VOL. 51 ISSUE 41 OCTOBER 14, 2014 P57
do that in practice so the track
definitely came to me.
"I knew I just had to get a
good start that way I could ride
my line. Cause it's easy here for
somebody else to dictate where
you ended up because you're
going in wide and somebody
else can just go in low and total-
ly block ya. So I just knew I had
to really get a good start in the
first corner."
So that's what Smith did and
he was unbeatable. The man
who came into Pomona third in
the championship, Jake John-
son on the Ramspur Winery
Lloyd Bros. Motorsports Harley-
Davidson, tried to chase him
down but it was too little too late
and he finished a solid second.
The two-time AMA Grand
National Champion was disap-
pointed with another winless
season, but he was solid all year
long and happy to finish the year
on a good note.
"Another winless year, but
had some good finishes," John-
Briefly...
As is typical with the racing fam-
ily, thoughts were with absent rider
Jethro Halbert – the older brother
of Sammy Halbert - who suffered a
severe head injury in a crash during
one of the heat races at the previ-
ous round at Calistoga. Fellow rid-
ers sported number 69 stickers in
support of Jethro at the season fi-
nale. According to a family source,
Jethro's status continues to improve
and is being moved to a long-term
acute rehab facility in the bay area.
A GoFund Me account has been set
up to help the family at http://goo.
gl/N87iwf
Once again the Super Speedway
Invitational returned as a part of the
program to the AMA Pro Flat Track
finale at Pomona. And, once again,
Speedway legend Billy Hamill took
top honors on the 5/8
th
-mile track.
With speeds of 120 mph and on a
track of up to five times larger than
what they normally race here in the
states it definitely earns the "Su-
per" title and was, as usual, a crowd
pleaser.
the 16 year old from Warren, Oregon,
was more than happy with his results
in his rookie season and capped it off
with back-to-back wins in his return
from injury.
"It's not disappointing at all," Fisher
said. "My goal was to get top 10 this
year. To finish the season off a point
behind Kyle is a pretty good feeling.
I did the best I could the last two
races."
Finishing third was the other
standout rookie, Jarod Vanderkooi
on the Johnny's Vintage Motorcycle
Honda. Vanderkooi had made his Pro
singles debut after turning 16 at the
third round of the season at Knox-
ville Raceway. Vanderkooi
won two races in his rookie
season – Grays Harbor Half-
Mile and Indy Mile – and also
swept the Springfield Mile in
the Basic Twins class.
Finishing fourth and the
top finishing KTM in a sea
of Hondas was Ryan Wells.
Behind Wells was a trail of
Hondas: Ryan Foster in fifth,
Jeffery Lowery in sixth, Nick
Armstrong in seventh and Rodney
Spencer Jr. in eighth. Rounding out
the top 10 was Dan Bromley on a KTM
and James Monaco on a Honda.
Kyle Johnson soldiered on with a
broken hand to finish second and take
the AMA Pro Singles Championship by
one point over Davis Fisher.
