa-Esparza/Crosley
Radios Kawasaki ace had won
this year's Springfield and Sac-
ramento Miles and he was the
defending winner at Indianapolis.
Everything was going according
Briefly...
Children, an emergency shelter for
at risk children in the Hayden family's
hometown of Owensboro, Kentucky.
Jake Johnson won the Dash for
Cash race on his Ramspur Winery/
Lloyd Bros Motorsports Ducati Hy-
permotard over Coolbeth and Smith.
It marked the first Dash for Cash win
for Johnson since Daytona. Johnson
now has two Dash wins this season.
Sammy Halbert owns four Dash
wins, Bryan Smith two and Jared
Mees and Mike Rush one apiece so
far in 2014.
Joe Kopp came out of semi-retire-
ment to race one of the Latus Mo-
tors/Castrol Triumph factory-backed
Bonnevilles. The 45-year-old former
champ looked surprisingly strong
in his heat race, where he was run-
ning third to Bryan Smith and Jake
Johnson before electrical problems
dropped him from the race. "I was
just using this as practice and work-
ing on set-up," Kopp said. "And then
in the heat race I got a good start
and Bryan and Jake were right there
and I was like 'Dang!' and then with a
couple of laps to go it started to spit-
ter and sputter with something elec-
trical, something with the chip. It's
never a good thing when you see the
laptop on the bike after the race." He
and teammate Shayna Texter were
plagued with bike issues all night and
neither made the main.
Nichole Mees made her third main
event of the season at Indy. She
looked solid in her semi, winning
on her Black Hills Harley-Davidson
XR750 over Cory Texter on the
Racing Unlimited Kawasaki, before
finishing 16th in the National. "I just
missed making the main in the heat
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