SUPERPRESTIGIO OF THE AMERICAS
VOL. 52 ISSUE 47 NOVEMBER 24, 2015 P65
Briefly...
now. I was working hard to get the
number-one plate even though it
was a long shot. It was just one of
those things—bad qualifying. I need
to be good right out of the box and
we weren't. By the time we got go-
ing it was B Main and then in the B
Main I got caught up in an incident
and stalled and didn't make it to the
A Main. It's frustrating because you
want to ride the track so hard, but it's
almost go slow to go fast."
Jake Johnson finished his part-
time season on a decent note in Las
Vegas by finishing fifth in the main
event. "I could have been better,
but it could have been a lot worse,"
Johnson said. "It was definitely a bit
of survival. The way the format was,
I've never gotten second in a Heat
race and had to go ride a Semi, so
it put a little extra pressure on. In the
Semi I got shuffled back and thought
I was headed to the B Main, but then
the chaos started and guys were go-
ing down left and right and I got up
to second, into a transfer spot. In the
main event the middle of the back
row was probably the worst place
you could be. I didn't really have
anywhere to go in the first corner. I
was 10th or 11th on the first lap. I kind
of just got settled into a line down
low and try to be consistent and not
make any mistakes and I was able to
roll up to fifth."
Brad Baker had a scary crash in one
of his qualifying races Friday night
when he and Henry Wiles tangled.
The two shot straight out towards
the wall with Baker hitting head first.
Baker said later he was sore, but that
"he felt a lot better than he should
have after a crash like that." After he
Champion depending on how
you count. In 2009 he won the
Grand National Twins Cham-
pionship during a time when
GNC Twins and GNC Singles
titles were awarded separately.
Regardless of how you look at
it, Mees has become the rider
to beat due to his versatility in
all four disciplines of flattrack
racing.
Mees got the 2015 title like
he has in his previous champi-
onships, by consistency. This
season he took victory at the
Black Hills Half-Mile and was on
wrong, well then you start doing
a lot of things wrong. I was hit-
ting holes and hanging off the
side of the thing and just mak-
ing a lot of mistakes. Eventually
I slowed down. It was one of
those racetracks where whoever
could make the least amount of
mistakes was going to win."
THE NEW CHAMP
Mees is the new AMA Pro Grand
National Champion. It's his
third title in the past four years.
He's now either a three-or four-
time AMA Pro Grand National
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