FLAT TRACK
AMA AMERICAN FLAT TRACK CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 3 / APRIL 1, 2017
DIRT TRACK AT CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY / CHARLOTTE, NC
P86
I went faster once I chilled out
a little bit," said Smith. "It's hard
on a track like this because you
want to go so hard, but if you
let off just a little bit sometimes,
it's faster. It's hard when you're
battling somebody to check up a
little bit, but I felt so comfortable.
Whoever was in front of me I felt
that I could step it up a little bit
more or go whereever I needed
to on the track."
"There really wasn't any
chasing him down," said Mees.
"That's just the way it is. It's un-
fortunate to end the streak but it
was going to end sometime. You
don't win them all."
Just behind Halbert there was
lenge the Indian Nation, even
though his challenge ended in a
big get-off last week.
"The Indians were really
strong tonight," said Halbert. "I
was behind the Indians right off
the get go. I just stayed in that
position, I was fortunate that I
got to go onto the podium at
least."
Smith's ride was nearly flaw-
less as he rode to nearly a four-
second win over Mees. "Once I
got past Brad I kind of settled in.
I actually chilled out and I think
pace with Bryan, but I felt like all
I was doing was maintaining, and
I needed to search for some-
thing better. I started to search a
little bit and lost some, so I went
back to maintain. I wanted to try
to search some; I wanted to at
least try something. At the end,
my best lap was on par with his.
I couldn't turn anything faster or
better. The best guy won tonight,
hands down."
Without further problems the
top two positions looked to be
set. Thus far into the season
Sammy Halbert (Estenson Logis-
tics/TruLine) aboard his XR750
Harley-Davidson has been the
only rider to successfully chal-
It wasn't all good for the
Indian team. Brad Baker's
bike signed off early.
