Cycle News

VOL. 52 ISSUE 22 JUNE 2, 2015 P103 onds behind Smith. Impressive considering the fact that Mees raced and won in Wisconsin at the Dairyland Classic the night before and flew to Sacramento Saturday morning to contest the national. "They've all been hard in their own way," said Smith about his latest Sacramento win. "Last year, I had to work for it and this year it was even a tougher scrap. It makes it worth it more, I guess. I have to say, with five laps to go, I didn't know if I was going to be able to pull it off. I just dug down and thought to myself how everyone was watch- ing so I guess I'd better go for it." The podium showed the Briefly... This year's edition of the Sacra- mento Mile was the 50th running of the historic race. The race dates all the way back to 1914 when the FAM (predecessor to today's AMA) held a national at the old fairgrounds mile. The AMA Grand National at Sacra- mento first began in 1959, when late Carroll Resweber became the first to win a Sacramento Mile AMA Grand National. With his win Smith moved into a tie with Bubba Shobert on the all-time Sacramento Mile wins list with five apiece. That list is headed by Scott Parker, who won 13 Sacra- mento Miles, during the years when the track hosted two nationals a sea- son—one in the spring and one in the fall. Chris Carr is second on that list with nine. "I was looking at the all- time Sacramento Mile wins," Smith said. "I saw Scotty's [Parker] number and I doubt I'll ever be able to catch that. It's still an honor to be up there with guys like Scotty, who was a hero and mentor of mine." Two-time AMA Superbike winner Paul Ritter was on hand at Sacra- mento signing autographs and sell- ing his new book, "Racing the Gods: A Ducati Superbike Racer's Autobi- ography." The former AMA flat track and road racing standout Mike Sulli- van was also seen among the crowd at Sacramento. Sullivan is ready to set off for a European vacation where he'll attend both World Super- bike and MotoGP events. In the Sacramento Mile main event this year Harley-Davidsons and Ka- wasaki each had seven entries. Tri- umph had two and there was a Duca- ti and KTM in the field of 18 riders. ARMSTRONG'S FIRST In a wild GNC2 main event, Nick Armstrong came away with his first career AMA Pro Flat Track victory, and it came in his home state of California. Riding the number 44E Southland Racing Honda, Arm- strong was neck-and- neck with Tristan Avery on the race's final lap, but managed to put his wheel in front of the rookie for the win. By taking the checkered flag, Arm- strong catapulted himself to first in the GNC2 point standings after four rounds. "It's huge to come away with the Sacramento Mile win," said Arm- strong, who is from Norco, Califor- nia. "This is kind of a home race for me and I have a lot of friends and family here, so to come away with this win is awesome." Avery, riding the number 16S Ron Ayers Motorsports Honda, recorded the best finish of his young profes- sional career, and with the runner- up performance, now sits 15th in the standings. Rounding out the podium with an impressive third place finish was Indiana's Brandon Wilhelm aboard the number 24J Mike Butler Racing Honda. Wilhelm has now recorded three-consecutive top-five finishes to start the 2015 GNC2 season and sits second in points behind Armstrong. Jamison Minor, riding the number 27U Roy Built Honda and Kolby Car- lile, aboard the number 36B K.C. Cycle Helmet World Kawasaki, fin- ished fourth and fifth, respectively. It was a rough finish to the night for Davis Fisher, who crashed while leading the main event for nine laps after tangling with Bronson Bauman. The number 67M Parkinson Broth- ers Racing rider held the points lead entering Sacramento, but his 17th place finish puts him back to third in the championship hunt. "We were battling pretty good and the first pass he made on me was pretty close," Fisher said of his race with Bauman. "The second one was too close. I think it was in- tentional, so I don't know. Going into turn one he took my bars out." Fisher was icing a sore left wrist. Nick Armstrong (44E) took top honors in the GNC2 class. continued on next page

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