Cycle News

FLAT TRACK AMA PRO FLAT TRACK ROUND 4/MAY 30, 2015 CAL EXPO FAIR/SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA P104 distinct competitiveness of the GNC1 series at present with three different brands filling the podium. Brad Baker and Kenny Coolbeth, Jr. rounded out the top five, both on Harleys. The end result of this year's Sac- ramento Mile—round four of the 16-race Harley-Davidson GNC1 presented by Vance & Hines—is that Coolbeth still leads, but now by just five points (67-62) over Jared Mees. Robinson is third with 56 points. Smith is now the first two-time winner of the season. His victory moved him from seventh to fifth in the standings (just behind Sammy Halbert) with 55 points. The top five are separated by 12 points, which means we still have a very much wide open champi- onship chase. 25 LAPS, FIVE LEADERS Hometown hero Mikey Martin carried his momentum earlier in the night—both a heat race and Dash For Cash win—into the final, leading a tightly-knit group on the first lap of the 25-lap national. Then it was the Latus Motors/Castrol Tri- umph of Robinson coming to the front and leading five laps. Smith charged up from the second row and on lap seven found his way to the front of the pack. He later said he inten- tionally decided to lay back and not push the pace when it became obvious that tires were wearing quickly on the gritty, grooved Sacto Mile surface. My Own Race: 42 BRYAN SMITH 1 ST Bryan Smith pulling out this victory was a testimony to his skill as a rider and his team's ability to make adjustments to the machine as the program progresses. The end result was yet another victory for Smith, with a picture-perfect pass at the line on Brandon Robinson. "This was the tough- est one by far," Smith said comparing this win to his other four Sacramento Mile wins. "It was a scrap. I got to the lead fast. I didn't think that would happen from the second row. That kind of changed my strategy with the tire wear. My tire was bald. I got up there fast, but I really didn't want to burn my tire off so I was kind of playing a little cat and mouse and just cruising. I thought it was going to be just me and Jared and then we kind of got racing and screwed it up and then here come the other guys. Luckily I just squeaked past Brandon [Robinson] at the line. I set him up perfect com- ing out of four and got a 100 percent draft and went on by. Now we're closer in the points than we were last year going to Hagerstown and Lima. We've still got a couple of 450 races that I've got to make sure I get through, but things are shaping up pretty nicely at this point." 44 BRANDON ROBINSON 2 ND Brandon Robinson came a wheel length away from giving Triumph its first AMA Pro Grand National victory in nearly 36 years. He led eight laps on the Latus Motors/Castrol Triumph, including coming out of turn four the final time, but got nipped by Smith at the line. "We struggled really bad in qualifying," Robinson said. "We were 27 th or 28 th or something like that. But I've got [tuner] Brent Armbruster with me and he's one of the best in the business. We kept plugging away and got it running good and it was handling awesome. The first couple of laps I knew we were going to be strong. The tires went away. I could hear them chirping and they were bald, so I was pushing as much as I could in the turns and letting the bike do the rest on the straight- away. All together it was an awesome race. This is our sec- ond race together. It's cool to put Triumph on the podium. It gives us something to shoot for." Jay Springsteen also undefeated in Sacramento, winning the second annual "Clash of the Titans" match race against Chris Carr.

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