ready to break Smith's record
Sacramento winning streak. It
ultimately didn't happen though.
Smith found a way to preserve
the tires on his Kawasaki and pull
out a perfect home-stretch draft
pass on Triumph's Brandon Rob-
inson to score his fifth-consecu-
tive victory at the historic venue.
And you can't put this one
all to Smith's factory-backed
Crosley Radio/Howerton Motor-
sports Kawasaki. Yes, Smith's
bike was strong as usual, but
the other bikes in the lead pack
looked equally as fast. Tonight
it was the vast experience and
racing savvy of Smith on the
VOL. 52 ISSUE 22 JUNE 2, 2015 P101
Briefly...
Three-time World Superbike Cham-
pion Troy Bayliss crashed his Lloyd
Brothers Ducati in turn three during
his semi. Bayliss hit the air fence
hard and according to his own re-
ports, snagged his boot and twisted
his leg when he hit the air fence and
broke his right ankle. Bayliss was
flying back to Australia to have sur-
gery on the ankle. No word yet on if
Bayliss will return to race flat track in
America.
Bryan Smith won his second race
of the season, his fifth at Sacramento
and his 19th-career AMA Pro Grand
National victory. Those 19 wins move
him past Jake Johnson and into a tie
with Carroll Resweber, Gary Nixon,
Gary Scott and Rich King for 15th
on the all-time wins list. Smith is now
either the third or fourth-ranked wins
leader among active riders, depend-
ing on how you classify Joe Kopp.
Only Kenny Coolbeth (34 wins),
Henry Wiles (26 wins) and the semi-
retired Kopp (21 wins) now have
more than Smith.
The Sacramento Mile had a very
good crowd this year, considerably
larger than 2014, in spite of a date
change from July to May, which of-
ten leads to a dip in attendance.
Motorcycle Hall of Famer Jim Rice
was the Grand Marshal of this year's
Sacramento Mile. Rice led a lap of
the mile charity ride and signed auto-
graphs for much of the day. It's been
almost 45 years, but people still talk
to Rice about his spectacular crash
after a heat race in 1970 that was
captured in the seminal racing docu-
mentary "On Any Sunday." It's a ma-
jor part of the storied history of the
Sacramento Mile.
continued on next page
STREAK ALIVE AT FIVE
FIFTH CONSECUTIVE SACRAMENTO MILE
