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/833352
VOL. 54 ISSUE 22 JUNE 6, 2017 P83 Motorcycles last visited The Red Mile in 2001 when the Formula USA series held a race. With a sold-out crowd of over 6000 it probably will not be 16 years until the next race. This may not be the best news for the riders who struggled to fig- ure out the odd oval. "There was something about the track today; I just couldn't get that next little step that I needed," said Bryan Smith. "The track isn't an oval. It's a weird surface. The groove was sticky, but then it got kind of greasy in the main. You were kind of under the groove and above it then you get in the marbles. The easiest way to say it was it was weird." Smith's teammate Brad Baker was also fighting track conditions. "It was definitely more technical in three and four. One and two actually had enough moisture above the groove," said Baker. "That's how I was getting through one and two pretty fast. Above the groove actu- ally had some grip from when they watered it. Three and four were a lot slower, a lot tighter corner. You had to scrub off a lot more speed. It broke apart right in the center. It had literally a big pothole right past the apex of the corner. You really had to have the thing straight up and down and not get too out of shape there. It made it really hard on gear- ing. Three and four were so much tighter and slower because of the surface, that the motorcycle would bog. It wouldn't pull the gear coming off the corner. If you really had a bad corner the thing would take so much time to pick the speed back up. One and two was a more open corner and it was in better shape. You almost needed gearing for two different racetracks. That is why some of us were deciding to shift in three and four. We would shift down to third and then back up to fourth. Some of these motorcycles don't speed shift all that great. It made it really technical as well. Definitely a tricky race track tonight." After winning the first two races of the year and following that with a string of podium finishes, Jared Mees still trailed Bryan Smith in the points as Smith had reeled off four consecutive wins. "It feels amazing to finally get a mile win this year on the Indian, and stop Bryan's streak," said Mees. "It was a good night for us, honestly." Heading into an off weekend, Smith and Mees are tied in points at 152. Smith has the tie-breaking advantage of four wins to Mees' three. Sammy Halbert is third, but 43 points down and 17 ahead of Brad Baker. The win was Jared Mees' 23rd Grand National victory, which ties him for 13th on the all-time win list with Joe Leonard and Steve Morehead. Dick Mann is next on the list with 24. Once again, there was a glimmer of hope in the Harley-Davidson camp, this time it was Brandon Robinson leading the Harley charge. "It was uneventful, really. I got a decent start and stayed up front the entire time, for once," said Robinson. "It's been a slow uphill battle, but we're definitely getting closer. I'm very excited about that. I wasn't shifting today, our power range was pretty good and it was pulling really well. It's been tough and it's been hard on me, mentally. To get a good run and get a top five again, it feels awe- some. I'm excited to go to Oklahoma and get on some cushion now." Briar Bauman was another rider who survived a late-race scare and is looking forward to the next couple of races. "I actually hit the kill switch going into turn three on the very last lap, not that I was going to draft him [Robinson] anyway. I was just so nervous. I just wanted to finish it. It's been a while. I hit the kill switch and thought, 'Whoa, whoa, whoa.' I flipped it back on and got it going again and finished. It was a difficult racetrack. There wasn't much pass- ing unless you had more horse- power than the next guy. The groove was really, really narrow." The AFT Singles points standings are much closer and have had the unusual occurrence of two win- ners being disqualified post race. Shayna Texter rebounded from her Springfield TT troubles and has once again taken over at the top. Texter holds a two-point lead over Kolby Carlile. Brandon Price is 14 points behind Texter with Cameron Smith and Ben Lowe a somewhat distant fourth and fifth. Briefly...