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FLAT TRACK AMERICAN FLAT TRACK SERIES ROUND 9 / JUNE 16, 2018 REMINGTON PARK / OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA P86 iii My Own Race: 1 JARED MEES 1ST AFT TWINS "We were fast qualifier; we were fast heat and fast semi," said Jared Mees. "I wanted to pull a good holeshot and start, just to stay out of the riffraff and the spray. We got a good launch. I came down the front straightaway and saw the Jumbotron and I had a pretty good lead on the first lap. I put in some hard, hard laps in the beginning and built up a good lead. I looked over my shoulder a few times and made sure I had a good lead." 17 HENRY WILES 2ND AFT TWINS "It was a lot of fun, I felt good," said runner-up Henry Wiles of his race. "I was going high trying to run Jared's line early on. Those guys were coming up underneath me, so I thought I better tighten it up a little bit. I just couldn't run his line. Once I tightened it up, I did a good job of pulling away. I didn't get a great start, but I got through the first corner amazing. I think I was maybe fourth. There were a lot of wheels in front of me. Somehow, I hooked up just right through the center of the corner. I didn't know how much of a lead I had until late in the race and I started watching the Jumbotron. I heard that fuel was an issue last year for Jared, he ran out on the victory lap. I started thinking about that. I was even trying to ride a little different line and not so aggressive, just to conserve a little fuel because I was wide open a lot out there with my wheels just spinning. I looked back, and I could see Bryan back there, but on the jumbo screen he didn't look that far back. I made a couple mistakes and he would close up." 4 BRYAN SMITH 3RD AFT TWINS "My start wasn't horrible," said Bryan Smith. "It wasn't the best, but on the first lap going into turn three, I hit one of the holes and just got way off line. A couple guys went by me and I was like fifth or sixth. I got to racing there. It's nobody's fault but my own, but when you are back in the pack you can't ride your line or your race. You are dictated by where the other guy is or where their roost is and dodging it. Once I kind of settled in there I got clear of Robinson and caught Pearson. I knew I'd be all right. It was just too little, too late. I should have been second all day. Brad [Baker] was coming back to me real fast, once I settled down. The track started to get slick, obviously. You had to stop riding it like a cushion. He was still riding it like a cushion, wide open and spinning. I just started to ease up and tried to ride it more like a groove and get it hooked up. It just happened quick. I thought he would pick up on it and maybe race with me. Fortunately, he didn't figure it out." 6 BRAD BAKER 4TH AFT TWINS "The track kind of got brushed off. For the first five or six laps, they had pulled some of the cushion back down onto the track," said Brad Baker. "We made a couple changes to the bike and I thought the bike was hooking up a lot better. I was moving forward. By lap 10, the track got brushed off again. It went back to just skating through the corners. I struggled all day today. I wasn't 100% comfortable. It was slick for everybody. It was just hard packed with sand on top of it. You were riding it like a cushion, but you didn't have the traction of a cush- ion. I marched my way up to fourth or fifth. As soon as I got in behind Henry that is when I plateaued out. I just couldn't keep that pace comfortably. Eventually I could hear Bryan pressuring me. I need to be in better physical condition. My body has just been through a lot in the last four years. I haven't really been able to keep up with it 100%. To be able to ride that top level on a track like this and keep up that pace, you've got to be in great physical shape." 27 ROB PEARSON 5TH AFT TWINS "The track was good, but it seemed like a mine field at the end. The motorcycle worked well, but I ran up into the deep stuff a couple times, said Rob Pearson. "I saw Brad coming to- wards me. I gave it another push and ran up into the deep stuff one more time, that cost me a lot. I figured lets just run this to the finish and get what we can get. We had an O2 sensor that was bad right off the get go. I only got to run the last qualifying session. As soon as we got that thing situated, it was fast, and it worked. I think that these are the results that we are going to get. I'll go home and get ready for Lima because I know we have the speed to do. It's comfortable on these cushion tracks."

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