Cycle News

FLAT TRACK AMA PRO FLAT TRACK SERIES ROUND 12 / AUGUST 14, 2016 PEORIA RACE PARK / PEORIA, ILLINOIS P84 corners. I was able to beat him to the line." "I could hear someone down at this end, but I hadn't seen him until that last lap," said Pearson. "I jumped down to the bottom again at that corner like we had run in the heat races. I made a pass or two stick so then I just kept rolling with it. Toward the end, like the last five, it was get- ting kind of chuck-holed out of there. I tried to hang onto it. That last lap we went in like I normally do and I could hear him up top. When I saw his front wheel I tried to get to the racing line before he did, but he beat me to the face of the jump. I thought I just let third go away and I did. We had a good bike and I couldn't complain about our day today." VanDerKooi Racing/Don's Kawasaki's Jarod Vanderkooi was able to garner a fifth-place finish over Bonneville Perfor- mance's Jake Shoemaker and Mack Daddy's Jeffrey Carver. "I got a good start, then I faded early," said Vanderkooi. "We just kept chucking and chucking. With about five to go I put my head down and ended up get- ting a top five. It was a physical race; the track was really rough this year. I'm happy with a fifth, for sure. Two years ago was my first time here and I didn't get through practice. I probably should have gone to the hos- pital. Last year we put it in the "I was actually ahead of Rob- bie early on," said Johnson. "I made a mistake and he got by me. I just basically followed him around the whole race. He got a little bit of a gap on me and it just stayed the same the whole race. I could tell towards the end that I was better in one and two and he was better in three and four." "When 'five to go' came out I found something a little bit bet- ter," said Johnson. "I was able to gain and only lose half as much coming off of four. I saw the two to go out and started inching closer and closer. I figured I've got to do it; this is my chance. I didn't want to do it with two to go. Luckily I wasn't close enough. I wanted to kind of surprise him and get him on the last lap." "I just went in there and closed my eyes and pinned it. I was able to just sneak around the outside of him," added John- son. "I played defense over the jump and through the last two to over nine seconds at the end of the race, with Mees a lonely second. "I had nothing for the man [Henry] today at all. About halfway through I knew I didn't have anything for him," said Mees. "I knew that Smith went down. It was time for me to look at the big picture for a second. Last year was different circum- stances. I was running his pace and I was pressing him. I was all over the back of him. I would have put something on the line if it were those circumstances again. This time I just didn't have anything for him, honestly. He was flat [out] that much better than everybody. He's a tough competitor." There was still a good race going on for third, however. Robinson had given way to Rob Pearson (R&R Racing/Country Saloon) and Johnson. Robinson would drop from the race on lap 19, leaving Pearson and John- son to decide the last podium position. The restart didn't go well for former points leader Bryan Smith.

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