FLAT TRACK
AMA PRO FLAT TRACK SERIES
ROUND 14 / SEPTEMBER 25, 2016
SONOMA COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS / SANTA ROSA, CALIFORNIA
P80
would struggle at the end of the
race because it was going to dry
out. I was hoping to get a big
enough gap on everybody. Obvi-
ously there was no messing with
Baker today. I thought, 'Alright,
I've got a good gap and I'm in
second. I just needed to keep
speed a little bit for about five
laps or so," said Baker. "I just
kept on being consistent. Even-
tually I shook him."
"In the beginning we were
good then in the middle of the
race the track started to go
away," said Smith. "I knew that I
"I think I went past more
than half of the field in the first
corner. I was carving in between
people's roosts," said Baker. "I
would go up above and go past
their roost and then I'd either
cut back across it or go under-
neath two guys' roosts. I think it
was lap three when I came up
behind Joe [Kopp] and Bryan
[Smith]. I thought, 'Wow this is
cool.' I went around Joe going
into turn one and got the draft off
of Bryan down the back stretch
and went around in three and
four and set sail."
As Baker was turning in his
dominating performance the
battle for the Harley-Davidson
GNC1 presented by Vance
& Hines Championship was
playing out. Entering the day's
activities Crosley Brands/T&T
Construction's Bryan Smith and
his Kawasaki held a narrow two-
point lead over defending Grand
National Champion Las Vegas
Harley-Davidson/Rogers Rac-
ing's Jared Mees.
Smith's job was not complex:
beat Mees. A win would be
great, but to win the title that
he has come so close to for so
many years, all he had to do was
beat Mees. Smith grabbed the
lead from Joe Kopp (Indian Mo-
torcycle Company/S&S Cycle
Exhaust) on lap two, only to have
Baker blast by a lap later.
It quickly became obvious that
only more bad luck would ruin
Baker's day. "I kept on peeking
over my shoulder a little bit and
he [Smith] was maintaining my
