IN
THE
WIND
P34
BLACK-FLAG GATE
W
hen Bryan Smith ignored
the black flag at the Calis-
toga Half Mile a few weeks ago,
he was disqualified from the final
results and it marked the death of
his ambitions of winning the 2014
AMA Grand National Champion-
ship. The black flag itself, Smith's
refusal to stop for the black flag,
and the resulting disqualifica-
tion were big talking points in
the world of flat track racing in
the week leading up to Saturday
night's finale in Pomona. Smith
won the race at Pomona, but lost
the title fight to Jared Mees.
Smith's bike was smoking at
Calistoga, thus forcing the AMA's
hand to throw the black flag.
And, unfortunately for Smith, the
cause of the leak was relatively
minor. The results of the black
flag, however, were major.
"There's a little site glass win-
dow and it just cracked it," Smith
said at Pomona. "It didn't even
break it. If it had been anywhere
else on the bike it would've been
fine. But it sits directly above the
exhaust pipe so one little drip
was just like a smoke show. The
bike that was smoking there was
the same bike I rode tonight. And
obviously that shows there were
no problems with it. We went
over everything and the thing still
had plenty of oil in it so we knew
it wasn't hurt; and I knew that
when I was riding it because the
temperature gauge didn't read
high. So it's a bummer when its
something that close. But I guess
that's why it's called racing."
As for the protest Smith filed
with the AMA?
"After at the track AMA accept-
ed my protest or appeal," Smith
explained. "They came back and
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
TOM
HNATIW
Bryan Smith
won the Pomona
Half Mile, but it
wasn't enough
to win the AMA
Grand National
Championship.
