STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY LARRY LAWRENCE
T
he Springfield Mile is an American tradition,
right up there with baseball, hot dogs and ap-
ple pie. Fans of the classic race tend to wor-
ship at the altar of Willie G. and his merry band of
brothers up in Milwaukee so when riders racing Jap-
anese-made motorcycles (specifically Kawasakis)
started dominating Springfield in recent years, there
was cause for concern. You could see the results in
the grandstands. Empty seats. Something promoter
IMDA is not used to seeing.
So Kenny Coolbeth Jr.'s thrilling victory on a Za-
notti Racing Harley-Davidson XR750 over Bryan
Smith on the Villa-Esparza/Crosley Radio Kawasaki
not only showed there's still plenty of life left in the
40-something-year-old XR, but it will likely bring back
some of the fair-weather fans who love nothing more
than to root for American metal. The fact that race
VOL. 51 ISSUE 35 SEPTEMBER 3, 2014 P67
Briefly...
Kenny Coolbeth Jr.'s win at Spring-
field marked his fourth victory of the
season. That matches Bryan Smith
for the most wins in 2014. Coolbeth
also now moves into a tie with the
legendary Kenny Roberts for sixth
on the all-time AMA Grand National
wins list with 33-career victories.
Coolbeth is the winningest active
rider in the championship.
Coolbeth's win at the Springfield
Mile was his third-career victory
at the historic track. It was also his
first without controversy. In May of
2007, when Coolbeth earned his first
Springfield Mile victory, his factory
Harley-Davidson was measured un-
derweight at the track so the result
pended further tests, which the bike
ultimately passed. Then in August of
2008 Coolbeth won Springfield for
a second time, but was roundly criti-
cized by Chris Carr for making what
Carr considered a dangerous weav-
ing move coming out of turn four that
nearly put Carr on the ground after
the two made contact.
Coolbeth said he didn't have a feel-
ing that he would get the victory in
this year's Springfield Mile even af-
ter the main was underway. "Not at
all until I won really," Coolbeth said
when asked. "At this place anybody
can go fast. It's pretty much you have
to out trick them on the last lap –
that's pretty much what it takes."
In terms of the championship, the
Springfield Mile victory kept Cool-
beth in the championship picture,
but being 53 points out of the lead
with just two races remaining, he
would need some DNFs out of the
three riders ahead of him (Bryan
Smith, Jared Mees and Jake John-
continued on next page
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