VOL. 52 ISSUE 28 JULY 14, 2015 P97
to a horrible looking crash by
Shawn Baer between turns
one and two on lap three. Baer
drifted too wide and caught the
air barrier. The impact broke the
front end off his SBR/Straight
Arrow Trucking KTM, sending it
shooting off across the path of
the oncoming riders. Disaster
was narrowly avoided. The front
fork and wheel brushed past
the front of Henry Wiles' face so
close that it tore the visor from
his helmet. Johnny Lewis also
hit debris from the crash with
his right arm. Baer was shaken
up in the race, but not seriously
injured.
Briefly...
The Indy Mile victory was Brad Bak-
er's second win of the season and
the fifth AMA Pro Grand National win
of his career. That moves him up to
tie for 48th on the all-time Grand Na-
tional wins list with eight other riders.
It also marked Baker's first win on a
mile.
Five different brands of motorcy-
cles were represented in the 2015
edition of the Indy Mile Grand Na-
tional Main event. The field consist-
ed of eight riders aboard Kawasakis,
six on Harley-Davidsons, Triumph
and KTM had two apiece and Ducati
had a single entry.
Jeffrey Carver, Jr. crashed his
Don's Kawasaki in the main bringing
out the second of three red flags.
Carver explained what happened. "I
was chasing the cushion the whole
time," he said. "I decided to drop
down to the grove where everybody
was getting me on the apex. I just got
in too hard and tucked the front and
ended up having both feet off the
side of the bike and sliding across
the racetrack." Carver was okay and
made the restart and finished 14th.
The lack of spectators at Indy was
a head scratcher. No numbers were
released, but a rough estimation was
that there were no more than 2000
fans in attendance. It's obvious that
the idea that Indianapolis is a motor-
sports-crazy town is pretty much a
thing of the past. There was a solid
amount of advertising in local radio
and TV leading up the event and area
media did advance stories on the
race. After talking to the organizers
it sounded as if the future of the race
may be in jeopardy if the race date
alongside MotoGP at the nearby In-
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