FLAT TRACK
2017 AMERICAN FLAT TRACK CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 5 / MAY 20, 2017
CAL EXPO FAIRGROUNDS / SACRAMENTO, CA
P94
10th place and finish a solid
sixth. Baer's solid race backed
up his heat race win and a
second-place finish in his semi.
Davis Fisher (Bob Lanphere
Beaverton Motorcycles Kawasa-
ki) was another rider working his
way up from a slow start. Finish-
ing lap one in 14th place, Davis
worked his way up to a hard
earned seventh-place finish.
Jake Shoemaker (Weirbach
ing and he kind of backed up
towards me. Once we got to
each other, we had a great race.
We put some good close passes
on each other and kept it clean,
and was able to edge him out at
the line. It was nice to at least
win that battle."
After a poor start, Shawn Baer
was able to work his McNews
Automotive/ Schaeffer's Motor-
sports KTM through traffic from
ally you just have to take the bait
and go on by or we are all just
going slow. I didn't want to be
in third. I had never been in that
situation the whole race. Second
was the worst it was and it wasn't
very often. I just got a false read-
ing of where I needed to be. I'm
definitely learning."
"I knew it was going to be
hard to get away from both of
those guys," said Smith. "I knew
it was going to come down to
strategy in the last couple laps
and not running off the groove,
which I almost did a couple
times. I didn't feel like I could
just run away from everybody, I
never have here. With the long
straightaways, the draft plays
such a big role in the race. The
groove was smaller. I don't know
why, maybe it was because we
are running the harder tires and
didn't lay down as much rubber
or what, but it was narrow. You
had to hit your mark or you were
going off the groove."
About five seconds back
Carver and Halbert were having
a great race for fourth. Although
they were swapping the position
all around the track Halbert was
able to hold it at the finish line
the last five laps.
"I had a great race with Jef-
frey. Early on in the race I lost
a little time when Bauman was
blowing up or whatever," said
Halbert. "I was just playing catch
up to catch up to Jeffrey. I was
pushing hard to catch him and
just slipped a little bit and lost
a ton of time. I just kept push-
It was another
all-Indian
podium.
