Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/827115
FLAT TRACK 2017 AMERICAN FLAT TRACK CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 5 / MAY 20, 2017 CAL EXPO FAIRGROUNDS / SACRAMENTO, CA P100 Opening ceremonies for the near capacity crowd that was on hand for the Harley-Davidson Sacra- mento Mile presented by Cycle Gear featured the legendary Kenny Roberts and Kenny Roberts Jr. as the Grand Marshalls of the event. The pair are the only father-son duo to win premier Grand Prix World Championships and be inducted into the MotoGP Hall of Fame. Also making a special appearance was a legendary machine—the infamous Yamaha TZ750. The legend of the TZ750 was spurred by Roberts Sr.'s epic win at the 1975 Indy Mile. Ray Abrams (A&A Racing), a longtime supporter of Roberts Sr. and instrumental in the TZ750 proj- ect, was on hand with his famous motorcycle. Former Grand National Champion Joe Kopp, turned a few laps on one of flat track racing's most legendary builds. There was a special four-lap race, the Joe Leonard Memorial Dash for Cash, honoring the sport's first Grand National Champion who re- cently passed at the age of 84. Rob- erts Sr., a two-time Grand National Champion himself, threw the green flag "Old School" to start the race. Brad Baker just edged out his Indian Motorcycle teammate Jared Mees for the win. Shawn Baer was able to just hold off the other Indian rider Bryan Smith for third. Jeffrey Carver and Briar Bauman rounded out the field on their Kawasakis. Consecutive wins on mile racetracks are moving Bryan Smith up the in the record book and the next three races on the schedule are all mile racetracks. "With all the miles in a row my guys are on top of it. We've done what we could to conserve engines," said Smith. "We're head- ing back to the shop now, so I'm sure whatever we need to rebuild we will rebuild. I love Springfield; Kenny [Coolbeth] got me last fall there, so I feel like I need redemption. I need to win that one this spring. I'll be going for the win, of course." The win moves Bryan Smith out of a tie with Bart Markel and Henry Wiles into sole possession of ninth place in the all-time GNC total wins with 29 and just two behind Ricky Graham for fourth place in mile victories with 16, still a far cry from the all-time mile winner Scott Parker (55 wins). A certain level of frustration is starting to set into the other half of Smith's team however. "I'm definitely tired of getting second and third," said Brad Baker. "I'm ready to get to a couple race tracks like Lima where they have a cushion and some roughness," said Brad Baker. "You can go up high, those are my types of racetracks, where you can really get creative. If I'm doing this well on these racetracks, I'm really looking forward to the races where I feel like I will shine. You could push hard here, but you couldn't push that hard. If you really tried to put the hammer down, especially mid corner, you would end up breaking loose. It was such a narrow groove. You had to ride right on the very bottom of it, because you wanted to give yourself enough wiggle room to where if the thing did break loose, you didn't get off the groove." After posting three consecutive wins, Bryan Smith holds a five-point lead over Jared Mees (112 to 107) in the AFT Twins championship. Sam- my Halbert has managed to hold onto third, but Brad Baker is clos- ing (72 to 60). Jarod Vanderkooi rounded out the top five. Shayna Texter stretched her lead to 16 over Kolby Carlile (87 to 71). Brandon Price, Ben Lowe and b are just back with 65, 58 and 55 points respectfully. Although the competition on the track was fierce, in the back of everyone's mind was the struggle former dirt tracker Nicky Hayden was going through. Stickers, hats and signs were everywhere. The flat track com- munity was praying for his recovery. Briefly...