VOL. 52 ISSUE 27 JULY 7, 2015 P109
Briefly...
vidson entry was her best result of
the season. Nichole is now 16th in
the standings, which if she can re-
main inside the top-20, would mark
her best-career ranking. Mees an-
nounced earlier this season that
2015 would be her last year as a full-
time rider in the series.
Brandon Robinson and the Latus
Motorsport/Castrol Triumph were
out early in the main, dropping out
on lap nine while running seventh.
"We fried a clutch in the heat race
and changed it, but it started slipping
during the warm-up lap. I went to the
backup bike and we were running
pretty good and it started cutting out
going down the back straightaway
and then shut off when I pulled off
the track."
Brad Baker led portions of the na-
tional and looked solid on his factory
Harley-Davidson, but about five laps
from the end his motor went up in
smoke. He quickly hit the kill switch
and pulled off the racing line. "It's a
bummer," Baker said. "It was any-
body's race to win. The bike was la-
boring before the red flag and I went
back out just hoping that it lasted. I
shut it off when I realized the motor
was going away. Fortunately with all
the DNFs, we ended up still finishing
12th, so we got some points. We're
fifth, but only 20 [points] out of the
lead. I'm going to keep working hard
and see if we can chip away at that."
The Magic Mile took its toll on man
and machine. Only nine riders were
running at the end of the 25 laps.
The non-finishers included veteran
Willie McCoy who was out early with
mechanicals on his Harley-David-
"Things are coming around pretty
well," said Smith, who was the only
rider able to dip into the 35s. "The
second session got pretty dry and
I wasn't fastest in that. I knew that
session was going to be slower so
I didn't go out and hang it out too
much. It's going to be interesting.
There's a little bit of rubber down,
but it's really slick. The groove will
come in, but I imagine everyone is
going to be chasing that little bit of
fluff on the outside."
As the evening turned to night the
groove became wider and it made
for an excellent racing surface with
riders able to race on the groove or
go outside and chase the cushion,
which was getting pushed ever
higher.
THE NATIONAL
Zanotti Racing Harley-Davidson's
Coolbeth nailed the holeshot at
the start of the national, but it
was teammate Henry Wiles com-
ing up to lead the first lap. A six-
rider breakaway formed with Wiles,
Harley-Davidson Screamin' Eagle's
Brad Baker, Smith and Coolbeth all
Racing Kawasaki rider per-
formed well for the second-
straight event. He closed out
the podium with a third place
finish.
Dan Bromley was fourth
on the Bill Werner Racing
Kawasaki and Ryan Varnes,
riding the Varnes Racing
Kawasaki, finished fifth.
The lap times for the
GNC2 riders were generally
about 8-10ths of a second slower than
the GNC1 riders.
Tristan Avery came out on top in the
GNC2 class, a career first for the Ron
Ayers Motorsports Kawasaki rider.
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