FLAT TRACK
AMERICAN FLAT TRACK CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 16 / SEPTEMBER 9, 2017
WILLIAMS GROVE SPEEDWAY / MECHANICSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA
P86
ond. Brad kind of cut me off and
I ran wide, then I was behind
Jake. I was faster than him, but
passing is another story," said
Smith. "I got underneath him and
it was like I was going to plow
him right down. I thought I had
him clear and I went to turn low
and I kind of got into the marbles
and crashed and that was all
she wrote. It was just that quick.
Everything happened so quickly.
It felt like there was one inch of
racetrack out there."
The second red flag spawned
a third as the pack tried to
squeeze into turn one. Ryan
Varnes, who had worked his way
up to seventh, fell hard and col-
lected Jake Shoemaker.
"There's always pressure,
Smith Racing, Kawasaki), who
had been running in fifth position
was sitting by the air fence and
in harms way. The six-lap restart
saw Mees, Bauman and Baker
pick up where they left off, but
Jake Johnson (Vance & Hines
Harley-Davidson XG750R) came
from eighth to fourth. Johnson
passed his two Harley-Davidson
Motor Company/Vance & Hines
teammates Kenny Coolbeth and
Brandon Robinson, then Smith
and Estenson Racing Yamaha's
Sammy Halbert.
On lap 23, Smith tried to
move inside Johnson going into
turn three. Unfortunately he ran
out of room and had to lay his
Indian on the ground. "Off the
restart I got up to third for a sec-
and clipped my handlebar a little
bit. That kind of made my front
end push and sucked me off the
groove," said Baker. "I thought,
all right, he's on a mission."
Mees methodically ran off
the laps and increased his lead
to over two and a half seconds.
Baker opened just enough of a
window for Briar Bauman (Za-
notti Racing/Rod Lake Racing,
Kawasaki) to slip into second on
lap 17.
Bauman, who has been one
of the few able to run with the In-
dian team this year, was able to
separate himself from Baker and
close slightly on the leader. Just
as the five laps to go sign was
displayed the red lights flashed.
JR Addison (Roeder Racing/
Briar Bauman
finished out
the day on the
podium.
