Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/517599
VOL. 52 ISSUE 21 MAY 27, 2015 P87 Briefly... The highly-anticipated nature of this year's Springfield Mile did not translate to fans in the stands. The turnout was light for Springfield. Of- ficials speculated the heavy rains that blanketed areas just west of Springfield was the primary reason the crowd was down. Rain was also predicted for Springfield for race day and in fact there was a brief shower during practice. Some also ventured a guess that having the race live on FansChoice.TV could also be a fac- tor in the diminishing crowds during the May event. Bryan Smith won the four-lap Dash for Cash, a race between the top six qualifiers, over Jared Mees and Sammy Halbert. Brad Baker, Bran- don Robinson and Johnny Lewis also made the Dash. For the 2015 season, the winner of the Dash for Cash is awarded one championship point, but no other finishers earn points for their performance. Instead, the starting lineup for the GNC1 main is based on finishing position in the Dash. Previously, the top five finishers in the six-rider Dash for Cash earned championship points, with five points awarded to the winner. Jake Shoemaker used his provi- sional start option after his Bonnev- ille Performance Triumph had issues during his heat race. Shoemaker parlayed his provisional into a 16th- place finish in the Main. Ricky Howerton is once again in- volved fulltime with his own Cros- ley Brands/Howerton Motorsports squad. While still involved last year, he'd taken a step back from the team >>TROY BAYLISS' GRAND NATIONAL DEBUT On the first lap of his heat race Troy Bayliss came charging down the back straightaway on his Lloyd Brothers Racing Ducati 1100, getting the benefit of a multi-bike draft in front of him. He got totally sucked in way too fast into turn three and ran wide off the line and dropped to last. Welcome to Grand National racing Mr. Bayliss. It was a steep learning curve, for the former three-time World Super- bike Champion, but Bayliss was game and the fans loved it. His line was long for autographs and it was obvious in listening to their comments that they were thrilled to have Bayliss as part of the Grand Nationals. Bayliss looked a bit shaky in the early going, at one point even hitting the outside wall at speed while exit- ing a turn, but by the time his semi came around he was looking ever more confident. He actually edged out the much more experienced flat tracker Danny Eslick in the second semi in their battle for 12th. "I knew it was going to be dif- ficult," Bayliss admitted. "It would have been like a dream come true to make the main, but honestly I knew it was going to be very hard. Every time I went out I got faster and in that last one I felt good. I'm basically now one second off the fast guys, so I'm pretty happy, even though some peo- ple in Australia were thinking I was going to come here and kick ass. It's not the case. These guys have been doing this their whole lives and it is a big eye opener. We'll tweak the bike and see if I can get even more comfortable. I'm happy." Bayliss said after his first few laps in the morning he felt like going home. "But you've just got to perse- vere," he said. Seven-time AMA Grand National Champion Chris Carr liked what he saw out of Bayliss. "Bayliss is on a steep learning curve," Carr said. "The problem is it's a short steep learning curve. The guy got less than 30 laps around here. So after having so few laps I thought that was a pretty good performance. For anybody to expect him to make the main today I think was overthinking this and his talents. To expect Troy to come out here and have the kind of pace of these top guys would be like expecting me to come out of retirement and show up at a World Superbike and be in the top 10. It's not going to happen. "But what I saw in Troy was encouraging. He had a smile on his face, he enjoyed himself, but he also knows that he jumped off the deep end a bit and that's good, because he came here with the right attitude, he knew that he bit off a lot and he's going to take his time. The test will be how he does when he comes here in the fall, when he gets to revisit a track for the second time, the only time this year. He's going to use these races coming up to gain some valuable experience." MotoAmerica rider (and dirt tracker) JD Beach was on hand to coach the three-time World champ, Troy Bayliss in his Grand National debut. continued on next page