Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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VOL. 53 ISSUE 10 MARCH 15, 2016 P67 it would be Jake." Coolbeth was able to grab second from Halbert on lap 23 and give Zanotti Racing the top two podium spots. "I actually thought that Sam- my's bike was missing when I didn't trip the beam. I jumped, then stopped and as soon as I stopped the light went green and I was way in the back. I got situated and just started picking away. It kind of sucks but if there is anyone that I want to beat me Coolbeth was charging to the front. The winner of round two in both 2014 and 2015 was on a mission. "I think I actually jumped the start," Coolbeth said. "I was over the beam. I have no clue why it My Own Race: 42 BRYAN SMITH 5 TH /8 TH PLACE Recently the Daytona short track has been hard on the Crosley Brands/Howerton Racing-backed Smith and in fact a heat race spill on Friday forced him to use his Provisional Start Card. Smith was able to make the most of it however as he worked his way up from 18th on the first lap to an eighth-place finish after racing from 16th on Thursday to fifth. "The day started off good in qualifying. I didn't make changes to the bike that I should have for the heat race", said Smith of his Thursday night. "I did make changes for the semi and we were good. I had to start on the third row in the main, so I didn't really have high expectations. Everybody knows how this place is. It is extremely hard to come from the back. To get a top five from the third row, I'm more than happy." Even though it is early in the season, Smith was comfortable with using his provisional on Friday. "I had to use my provisional. You never know what is going to happen later so you can't chance it. If I had run a 10th in the semi then I would have thought about it, but I was close to trans- ferring and ran fifth last night. I didn't really feel like I was off the pace. I think it was smart to use it. It paid off. It's hard to gamble that way but you never know what's going to happen at the next races. It can work for you or against you." 1 JARED MEES 4 TH /9 TH PLACE The Defending Grand National Champion got off to a good if not great start, finishing a solid fourth on Thurs- day and then struggling, somewhat, to a ninth-place finish on Friday. "I just rode the first few laps, kind of not the line that I was running midrace. I feel like if I could do it all over again I would have been a little better off," said the champ. "I picked it up quite a bit at the end. I'll make a few changes for the second race and get better. It was good. Last year we got like a second and an eleventh, but we walked out with some points. Hopefully the second day we will get another top five. We are of course shooting for a win or podium. We want to walk out with as many points as we can." 6 BRAD BAKER 3 RD /4 TH PLACE It was a very solid start to 2016 for the 2013 GNC 1 Champion. Baker was able to cruise to a third place fin- ish on Thursday, but Friday was a different story as Baker worked his way through the semis into a back row start for the National. " I'm happy with it. When you have to work that hard and are down early in the day and end up with a top five, it feels really good," said Baker. "Com- ing from the third row on a track like this is really hard to make up ground. I have solid points coming out of Day- tona. It's the best I've done here in the last couple years. It definitely gives me some good momentum for the rest of the season. The whole crew did a great job. It started to get slicker and slicker. I don't think I quite found the line until the last couple laps. I had a line where it was hooked up right in the center of track. That went away. I just spent a long time searching after it went away. I was having a hard time keeping the thing underneath me in the center of the corner and getting the drive out. Kenny and I had a pretty good battle for a while. He finally broke loose of me and ran down Sammy. I could see what they were doing. I was trying to mock it a little bit, but it is easier said than done." 95 JD BEACH 16 TH /5 TH PLACE In what may be his only foray into the dirt track world in 2016 road racer JD Beach was able to make the Main both nights, but Friday's race was by far his best. "This is the kind of track that I like. It's smooth but it's slick. You can kind of just roll through the turns," said Beach. "I was actually starting next to Davis Fisher. I have helped him since he was a kid. There was no way on his first national that I was going to let him beat me. We got a good start. I was just feeling really good. The bike was working great. I think I might have been down to tenth or so but just kind of worked my way up. I was just feeling really good to- night. As of right now, this race was it for me this year. It depends on how the road racing season goes. We might try to do another one, but just not sure yet. Qualifying went really well. I was kind of struggling in the heat race a little bit. Once the main came I was walking the track and thinking this is how I like it. Off the line I started going. The first night it just seemed like everybody was going crazy in the big packs and I backed off a little bit. The second night we kind of got spread out so I could work my way up. It just felt like the track was good. The bike was working good so we kept going forward."