FLAT TRACK
AMA GRAND NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 12/AUGUST 17, 2014
PEORIA RACE PARK/PEORIA, ILLINOIS
P118
over the race's opening
four laps. However, what
seemed to be a certain
crash of his Brothers Pow-
er Sports Honda CRF450R
while landing the jump
crossed up was saved in
miraculous fashion on lap
five. Although he somehow
kept it upright, that moment
opened the door for John-
son to squirt through.
A second mistake on the
champ's part allowed Johnson to
escape with the final spot on the
box, while Baker was forced to
turn his attention to those riders
reeling him in from behind.
"We kind of had an up-and-
down day," third-place finisher
Johnson said. "We were fast ear-
ly and then we struggled and we
kind of pulled it together for the
main event. It's nice to get on the
box, but man, when you're half
the track behind the guys, that
kinda sucks.
"They were on it. They were
battling the whole way and those
guys are tough here. We've al-
ways been pretty decent here
but just a tick off. We'll take the
podium and we made up some
points in the main event. We're
staying consistent. We're on the
box almost every week and do-
ing what we need to do… we just
need to do it a little better."
Baker, whose conditioning is
still suffering following his early-
season training accident, was
eventually overhauled by charger
Briar Bauman -- who found him-
self outside the top 10 aboard
his Rod Lake Racing Honda
CRF450R on the race's opening
lap only to claw his way to fourth
-- and Bonsey, who rounded out
the top five.
Baker held on for sixth ahead
of Smith, while Weirbach Rac-
ing's Robert Pearson, Motion
Pro/Ronnie Brown-backed
Shaun Russell, and Cascio Rush
Racing's Mike Rush collected
the final three spots in the top 10.
THE CASUALTY
Zanotti Racing's Kenny Cool-
beth, Jr. met his goal of simply
making the main after failing to
do so last year at Peoria and a
couple weeks back at the Castle
Rock TT. However, his 16
th
-place
ride paid just three points and he
now sits a distant fourth at 160,
some 44 points out of the lead
and with only four races remain-
ing to dig himself out of that hole.
Coolbeth should feel more at
home next weekend at the Virgin-
ia Mega Mile, but he isn't helped
by the fact that Smith showed the
speed to win there last year, and
Mees, in fact, took the inaugural
main event at the 1.25-mile circuit
last August. CN
GRAND NATIONAL
1. Henry Wiles (Kawasaki)
2. Jared Mees (Honda)
3. Jake Johnson (Honda)
4. Briar Bauman (Honda)
5. Stevie Bonsey (Honda)
6. Brad Baker (Honda)
7. Bryan Smith (Kawasaki)
8. Robert Pearson (Kawasaki)
9. Shaun Russell (Honda)
10. Mike Rush (Honda)
Wiles (center) keeps his
Peoria dominance intact,
while Mees (left) and
Johnson (right) will have to
wait another year for that
elusive TT win.
