HALBERT, COSE DOMINATE OHIO STEEL SHOE
T
he fledgling Steel Shoe Na-
tional/Flat Track Series came
to the Trumbull County Fair-
grounds in Northeast Ohio for
round three of the 2017 season,
September 16.
While the Pro 450cc DTX
class has failed to have a repeat
winner yet, Sammy Halbert and
Chad Cose have been undefeat-
ed in the Pro Super Twins and
450cc-505cc Framer classes.
All of Halbert's Pro Super Twins
wins have been highly contested
and today would be no different.
"I just wanted to get a good start,
get away and have an easy race,"
said Halbert (Harley-Davidson). "It
wasn't to be."
Halbert got the holeshot in
the 20-ap main, as Kawasaki-
mounted Jarod Vanderkooi and
JR Addison fought over the
narrow groove. Vanderkooi won
that tussle, and he closed on
Halbert quickly. Halbert was
able to maintain about a 10-foot
margin as Vanderkooi matched
the leader's pace.
The rest of the field was
scrambling looking for mistakes
to take advantage of, as any slip
off the narrow rubber was costly.
Don Taylor pushed his Kawasaki
into third, as Addison was also
being challenged by Cory Texter
(Harley-Davidson).
Four laps in, Texter broke as
the lead duo opened a large gap
over Taylor, Davis Fisher (Kawa-
saki), Henry Wiles (Kawasaki) and
Jake Shoemaker (Kawasaki).
Halbert was able to hold
Vanderkooi off, but it got very
close at the end. "I made a
few mistakes when we got into
lapped traffic," said Halbert. "I
looked back and saw he was
right there. I knew I just had to
hit my marks and stay on the
groove."
Halbert won by just .085 of a
second, while a great battle for
the last podium spot was go-
ing on almost 12 seconds back.
Wiles came out on top over
Shoemaker, Fisher and Taylor.
Chad Cose has been just as
dominant in the "Framer" class,
posting three wins, but his wins
have all been a little easier. This
time he had to overcome a slow
start and work his way into the
lead from fourth. Don Taylor
(Honda) got a great start with
Cory Texter (Honda) and Davis
Fisher (Honda) right behind.
Cose was forced to use a high
line that didn't really work most
of the time, but his high-power
Honda was up to the task and he
IN
THE
WIND
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