Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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FLAT TRACK 2017 AMERICAN FLAT TRACK CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL ROUND / OCTOBER 7, 2017 PERRIS AUTO SPEEDWAY / PERRIS, CALIFORNIA P48 My Own Race: 23 JEFFREY CARVER 2ND AFT TWINS Fresh off his AFT Twins main-event win in Texas, Jeffrey Carver posted a hard-earned second place on his Harley-Davidson XR750. "Second place is second best. It's amazing to end the season like this," said Carver. "Briar was getting real antsy. I was applying the pressure to him. Something was going to break at some point and I knew when it did that I had to capitalize on it. I just stayed as close to his rear tire as possible. When he and Lewis got together it all worked out. I was able to get off from them and put the Fast Lap Award in. That feels amazing too because Jared was checked out. It makes me feel good that we had a chance to take the win home today." 95 JD BEACH 3RD AFT TWINS JD Beach hasn't raced a twin in Grand National competition for almost four years, but the full-time road racer hasn't lost his flat-track touch. Beach posted the second-quickest time in qualifying before winning his heat and sitting on the front row for the main. "I started the race in second gear and kind of spun a little bit. I guess I went into road-race habit and I shifted down accidentally, so I went to first instead of third," said Beach. "I shifted back to second and into third, but it wasn't a very good start. I got into sixth and was just kind of sitting there. I tried to get by Bonsey, but as I was going around him I got off the groove a little bit. I tried to sit there because I knew that towards the end of the race people would be getting antsy and try to pass. One by one they started running into each other so I kept moving up. Going into the last lap, I knew I was sitting in fourth and I had to try something. Bonsey left the door open just a little bit, so I had to run it up in there. I hit him a little bit, but I out drove him to the line and got third." 80 STEVIE BONSEY 4TH AFT TWINS Stevie Bonsey was another rider making his first appearance of the year. Bonsey suffered a broken neck in a violent crash at Springfield in 2016. His recovery was complicated by a knee injury while train- ing for his comeback this year. "I don't know if I was hungry and they were tired or if I picked up where I left off from where I got hurt," said Bonsey. "I thought I had third. I saw Briar make a move on Johnny Lewis and bump him off and Carver went under. So I went into Briar and bumped him up a little. I was trying to chase down Carver; he has been on a mission the last few races. I knew if I could stay with him that I could probably get a podium. JD pushed and pushed and pushed me the last two laps. He bumped me coming out of four just at the wrong spot and it sent me up off the groove. It was a drag race to the end. The Yamaha got me at the end. I was just happy to be fourth." 69 SAMMY HALBERT 5TH AFT TWINS After an off week in Texas, Sammy Halbert had his Yamaha back in contention. "We were really far off the pace when the day started, but the track kind of came to us. The front row start in the main was good for me. I got a good start," said Halbert. "I was running third just trying to not blow my tire off too quick. Jeffrey got up under me and kind of plucked me out of the way and I dropped back quite a ways. The way things played out I had a shot to get back to the podium. I was running fourth behind Bonsey. I was going to try to go for it and then just skid- ded up off the groove for some reason. There was a fine line up there."