VOL. 51 ISSUE 33 AUGUST 19, 2014 P115
tage of just over a second before
hitting traffic on lap 19.
From there, Wiles cleanly
diced his way past any danger
and nearly doubled his lead to
1.811 second, before finally ac-
cepting the checkered flag to
mark his tenth-straight Peoria TT
triumph.
"I'd like to say it gets old, but
it never does," Wiles said after
securing Grand National Win
number 26. "It was a great day
-- I couldn't be more happy with
this main event. I knew it was go-
ing to be tough. I knew where I
would excel, and where Jared
would excel and where I would
struggle a little bit. I knew what
I knew and it was good enough.
I just barely got him on that sec-
ond start -- (if I didn't) that might
have made life a little bit harder.
"I knew I didn't have to go any
harder than I was and I was just
maintaining it. My dad was giving
me signs and I was just keeping
Briefly...
One rider unwilling to accept the
risks necessary to compete at Peo-
ria was Shayna Texter. She ex-
plained, "A couple years ago I had
an accident here. Life is too short to
race this weekend and not feel safe."
Instead, Texter and her mechanic,
Rich Hansen, were in attendance to
provide additional help for the efforts
of Texter's boyfriend, Briar Bauman.
The Peoria Motorcycle Club paid
tribute to longtime announcer Don-
ny Bargmann, who passed away
earlier this year. A USMC radio field
operator in Vietnam who later made
his mark as the beloved AMA Pro
Flat Track announcer, Bargmann
coined the nicknames, 'Thunder Val-
ley' and 'Hammerin' Hank Wiles' --
two of many he originated that were
in wide use on Sunday.
Jake Johnson showed plenty of
speed on the day, picking up a po-
dium finish in the main event. How-
ever, in terms of sheer spectacle,
he maxed out in the morning free
practice with a series of long-dis-
tance jumps more akin to those seen
at an AMA Motocross race than a TT.
Johnson was routinely landing be-
yond the final distance marker, jump-
ing an estimated 150 feet while the
bulk of the field was touching down
with more modest distances ranging
from 100 to 110 feet. How and why?
"I don't know… Just not letting off I
guess. Usually as the day goes on
it's not really the fastest way to get
around but in practice it's fun to go
out there and keep it pinned and see
how far I can go. I figure at the end
of the day, if I'm not the fastest guy,
at least I'll have jumped the furthest."
Ryan Wells (137) made up
considerable ground on
both men with his third-
place finish on Sunday.
Jacob Lehman (center),
also a TT specialist,
earned his second Pro
Singles career win, his
first coming from Castle
Rock in 2012.
Mees (not pictured) extended
his points in the championship
finishing second to Bryan Smith's
(42) seventh and Jake Johnson's
(5) third.
