VOL. 52 ISSUE 33 AUGUST 18, 2015 P111
ning Twins here next year," Wiles
said. "I'm not against the move,
but who knows what will happen
then."
Besides the history-making
race turned in by Wiles, a
glimpse into the future perhaps
emerged in the form of 21-year-
old San Francisco Bay-area rider
Dominic Colindres. The GNC1
rookie, who just moved up to the
premier class halfway through
the season finished third. It
marked his first podium in GNC1.
Perhaps more importantly, Colin-
dres gained a ton of confidence
by holding off Mees in his heat
race. He was not able to keep
for him and the 1.342-second
margin of victory for Wiles at the
end of 25 laps turned out to be
his biggest lead of the race.
Wiles not only earned his 11
th
-
consecutive Peoria TT victory,
the win also pushed his career
TT win total to 16. That makes
Wiles AMA Pro Grand National
racing's all-time wins leader
in the TT category. Wiles will
surely go down in history as
the best TT racer the sport
has ever witnessed. He talked
afterwards of the uncertainty
about how he'll do if the race
in fact becomes a GNC Twins
event in 2016, with competitors
racing the big bikes that they
normally only run on Miles and
Half-Miles.
"It could be the end of an era
since it sounds like we'll be run-
Briefly...
be ruts leading up to the jump, a little
kicker, a lot of things. I think maybe
I do flick the bike a little more side-
ways than I did years ago." Wiles is
generally considered to be the first
elite rider to bring in motocross-style
scrubbing, where he lays his bike on
its side over the jump to stay lower
and land sooner. Jared Mees was
approaching the jump differently, hit-
ting it with as much speed as possi-
ble and flying farther down the land-
ing area, sometimes beyond the last
maker of 140 feet.
The two main female riders in the
GNC1 series Nichole Mees and
Shayna Texter did not race at Peo-
ria.
Modifications to the classic TT
circuit tried during an amateur event
held earlier in the summer, which
utilized a chicane coming out of turn
two, was done by the Peoria Mo-
torcycle Club in order to test ways
to slow down the approach speed
to the jump. The chicane was not
popularly received by fans, but the
fact remains that entries in recent
years to the national are down con-
siderably, some believe influenced
by the spate of bad crashes off the
jump, which has spooked a lot of rid-
ers. The Springfield TT course used
to be a different layout every year
and riders would test the configura-
tion during a press day the week of
the race and track builders would
consult with the riders and make ap-
propriate modifications. The Peoria
club was thinking about that type of
approach for the Peoria track, but as
they found, fans don't like messing
around with the long traditional lay-
out of the Peoria TT circuit.
Peoria always draws a massive
crowd, and they witnessed history
with Wiles claiming an incredible
16
th
TT victory and his 11
th
in a row.
