VOL. 52 ISSUE 32 AUGUST 11, 2015 P117
Briefly...
Lap two of the GNC 1 main event saw
Harley-Davidson Screamin' Eagle's
Brad Baker struggling to get off the
racetrack. Baker had taken a rock
to the lower leg, resulting in a com-
pound fracture for the 2014 Grand
National Champion.
Although not really visible, the banked
clay half mile was apparently full of the
dangerous projectiles. "There were
just a lot of rocks flying. Somebody
passed me and it felt like it took my fin-
ger off, no big deal," said Bryan Smith
as he displayed a finger with the skin
ripped off. "I couldn't believe how
many rocks were out there. I guess
it was just in the main. It seemed like
somebody shook out a dump truck
of big rocks. I don't know if more of
us got them turned up or broke them
out of the dirt or what. There were a
couple big ones out there."
With both the GNC 1 and GNC 2
points leaders taking wins going into
the second half of the season, the
points race is becoming ever clear-
er. Davis Fisher has posted three
second-place finishes to go with his
two wins propelling him to a thirteen
point lead over Dan Bromley who has
had consecutive runner-up finishes.
Jamison Minor is another six points
back. Nick Armstrong, JR Addison,
Bronson Bauman and Brandon Wil-
helm are in a tight pack, all within
seven points of each other.
Jared Mees answered the "when
will he win" question with his solid
performance. Consistency has been
the motto all year as he has posted
seven top -our finishes in the eight
races run so far. Despite posting
three wins this year, Bryan Smith
finds himself once again behind his
charged into second.
"We were pretty equal so it
was hard to gain any ground,"
said Coolbeth. "In turns one and
two I was entering way lower and
just letting it drift up. I got my
momentum that way. It was actu-
ally working, I was catching him
there. He would gain coming
out a little, but I would gain extra
going in."
With four laps to go, the battle
for the lead caught the tail end of
the field.
"I started to climb my way
back up and almost got to him
and then the lapped rider kind
of shafted us a little bit," said
Coolbeth. "After that it was pretty
much over, but that's racing. I'm
kind of bummed out, but happy.
We've been struggling for the
last couple weeks so it feels
good to be on the podium."
Mees' plan was simple
enough.
"Just to run consistent laps
and keep my head down and
keep going," said Mees. "Pull-
ing it out when it really counted
John Vanderlaan
edged Gauthier
for sixth.
Rod Lake/
RGR/Hart Rac-
ing's Bronson
Bauman, Roy
Built/Moose
Racing's Jamison
Minor and Rod
Ayers Motors-
port's Tristan
Avery completed
the top 10.
Davis Fisher
overcame a bad
start to earn his
second GNC 2 win
of the season.
Kenny Coolbeth,
Jr. (2) looked
to be the man
to beat, but a
poor start hurt
his chances of
challenging the
on-form Mees.
continued on next page
