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/870143
FLAT TRACK 2017 AMERICAN FLAT TRACK CHAMPIONSHP ROUND 15 / SEPTEMBER 2-3, 2017 ILLINOIS STATE FAIRGROUNDS / SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS P88 My Own Race: 6 BRAD BAKER 3RD AFT TWINS At the white flag Smith was the leader with Baker right behind and Mees in third. "It was an exciting race and a lot of fun. The Springfield mile was amazing," said Baker. "We were able to move up the race track and chase the moisture with different lines. It wasn't the typical ride around the rail. I think everybody's strategy was to lead off of four. It seemed like whoever led off of four was able to get to the line fast, because there were places you could find grip coming off of four. I think [Smith's] strat- egy was to get in the lead and come off of two and he hugged the inside of the groove down the back stretch really well. I had to swerve down and it ruined my run to get a draft so I just pulled out just a little bit to try to go around the outside. He was so far on the bottom side that he wasn't going to let anybody go up underneath. Jared must have just got a sweet double draft and went flying around on the outside and kept it on the hammer. He was able to get off of four well anyway. It kind of set him up really good, with Bryan going low and me having to check up and not be able to get the draft that I needed to go around on the outside. He just slung shot around on the outside. I think I was only half a bike length back on Smith to the line and he was only half a bike length back on Mees." 69 SAMMY HALBERT 4TH AFT TWINS "It was a good race for me, but just didn't work out in the end," said Halbert. "I was trying to stay towards the front of the pack, especially after that restart. I knew it was all about track position. I got the holeshot from the fourth spot and I led a decent amount of laps. With a couple laps to go, I got shuffled back. Brad got real aggressive right towards the end. He made an aggressive pass on me. It was understandable, it was getting towards the end. He kind of clipped my bars a little bit. I just couldn't get the track position back on the last couple laps. It's still a strong run for us. I set fast time and am definitely showing the potential with the Yamaha." 44 BRANDON ROBINSON 5TH AFT TWINS "I wasn't in the lead draft the first part of the race. I got a good jump and I was there the first lap and someone cleaned my bars and I almost went down," said Robinson. "I had a pretty sketchy moment coming off turn two on the second lap; that's when I lost the lead draft. I got stuck in that second pack. The red flag was good for me, but unfortunate for my team- mate Kenny going down and a DNF for us. I got an awesome restart. I was able to get back in that front pack and dice it up a little bit. I was racing with Briar and Jeffrey and we got to dicing up a little too much and the front four got away from us just a little bit. We just didn't work together well enough to reel them back in. The way the year has been going, I'll take fifth." 14 BRIAR BAUMAN 6TH AFT TWINS "It was pretty wild actually, mainly because I've never been in the front at Springfield before. I was kind of like cool, wow, I didn't really expect that," said Bauman. "I've never ran with the leaders at Springfield before, I have at other miles, but never here. We were third row and I was kind of thinking, man, we've just got to kind of pick away at what we can. We got a good start and got up with the leaders right away and then the red came out. Dave [Zanotti] came up to me and I was saying that I was just trying to learn what I can, because I've never done this before. I'm seeing what they are doing. They are sitting up off the corners and just kind of rolling around. I don't know what to do. I'm just sitting here you know. He said, 'Hey man, you're doing great.' It was just an interesting day, trying to learn how to do it. I heard I had the fastest lap of the race, which is pretty cool, it's an honor. We learned a lot."